Gprit, under UK rules you have to be working in the host country to come back under Surinder Singh. Under EU law, there are no minimum hours per week nor length of employment that you have to complete to be deemed a 'worker', although some case laws suggest that 10-12 hours per week for 10 weeks mak...

Thank you chaoclive for the quote. If family members of EEA nationals are not subject to immigration control you would have thought that if a family member held a non-UK Residence Card it would exempt him/her from having to apply for an EEA Family Permit. But I guess it's well-known that individual ...

If a UK citizen in Ireland doing Surinder Singh travels into the UK from Ireland with his non-EU spouse without encountering border guards and with no EEA Family Permit, would the spouse's entry be considered an illegal entry into UK if she is not a non-visa national? If it is an illegal entry, do y...

As far as I know, a fresh application will be assessed under the new rules. It won't be looked upon as a follow-on. People that have submitted reconsideration requests generally sent it in the same envelope as their appeal, so I would suggest you send your reconsideration request to the same address...

You could also write a letter to the visa application centre or better still to the caseworker if you know who it is and ask for a reconsideration. Tell them why you think they made a mistake and include a copy of the Schedule 3 Transitional Provisions with your reconsideration request. Did you ask ...

Your application should have been assessed under the old rules, the ECO got it wrong! Search for Schedule 3 Transitional Provisions here.

I am British and I am planning to go the Surinder Singh route at some stage with my Albanian fiance whom I will be marrying soon in Albania where he is now. Unfortunately my fiance has a bad immigration history in the UK and also in Italy. My fiance was caught in Italy as an illegal immigrant and wa...

Reapplying is faster.

Or you can even appeal and while your appeal is pending, you can make another application:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... /#header20

It seems to me that these new rules about "centre of life" resemble the idea of "habitual residence", a conundrum that often crops up when determing eligibility for social security in relation to EU migrants. The European Commission recently published a guide for Member States to...

I recently joined a number of Facebook groups for people trying out the Surinder Singh route and stumbled across someone who applied for an EEA Family Permit just after the recent rule change and managed to successfully obtain it a few days ago. Her British husband had only lived and worked in Irela...

Hi sebstewart, in another thread you said that your wife had made an EEA Family Permit application in December before the new "centre of life" rules, but you were worried that the Home Office would have a problem with it because your wife had declared that you and her had no savings in tha...

I found a Freedom Of Information request to the Home Office at the WhatDoTheyKnow site for all policy updates, Home Office circulars and full copies of guidance in relation to the new Surinder Singh rules, which the Home Office has answered: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/centre_of_life_guid...

It is harsh in sebstewart's case, however I think it might have been the length of time spent working (11 weeks part-time if I recall) that the Home Office might have had issues with (even though according to ECJ judgments you can be deemed a "worker" in the EU if you work 10-12 hours per ...

Hi Seb, Thank you for posting Solvit's reply to you, it was very useful. Yes unfortunately there are now these new "centre of life" requirements since 1 January 2014, but what that means exactly is not fully clear yet. I recently wrote to the Home Office for clarification about the new Sur...

Hi jestew, Well I wrote to the Home Office recently for clarification about the new Surinder Singh rules and according to them there is no minimum period of time that you have to work in the EU that is imposed by the amendment. Here's my email to the Home Office and their reply. My gut feeling is th...

Hi Seb, Sorry to hear that the UKBA refused your application especially as it certainly sounds like your "centre of life" has been in France for 8 months. Would you mind me asking please how many months you have worked in France all together? I'm just wondering what the UK deems as a reaso...

I recently wrote to the European Union Free Movement Policy Team at the Home Office to ask for clarification on the new Surinder Singh rules. I thought I'd post my email here and their subsequent reply, as it might shed more light on what the Home Office means by "centre of life". My email...

It sounds like the UKBA now requires more "substantial" proof that your residence has been "genuine and effective", a term that I've seen used on Denmark's site: https://www.nyidanmark.dk/en-us/coming_to_dk/familyreunification/family_reunification_under_eu-law/ If the UK is copyi...

I wrote to Your Europe recently about the new Surinder Singh rules and I thought I'd post my email here and their subsequent reply, as it might be a useful analysis of things. My email to Your Europe:- I read the following text recently on the EU Rights Clinic website (blogs.kent.ac.uk/eu-rights-cli...

Unless I've interpreted it wrongly, it seems that the UK can legitimately impose the new rule of "principal residence" according to this recent reply by the European Commission to a Danish citizen's petition: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/peti/cm/943/943022/943...

I agree, it is an EU treaty right, why should I not be entitled to exercise it like any other EU citizen. I am a full-time UK tax payer who contributes to the country I live in, I am self-sufficient and do not claim benefits, I can even support my partner on the modest income that I earn as my rent ...

Hi, I just found out about the new Surinder Singh rules starting 1 January 2014 about having to prove "integration" in the EU country that you are working in and I am worried. I managed to get a fixed term contract for 3 months work in Slovenia (which is part of the EU) starting in January...

Thank you for the info, Jambo. It just goes to show that even the so-called experts don't always get it right! Thankfully there are people like you and Directive/2004/38/EC who do their own homework and are very well-informed and are of invaluable help to many people - much appreciated, thank you.

Thank you for your replies, much appreciated. I am though genuinely very surprised to hear that under Surinder Singh I do not have to continue to exercise treaty rights in the UK for my husband to remain in the UK or for when he applies for PR. I thought that to fulfil EEA2 conditions that continual...

I am a British national living in the UK who since 2010 has exercised EU treaty rights rights through the Surinder Singh route to bring my husband to the UK. I recently lost my job and would like to go travelling for just under 6 months as it's always been a dream of mine however my husband can't jo...