Extended family member of a British citizen

[driftkid]

Hi guys, I have another question I know this the best place to ask for advice as you already gave me a big help when I was applying my family's visa.
I am a British citizen by descent and my wife and 2 daughters are Filipino citizen, we were resident in Italy, they used the EEA2 family permit to enter the UK, and after that they have the RC.
Now my question is..
Is there any way we can apply for a visa for my mother in law? who is in the Philippines right now (Filipino citizen) and she is depending on our financial support.

[geriatrix]

No.

[driftkid]

Is there any other way? that we can get her here.

[noajthan]

Is there any other way? that we can get her here.

Conventional routes into UK would be either for purposes of work (Tier 2 visa route), study (Tier 4 visa) or family settlement (eg fiance/spousal type visas).
In the circumstances you have outlined none may be appropriate for your case.

The remaining solution would be to retrace your footsteps under the Surinder Singh route via a.n.other EU country.

(You obviously know all about it & may also still have connections or affinity with Italy).

But be aware that, this time, due to HO playing hardball with its controversial 'centre of life' requirements you would probably have to uproot whole family from UK.

To succeed in returning to UK with Lola mother-in-law at some future point in time, you would also have to demonstrate the support/dependency &/or membership of your household on the part of your mother-in-law.

If this is a viable option for you then do be careful about breaking your other family members' continuity of residence in UK.

It may be prudent to wait until they have at least acquired PR in UK (or else the holy grail of citizenship).

Mabuhay!

[noajthan]

PS note that mother in law is a direct family member under EU rules, not an extended family member.

The devil is in the detail but if this is going to work out at all then much better for her that she is a direct family member.

[noajthan]

An interesting question: does the dependent need to have lived in an EEA country?

Especially as you have served your time under SS and so, as head of household, are already entitled to be treated as an 'EEA national'.
(Maybe no need to go back to Italy for a second round of SS!).

Dependency
A child aged 21 or over and any relatives in the ascending family line must prove they are
dependent on the EEA national sponsor or their spouse or civil partner.

Where dependency is necessary, the family member does not need to be living or have lived in an EEA state where the EEA national sponsor also lives or has lived. Their dependency on the EEA national sponsor does not need to have existed before they came to the UK.

This follows from the Court of Appeal judgment in the Pedro case,

Ref page 17 of this HO guidance on direct family members:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v3_0.pdf

The only question would be how to obtain a FP for the applicant's initial entry into UK.

[secret.simon]

Especially as you have served your time under SS and so, as head of household, are already entitled to be treated as an 'EEA national'.
(Maybe no need to go back to Italy for a second round of SS!).

I disagree.

Surinder Singh only applies if the dependent joins you in another EEA country and family life is created or strengthened as a result. If you have exercised SS at some point in the past, you can bring in your family members via that route while you were exercising treaty rights in the other EEA country, but once you are back in the UK, your rights as an EEA citizen for the purposes of immigration law terminate.

I am unable to locate it at the moment, but there is a judgement of the ECJ that states that SS only arises when family life is intertwined with exercise of EEA treaty rights. If either element is missing, SS fails.

[noajthan]

Especially as you have served your time under SS and so, as head of household, are already entitled to be treated as an 'EEA national'.
(Maybe no need to go back to Italy for a second round of SS!).

I disagree.

Surinder Singh only applies if the dependent joins you in another EEA country and family life is created or strengthened as a result. If you have exercised SS at some point in the past, you can bring in your family members via that route while you were exercising treaty rights in the other EEA country, but once you are back in the UK, your rights as an EEA citizen for the purposes of immigration law terminate.

I am unable to locate it at the moment, but there is a judgement of the ECJ that states that SS only arises when family life is intertwined with exercise of EEA treaty rights. If either element is missing, SS fails.

I believe you may be thinking of a case involving an uncle & nephew ie extended family members.
In such a case, agreed, it is clear a 3rd EU country has to be involved & both parties have to have lived there for SS to fly.

My initial response to OP was to suggest retracing his SS steps eg via Italy.
Legally that would make a much more straightforward case (if the physical & practical logistics can be achieved 2nd time around).

My second thought is based on the fact that (having exercised SS) the OP is now considered an EEA national.

The Pedro case determined that prior dependency (etc) is not a prerequisite for a direct family member (as a mother-in-law is).

Ofcourse in Pedro the appellant was Portugese and had gained entry to UK in her own right.
She did not have to have lived elsewhere & the court found in her favour vis a vis dependency on her son (who was exercising treaty rights in UK).

As already mentioned, for a non-EEA national the challenge is to gain entry to UK in first place.

[secret.simon]

My second thought is based on the fact that (having exercised SS) the OP is now considered an EEA national.

I disagree with this statement.

Having exercised SS, the OP would be considered an EEA national only in relation to the application for those family members with which he strengthened or created family life in another EEA country. In relation to all other family members, he is a UK citizen in the UK (i.e. all other family applications will be under the UK Immigration Route).

If he wishes to bring anybody else under SS, he will need to "rinse and repeat" the SS process in its entirety.

Also see Page 38 of the caseworker guidance on direct family members of EEA nationals.