A few questions about EEA family permit

[Taytay]

I've been reading this forum quite extensively over the past week and still uncertain about a fee things. There's different answers on each thread, that's why I'm confused.

1. My EEA wife and I currently live in the UK. I've noticed some people have been applying for EEA1 and 2 permits simultaneously. Are we allowed to do this? Are we supposed to leave the UK if we apply for EEA1?

2. My wife is a EHIC holder and I understand this qualifies as CSI for her, as long as we state our residency is temporary (she's a student and has 2 more years left for her degree). What kind of residency card will we obtain if we state our residence is temporary? Is it the 5 year card? Should we state how long we intend to stay in the application or just write that it's temporary? What if we decide to stay longer in the end?

3. I understand she needs to prove she has necessary funds for her as a student and me as a dependent. She pays for school and living by way of savings, student loan and part time work. Should we provide respective documents for all of these? Is there some sort of threshold of funds that we must meet for the application to be accepted?

Thanks for your help!

[chaoclive]

1. Of course you can apply for EEA1+EEA2 at the same time. You may be confused between EEA1 and the EEA family permit.

2. Apply for EEA2 as normal. Just state that your planned residence is temporary and that you will be using the EHIC during this temp period of residence. I would guess that they would give you a 5 year residence card. If you change later, they will definitely look at what your wife was doing after the temp period is over. They MAY say that since your residence wasn't temp it may be necessary to have CSI. I'm not really sure about this but if you wanted to be safe, you could consider a cheap CSI just to cover all bases.

3. If she is working part time for about 15 hours per week she would be qualified as a worker. This would be SOOOO much easier than the situation that you mention above with CSI/EHIC etc. I'd recommend that you try the employment route. Keep all payslips/contract etc. I don't think that there any specific amounts to prove that you are self-sufficient/able to support both of you as a student.

Sorry I'm not a master of the EEA route, but I'd reccommend that you consider applying as a worker.

Good luck!

[Taytay]

Thanks for the tips! I think we'll pursue the worker route. Do you know if we can apply separately under both routes (worker and student) Is that allowed? Just as a back up plan I guess.

Also, is 15 hours a week the minimum? Does she have to earn a certain wage? For how long before we apply must she prove that she's been working 15 hours a week consistently? Would one month b sufficient?