Surinder Singh Route

[kishni2001]

Hi there,
We are thniking of moving back to the UK under the Surinder Singh Route. My husband is british , been working in Spain with a full time job for 6 months and I have an EU residence card as a family member. Could anyone please advise if it is still possible to go to the border and get a a permit there rather than going through the embassy? There has been some slight changes regarding this route as of january 2014.. Any answers would be appreciated..thanks

[chaoclive]

It is still possible but remember that you will need to produce a lot of documentation in order to get the stamp.

I hope that someone else will come and give you more info but it is often a good idea to try to apply for the EEA family permit in advance as that way you won't waste time traveling to the border and possibly getting rejected.

Having said that above, 6 months might be a little too short for a Surinder Singh return. I have heard that it is necessary to stay as long as you can (no actual figure is given in the legislation) and that you need to have transferred the centre of your life to the new country, therefore, you would want to pull together a lot of documents in order to satisfy these requirements. If you search, you will find a few people in the last month who have listed their SS documents.

[Donutz]

According to the EI High Court of Justice 3 months is sufficient, though you ofcourse need to have your center of life in the other EU state. So that means actual ressidency there, finding a job etc. See the ecent case (march-april 2014?) of the ECJ: O v The Netherlands (Case C-456/12). Though I doubt the UK will losen it's requirements untill somebody goes to court over it.