Hi,

I've read as much as I can of the previous posts on this board - all very helpful but a bit confusing for me as i'm still trying to get my head around EU immigration law.

I have dual Australian/British citizenship - oz through birth, british through my parents.

My partner and I are married and we have a 9mth old child together. We have been told that we must sell our house and I must move to the UK and setup with a new house, job etc BEFORE we can apply for a settlement visa (VAF2) in Australia for my wife and child - at a cost of some $1500 AUD - to join me. We've also been told there is no guarantee we'll get one.

My wife and I spent two years in the UK before we were married - my wife had a 2 year working visa - she is now over the working visa age so we can't get another one of those.

I'm not real keen to leave my family in temporary accomodation while I spend a significant sum setting up in the UK with no guarantee of my wife and child being able to join me.

Does this sound right - reading other posts it does sound similar to others experiences but I'm just wondering if there's a better way.

A firend of ours suggested we travel to UK on a holiday and then apply for permanent residency in the UK saying we've decided to stay. As I have a UK passport I can get work straight away in IT but I'm a little concerned my family might be forced to leave the UK at some point.

What is the maximum time my wife and child can stay in the UK without a visa?

I guess, from my readings on this forum, that i'm not the only one to face this problem.

While I haven't applied for it i'm also told I may be able to get an Irish passport also - my mother was Irish (southern) my father Scotish - would this maybe a better way to go?

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice - we've been tearing our hair out for a year now with no forward movement.

All info greatly appreciated.

micb

 

Triple H, thanks for your reply.

Our child is an Australian Citizen and has no right to UK or Irish citizenship as far as I know.

We've been unable to get a financial figure from BHC in Canberra as to how much money we'd need to pass the financial test.

BHC indicated that we would have to sell our house for my wife & child to get a settlement visa. There is a question on the application form - 6.9 Do you own any assets, for example, property?

The problem is we still have a large number of relatives in australia and would like to keep our house in case it is needed by family or ourselves - never know what the future holds.

The more I look into this the more it sounds like me getting and Irish passport and my family getting an EEA family permit might be the quickest and best option.

From the posts i've read on this forum it appears we can apply for Right Of Abode after 2 years if we have a Family Permit is that right?

micb