Hello. I am an American citizen married to an Italian citizen and we currently live in Italy where I have "permission to stay" documents. We would like to go to the UK to check it out as we are looking for a place to move and we think the UK is the right place for us. He, of course, can move around the EU with no problems. My question is, do I really need to have an entry clearance to go to the UK. We're not possitive that we'll even be there 2 months, let alone 6. Since niether of us have ever been there, we want to take a look around first then if we like what we see and can find decent jobs, we'd like to stay. Isn't there anyway to apply for the "EEA residence permit" without having first obtaining an entry clearence? From what I understand, they aren't likely to even give me clearence if I state we're only there on, what could be, a temporary basis.

Thank you very much for reading my post and offering advice.

 

Much appreciated

Thank you for your informative reply. I'm not so savvy through this forum and couldn't find the very answer to this question.