Re: Visa free travel to the UK for family members of EU citi

I think you are basically right, but the paragraph you quote isn't the decisive one. Par. 2 allows the UK to demand that family members who are visa-nationals apply for a visa first. The difference is that the UK is not allowed to charge for issuing the visa and it has to be done quickly.
The more interesting passage, I think, is Article 5/par. 4, which is about what should happen if a visa-national attempts to enter any member state country without a visa. In this case, the UK immigration authorities should give them every possible opportunity to obtain such a visa "or to corroborate or prove by any other means that they are covered by the right of free movement and residence".
I don't know of anybody who has tried this, but as long as that person can prove that s/he is indeed an immediate family member, they would have to be let in. However, I would suspect that it is up to the immigration authorities to decide whether they have been given enough evidence for this - and it would not surprise me in the least if that was going to be a problem with the average British immigration officer.
It *would* be worth a try, though.

There's another important passage later on - Article 25, par. 1, which says that "possession of a residence card" or any other residence document "may under no circumstances be made a precondition for the exercise of a right or the completion of an administrative formality, as entitlement to rights may be attested by any other means of proof".

 

Re: Visa free travel to the UK for family members of EU citi

By the way - could somebody please try to do all of this without a passport?! ;-)

Here's something I just found:

http://www.hablamosdeeuropa.es/NR/r...420A-A603-7F555AAA38EF/12341/MEMO06179_EN.pdf

I'm sure any British immigration officer will be very happy to comply! ;-)