Meeting Financial Requirement with non-Eu spouse's pension

[guardship]

My Eu wife and I (US Citizen) wish to move to either Italy or France. Does my pension (over 3,000 euros equivalent), satisfy the requirement that the Eu spouse be either employed or have enough assets in order for us to stay more than 3 months?

[gokulatti]

Hi, for an EU citizen to be able to live in another host member for more than 6 months your wife should be exercising her treaty rights by being either 1. employed 2. self employed 3. study 4. person living with sufficient funds etc

I believe you are asking if your wife falls under 4. person living with sufficient funds (but from YOUR pension) for which, you should refer to "Article 7 of Directive 2004/38". however, I think you can show enough savings for you as a couple to be able to live in the host member state by means of say, savings in a joint account or however you see fit. there is not an exact number of funds that you should show, this is done on a case by case basis, the important point is that you don't become a burden to the host state and you are self sufficient.

[guardship]

Thanks for the reply. I may have not been clear, but the pension is a monthly payment, not 3000 in savings. If we have a joint bank account in which the pension is deposited each month, is that sufficient funds for her, and thus allow me to "join her"?

[gokulatti]

To be honest I am not sure if YOUR pension can be used to show that your wife falls under person living with own funds in order to exercise her treaty rights. However 3000e a month is more than enough to be self sufficient for a couple. I think you should not face any problems to get started, as a US citizen you do not need an entry visa. I would suggest you and your wife plan to move and your wife can start off by registering as a job seeker if she can, for the first 6 months after moving. And this should be enough time to sort out everything. I would suggest you call the immigration authorities in the host member state and this should give you an idea what they expect.

[mgb]

Due to the Zhu and Chen ECJ ruling C-200/02 section 30 it doesn't matter where the financial resources are coming from for the self sufficient status of the eu citizen.
Additional health insurance for both is needed after 3 month.