mrsadeyemi

Hi All,


I hope someone can shed some light on my immigration dilemma..

I have a dual citizenship - Polish & British. My husband is Nigerian.

I moved to Nigeria from the UK in Dec 2011 and we got married in Jun 2012. We have been living together since I came to Nigeria (1yr,3 months so far) but we have been in a relationship for 4 years prior to getting married.

I would now like us to have the freedom of movement as a family, and thus I was advised that we should apply for EEA permit.

However I was later told that because I am British, we cant apply for EEA and that instead we should apply for spouse visa.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?
Please any advice and experience will be helpful!!


Someone advised me on EEA permit (since I have Polish citizenship) and others say I should go for UK spouse visa. However I am not currently living in the EU or UK, we are both residing in Lagos since Dec 2011.

We are both professionals and earn good money.
I never claimed benefits and have no intentions of doing so in future.

We are considering relocating to the UK in the near future.


Much appreciated, thank you in advance for your help!

Mrs Adeyemi

Jerseygirl

Welcome to BE.

I see you have already reposted your questions in the Moving Back To The UK Forum. I am sure you will get lots of help from people who are going through the same process as you. It may help to take a look through some of the old threads...as I know this subject has been discussed due to the new UK gov. rules. Also take a look in the BE Wiki...there is information in there for expats returning to the UK.

Good luck.

Bob

There is a epic sized thread in MBTUK on this very subject, has loads of decent info, well worth a read.

Good luck and welcome to BE

mrsadeyemi

Thanks Bob & Jerseygirl !


Bob - can you kindly copy and paste the link please?
I'm going through all the threads in MBTUK but haven't found answer to my question yet.

Cheers!

Jerseygirl

This is one for starters:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=782376

Read through the thread titles...or take a quick look at the first and last few posts in each thread. The subject has been discussed many times.

mrsadeyemi

Thanks Jerseygirl.

But in the case of dual citizenship, can we choose to apply for EEA instead of spouse visa?

The issue with spouse visa is that although I currently earn £28k after tax (job based in Nigeria, salary paid in Nigerian naira) I must have a job in the UK already and must have been employed in the position for 6 months as a minimum.

Getting a job once back in UK will not difficult. I have several prospective jobs from headhunters, however I don't want to move and live there for 6 mnths without my husband.

Much appreciated.

Bob

Duel citizenship doesn't matter.

If you're a UK citizen, seeking visa benefits in the UK, then you've got to follow the rules as a UK national, not your other citizenship.

So it's the spouse visa you are looking for, unless you are looking to move else where in the EU.

mrsadeyemi

Ok - I think I got it now. This can be so confusing, I do appreciate your advice!

If we decide to move to Poland for example, we can then apply for EEA but I must have been in a job in Poland for 6 months at least?

Bob

Balls, I did the same typo again...dual, damn you autocorrect and why can't I type in the morning.

To move to Poland, you'd need to follow whatever requirements Poland have to bring a spouse over. Then if you want to use the EEA to move to the UK, you would need to follow whatever requirement there is for that, which I believe is having a job for at least 6 months. The full details are all discussed in the thread linked above though.

mrsadeyemi

Thanks Bob - you have been of a great help indeed!

And if we want to go to UK to visit family for 2 weeks, do we need to still apply for spouse visa?

Bob

Spouse visa would be just to move on a permanent basis. If the OH needs a visa to travel to the UK, which Nigerian citizens need I think, then he'd need to apply for a holiday visa and I've no idea about how easy/successful those can be, we don't see to much talk of those on BE.

SanDiegogirl

No. To just visit the UK your husband would need to apply for a General Visitors visa.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/vi...iting/general/

Rosemary

Hello and a big welcome to BE.

Excellent information can be found in the BE Wiki, not forgetting the Living and Moving Abroad forum that will help you, another set of great help is the permanent threads at the TOP of each forum, they are very pertinent to that particular forum and makes sensible reading.

Moderators deal with any problems that arise such as inappropriate posts, spammers etc, you will find their names at the bottom right hand side of each forum's index in bold font.

Please contact me if I can give you any further help.

Rosemary