Weyoun9

Hello

I will be moving from Taiwan to Spain soon, along with my Taiwanese wife and young daughter. Will my wife enjoy freedom of movement that brits are (up to now anyway) entitled to, or will she need a visa?

Thanks

Lichita80

Hi,
I am not in Spain yet but in a similar situation (moving in July with Mexican husband and dual nationality children). According to the immigration lawyer we have been talking to in Spain, movement outside of Schengen territory is restricted for the first 3 months until the residence permit is granted, but after that freedom of movement should apply. Obviously nobody really knows exactly what will happen re. Brexit with all of this, but he said we might as well assume that things are going to continue the same at least for the next 2 years. Fingers' crossed!
Good luck with your move!

quiltman

You probably know that once you have been living and working in Spain for 6 months, you can apply for an EEA Family Permit and move to UK without the financial requirements of a normal visa? This is known as the Surinder Singh route but the UK is looking to try and close this loophole by Brexit. Search for "Surinder Singh" in the search box above for more info. AFAK any official EU resident enjoys freedom of movement so it seems your Spanish lawyer is correct. If you knew all this then my apologies!

Lichita80

Yes Quiltman is right, it's unlikely that this route will still be an option now as far as getting a non-EU spouse to the UK is concerned, however for living in Spain it seems much simpler, and the economic requirements are lower. This is partly why we gave up on the idea on ever being able to get a UK spouse visa and started to look at Europe instead! I do hope things won't change over the course of the next 2 years at least...