EEA Family Permit while 5-yr residence card is pending

[tommy86]

Hi,

I'm an Italian national and my wife is a US national. This January we applied (and successfully got) an EEA Family Permit for my wife while we were on holiday in Italy and since then we've been living in the UK.

Unfortunately, we decided not to apply right away for a 5-yr residence card because my wife needed to travel frequently outside of the UK so she needed her passport. Long story short, we applied for her 5-yr residence card in June and we're still waiting for a decision to be made.

My wife needs to go back to US in November for a very, very important board exam. Luckily, we have got her passport back and we also already got the Certificate of Application, so she shouldn't have any problems going back.

The problem is that we hope she could come back to the UK after her exam and spend time here for Christmas. Unfortunately, from what I was able to find out online, it seems that she won't be able to come back to the UK unless:

1) Her 5-yr residence permit is approved and I mail that to her
2) She applies for another EEA family permit in the US

The problem with option 1) is that she would like to avoid staying in the US for a long period of time since we're not even sure when we're going to get her visa back.

Regarding option 2) I have no idea where we can apply in the States. I tried to Google this and even went the UK visa website but I could only find sites in Europe.

Can anyone recommend a site where we apply for another EEA family permit in the States (California or Utah are preferred)?

Do you have any other advice to resolve our situation.

[dan1988uk]

Your wife can reapply from the US for an EEA Family permit or you can try travelling back to the UK with her with your marriage certificate asking to enter the country according to the directive 2004/38/EC. The last option can be a tourist stamp, she doesn't require visa to visit the UK as a tourist.

[tommy86]

Thanks! Indeed these are our only options, but I can't figure out where we can apply in the States? I need help with that.

Also, isn't coming back with just a marriage certificate being too risky?

[Richard W]

Also, isn't coming back with just a marriage certificate being too risky?

As visa processing times from the US haven't been updated since the performance in May was posted, it may be your best chance of your wife being back before Christmas.

[wegiwegi]

Thanks! Indeed these are our only options, but I can't figure out where we can apply in the States? I need help with that.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publica ... n-the-usa

[VIETY]

I would advise you not to follow option 2 (applying for a second family permit in the US). I was in a similar situation previously and was advised by an immigration lawyer that having 2 immigration applications sent to the Home Office at the same time will void each other. I have no way to verify this but I decided to follow his advice. On top of that, it has appeared that it takes much longer to apply for a Family Permit at the moment; for some people on this forum, it took months.

I think the best option is for her to fly back to the UK, present the marriage certificate and the COA (I hope she has received it) and seek entry as a family member of an European person. It would be better for two of you to fly together.

[tommy86]

Thanks @Richard, can you be more specific?

And thanks to @wegiwegi, I've seen that page but there's not enough information. Is the only option to mail the application?