Leave to enter stamp; easy way to obtain EEA Family Permit?

[kye]

Hello.

I am german citizen.
My wife is a Belarus national. She has a permanent residency (Authenthaltstitel/Niederlassungserlaubnis) for Germany.
We live together in Germany.

In April we travelled with the Eurostar to London for a short trip. UK Immigration in Brussels accepted our documents and marriage certificate, and granted us permission to enter the UK.
We obtained a stamp saying "Leave to enter the UK is hereby given for six months".

We had concluded the stamp means entry permission for six months.

Last weekend we tried to fly from Frankfurt to UK.
Boarding agent had talked on the phone with UK immigration.
My wife was denied boarding.
Boarding agent told us the documents are insufficient for entering the UK.

We were very disappointed. I was very much certain that we had all required documents for three reasons:
First, I had assumed the stamp to be sufficient.
Second, obviously we had the correct documents, because they had been accepted one months ago.
Third, when I had called the expensive UK hotline (the one that charges 2€ per minute) and having explained the situation, I was told, arriving at the border with the marriage certificate and documents would be sufficient.

So my first question is: What does that stamp really mean? Did the airline boarding agent incorrectly refuse us boarding?

After having done additional research on the Internet, it seems that it's a common risk to get refusal to board, unless one can clearly demonstrate of already having the permission to enter (and the stamp doesn't seem to be accepted by all airline boarding staff).

In preparation for a future trip, I'd like to ask what's the best way to obtain the EEA Family Permit.

In my understanding, the EEA FP must be provided free of charge.

However, when following the instructions from https://www.gov.uk/family-permit and using the link to apply at https://www.gov.uk/apply-uk-visa
then we're directed to a generic Visa application form, which doesn't mention the EEA FP at all.

Nevertheless, I had shown good will in April, and had actually begun the process to fill out that very large form with all the questions they are asking.

However, in order to submit the form and to proceed, there were two details that I disliked:
(a) they were asking to pay a fee, nearly €100 if I remembed correctly. This lead me to the conclusion that this cannot be the right approach to use, because the EEA FP is free. Given that I couldn't find any other mechanism to apply for an EEA FP online, I concluded there must be an easier approach to obtain the EEA FP, without going through that procedure. This is why we attempted to take the Eurostar train, where we succeed.
(b) Also, following the online Visa application form and procedure, it would have been necessary to make an appointment at one of the three offices in Germany. Given that we live in the Frankfurt area, where each of the three offices is a trip of several hours away, this seemed to be too much hassle, just for being able to fly to the UK for a weekend trip.

Now, I'm willing to try again to apply for a EEA FP from within Germany, in order to be able to board planes to the UK together with my wife. Therefore my second question is, what's the easiest way to do so.

In other discussions I've found a link to this document
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... the-policy
which states
"Applications for visit visas and EEA Family Permits
These can be made at any post designated by the Secretary of State to accept
applications for entry clearance. The applicant will need to be in the third country
or territory in accordance with that country or territory’s immigration laws."

The closest British Consulate is in Frankfurt
http://www.british-consulate.net/Frankfurt.html
which states on their page to handle Visa applications.

Do you think the British Consulate should allow me to obtain the EEA FP using a simplified procedure, for example, by visiting their office, presenting our passports, my wife's residence permit and our marriage certificate, and be able to obtain the EEA FP directly?

Or do you think it is really necessary to go through the painful procedure of going through Worldbridge Düsseldorf, paying the fee, travelling to Düsseldorf, and repeating this procedure once per six months, in order to be able to travel to the UK, whenever we would like to?

(By the way, my wife has already given her biometrics to Düsseldorf a few years ago, when we weren't married yet and when we travelled to the UK using a regular Visa and Worldbrige application process.)

Thank you in advance for advice with our situation.
Best Regards
Kye

[yoshi_jp]

http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... 21226.html

She apparently has a German residence card, so I suppose it isn't necessary to receive an EEA FP.

If I were you, I'd contact the airline beforehand and acquire a written confirmation (email, etc) that she wouldn't need any additional visa or permit.

[kye]

She apparently has a German residence card, so I suppose it isn't necessary to receive an EEA FP.

If I understand correctly, a "residence card" is different from a "residence permit card". She does have a card that says "residence permit" (Authenthaltstitel). She _doesn't_ have a card saying "residence card" (Aufenthaltskarte).

In my understanding, because I am German, my wife is unable to obtain a "residence card" from Germany. Only if I, as EEA national, were exercising EU treaty rights in another country, then my wife would be able to obtain a "residence card" from that other country.

The airline person showed me a photocopy of a "residence card", which contains the additional text "family member of a EU national". He would have accepted the card, if it had contained this sentence. But the Germany residence permit doesn't contain that sentence.

In my understanding, in our scenario, a card containing that sentence can only be obtained in a secondary state, but not in Germany.

[infors]

Which airline were you flying with? We are in almost the same situation, flying out of Frankfurt too but now I think we'll need to get the family permit again We have used it before and the trip to Dusseldorf every six months is quite a pain.

When you went through Eurostar immigration did they give you any problems or happily accepted it?

[kye]

It was Lufthansa who refused her.

At Eurostar in Brussels, two officers weren't sure, called someone (saturday morning 7 am), spoke for 2 minutes, then acepted. Original marriage certificate was necessary.