Non-EU spouse of Irish citizen - query

[emmeteeny]

Hey folks,

My wife and I currently live in the Middle East. I'm Irish and she's Indian, and we were married in Ireland last summer. We plan on moving to London in May or sooner, and I've been applying for a lot of jobs there over the past few weeks.

From my understanding, under EU law, I am free to move and work in London but my wife can only do so after we arrive together in the country on a spouse visa for her, she applies for a temporary residence permit, and six months later if a temporary residence permit is granted, she can begin working.

However, how will the above be affected by Brexit? Considering that the Common Travel Area between Ireland and UK will exist after Brexit, am I at an advantage? Or should I try to move before the March deadline?

Any advice would be great. Thanks.

[emmeteeny]

Anyone? Thanks!

[secret.simon]

a) Apply for a Family Permit for your wife. Arrive in the UK with her.
b) Apply for a Residence Card for her asap after arrival. As the spouse of an EEA citizen, she should receive a CoA (Certificate of Application) with the right to work within a few weeks. She can use that to start working.

how will the above be affected by Brexit?

The Great Unknown. If the current UK-EU deal is approved (currently looks very unlikely), EU law continued to apply to the UK till about 2021. If we crash out without a deal, the rights of EEA citizens and their family members will be as granted by the UK government.

Considering that the Common Travel Area between Ireland and UK will exist after Brexit, am I at an advantage? Or should I try to move before the March deadline?

You are at an advantage. Irish citizens are treated as being on par with British citizens under UK domestic law. But that extends only to Irish citizens themselves, not their non-Irish spouses, who may still need to meet the much tougher requirements of the UK Immigration Rules for spouses of British citizens.

[emmeteeny]

Thanks for the reply. I guess we shall wait and see!

[clyons87]

Hi, I am in a similar situation just a little bit further along. My Japanese wife and I moved to UK a few months ago. We have the spousal permit and are in the very early process of applying for the residence card for her.
I would be happy to help if you have any questions relating to the spousal visa.
WRT your wife's employment, having read a forum board article somewhere I was of under the impression that she can work on the 6 month spousal visa. An employer may not look as favourably on her if there is a similar candidate. She (and you) will have to apply for national insurance numbers once you have an address in UK. This requires an interview at a local office. You can work without NI number but would require to have it 3 months after commencing employment.

If Secret Simon is still following the thread I would appreciate some advice regarding the residence card application. The application form seems pretty straight forward. As an Irish citizen only working here since August I am a 'qualified person@, I believe, (as opposed to an EEA national who has a permanent right of residence in the UK.)
I believe the permanent right of residence can be applied for once someone has been living and working in the UK for 3 years.

[secret.simon]

As an Irish citizen only working here since August I am a 'qualified person@, I believe, (as opposed to an EEA national who has a permanent right of residence in the UK.)

Correct.

I believe the permanent right of residence can be applied for once someone has been living and working in the UK for 3 years.

5 years, not 3 years.

WRT your wife's employment, having read a forum board article somewhere I was of under the impression that she can work on the 6 month spousal visa.

There is some disagreement as to whether one can work on a Family Permit. She has the legal right to do so. However, employers need to check for a "statutory excuse" when hiring somebody. A Residence Card and a Certificate of Application are listed as statutory excuses, Family Permits are not on the list.

[emmeteeny]

Thanks to you both for your responses. We're thinking that we will fly just before the March 29 Brexit deadline. That makes sense, right?

[clyons87]

I'm not sure if it matters when you arrive as Ireland has its preexisting treaty with UK. In saying that I don't really know. Probably best to

Can I ask what are you doing for healthcare? Is a spouse of Irish citizen entitled to free healthcare on nhs? You cannot apply for immigration health surcharge till you are applying for a stay of greater than 6 months. I'm on the website now and there is no option on the drop down menu for residence card. Just Tier 1,2,3 visas, further leave to remain options or points based system. Which would residence card for a spouse fall under.

I had probably wrongly assumed that my non eea wife had nhs cover based on my being eea/Irish once her spousal permit was approved. Do people get health insurance from their own country or from company in UK while awaiting residence card? Without cover the NHS can be used but at x1.5 cost price

[CR001]

I'm not sure if it matters when you arrive as Ireland has its preexisting treaty with UK. In saying that I don't really know. Probably best to

Can I ask what are you doing for healthcare? Is a spouse of Irish citizen entitled to free healthcare on nhs? You cannot apply for immigration health surcharge till you are applying for a stay of greater than 6 months. I'm on the website now and there is no option on the drop down menu for residence card. Just Tier 1,2,3 visas, further leave to remain options or points based system. Which would residence card for a spouse fall under.

I had probably wrongly assumed that my non eea wife had nhs cover based on my being eea/Irish once her spousal permit was approved. Do people get health insurance from their own country or from company in UK while awaiting residence card? Without cover the NHS can be used but at x1.5 cost price

There is no IHS fee payable for applications made under the EEA rules, not for an EEA family permit or for the EEA Residence card.

IHS fee is only payable for applications made under the UK immigration rules.

Your non EU spouse is allowed to use the NHS service for free.

Note it is not called a spousal permit. A spouse visa is completely different to the EEA FP or EEA RC.

[clyons87]

Are you sure?
That'd be great. We got a letter asking the missus to attend a meeting with someone in finance department of hospital to assess if we have to pay fees. We couldn't find be anything official online saying she was covered.
I'm working in NHS funnily enough so rang finance department and the lady working there didn't know but said she thought we'd gave to pay. She's said she'd look into it and let me know.