I'll try to make this as concise as i can.

I am a canadian citizen married to a dual canadian/estonian citizen and we are currently living in canada with our two daughters (1 and 3 years old, both currently holding canadian passports). I have been accepted to a phd program for sep 2010 in the uk with full funding (ie. International tuition fully paid and a £13600 annual stipend per year for 3 years). My wife has confirmed part-time teaching at the university for next academic year (sep 2010-june 2011).

We both lived in the uk from sep 2003-jan 2005 and were legally in the country on a work visa through my employer and our canadian passports. My wife worked from march 2004 - jan 2005 full time using her estonian passport (canadian passport and hence work visa were stolen as soon as we arrived in the uk sep 2003).

Questions:

1. Do my daughters and i need to apply for an eea family permit or can we enter the uk as canadian citizens visa free and then apply for residence permits (eea2)? We will be travelling with my wife.

2. Would my wife being legally resident in the uk on april 30 2004 mean she does not need to register under the workers registration scheme based on the below info from the home office 'who does not need to apply to the wrs':

on 30 april 2004 you had leave to enter or remain in the united kingdom under the immigration act 1971 and that leave was not subject to any condition restricting your employment

3. More open-ended, but essentially what is the most logical visa route for entry into the uk in this circumstance? If i apply for a student visa is there any advantage vs the eea2 route? We hope to remain in the uk/eu indefinitely following my phd.

Thanks for any and all advice.