Forum Immigration UK

[samina]

Hello everyone!!

I need a bit of help here so I'm gonna tell you what's going on and if you have any advice or new info please reply!!

I'm a Mexican married to a British citizen. At the moment we're back in England after spending a few months in Mexico with my family,anyway,I'm under the basic tourist visa which expires in november. We wanted to apply for a EEA2 so we collected all of our documents including comprehensive sickness insurance and all that but today after reading the EEA2 form ,we came to realize that we can't really apply,well...my husband says that.

Here's the deal ( I would really appreciate some advice on this )

1) According to my husband we can't apply through EEA2 because it is only for EEA nationals exercising treaty rights in the UK, but not British citizens. I think he's wrong, as usual, and he thinks I'm wrong, as usual (you know how it is sometimes with husbands) but in the end maybe we're both wrong...

2) Another thing is we wanted to move to Berlin this year after spending some time in England so now we think maybe it would be better to apply for a residence card in Germany instead, you know, apply under EU rules ...what do you think about that? do you think it's possible to do that if my husband is British?

His situation is this : he's self employed and at the moment works at home for a UK company, also he resided in Finland for 5 years before we met and was working there as a teacher, he just recently moved back to England. Honestly we are very flexible when it comes to where we live,we just want to be able to live together in the same freaking place,that's our priority and if it's not possible to live in England then Berlin is the second option so we can be close to the UK. We have savings and are travelers at heart but yeah,we do want to settle somewhere in Europe for at least a few years so we can work and add more to our savings....the problem of course is that I'm Mexican and I can't live here freely without a residence card,which I hope I can get.We already have an insurance and the documents we need so that shouldn't be a problem.So what do you think? Is there a way to apply for a residence permit in the UK? If not ,would it be possible in Germany ?

Any advice? opinions?

[texkourgan]

Welcome to EasyExpat!

The best place to start would be the Expat Guide to London and section on visas, as well as Expat FAQ with information on:
EEA2
UK Marriage Visa
EEA Family Permit

and more. Hopefully these help you find which visa you would like to apply for.

As to Berlin - I am actually an expat in Berlin. I wrote the Expat Guide to Berlin, and can recommend resources for you to get to know the city on my personal blog, Back to Berlin. There are many great expat blogs in Berlin. You can also connect with other expats through the network. Anyone else have personal advice to offer?

[ladyjulian]

1) According to my husband we can't apply through EEA2 because it is only for EEA nationals exercising treaty rights in the UK, but not British citizens. I think he's wrong, as usual, and he thinks I'm wrong, as usual (you know how it is sometimes with husbands) but in the end maybe we're both wrong...

You're both right!

Your husband's right, because it is only for EEA nationals who are exercising Treaty rights. British citizens have an automatic right to live and work in the UK, and are therefore not exercising Treaty rights.

However, you can use the EEA route if you want to move to Germany.... and if you live in Germany for 6 months or more, there is a route called the "Surinder Singh rules" which says that where a British person has exercised Treaty rights in another EEA country for six months or more, they are entitled to return to the UK with their family as though they were being treated under the EEA rules rather than the UK ones. Does that make sense?

2) Another thing is we wanted to move to Berlin this year after spending some time in England so now we think maybe it would be better to apply for a residence card in Germany instead, you know, apply under EU rules ...what do you think about that? do you think it's possible to do that if my husband is British?

As long as your husband works in Germany (or is studying) then he is exercising Treaty rights and - check this with a German lawyer, but it should be correct - is therefore entitled to have you with him. Six months later you can both then return to the UK under the EEA rules due to the Surinder Singh provisions (see above.)

[samina]

Thank you so much for the advice! That gives us hope and we are very excited,doing our research and looking more in to the Surinder Singh Provisions. My husband'shappy cause this time he got one right

Cheers and once again,thank you for the insight,now we gotta do our homework .