RE: EEA Visa Extension

[jjpmcat]

Hello everyone.

I firstly apologise if this question has been asked before. I am a citizen of Northern Ireland. My husband received his EEA visa last Thursday (date on visa is 29th September). The visa is valid for six months. I have checked on gov.uk regarding applying to extend the visa or apply for the 5 year visa, however I keep getting redirected to apply for the EEA visa (which we already have). Is it possible to extend this visa or does anyone know what visa it can be switched to?
Sorry if this question has been asked several times before.

Thank you

[kamoe]

My husband received his EEA visa last Thursday (date on visa is 29th September). The visa is valid for six months.

6-months EEA documents are not visas. They are called Family Permits. You cannot "extend" a Family Permit. This is the beginning of your confusion.

I have checked on gov.uk regarding applying to extend the visa or apply for the 5 year visa, however I keep getting redirected to apply for the EEA visa (which we already have).

Just to double check what you are doing, can you please share the link you are using?

Is it possible to extend this visa or does anyone know what visa it can be switched to?

No, you don't extend family permits. As of today, the next step after a family permit is applying to the EU Settlement Scheme.

[jjpmcat]

Thank you for your reply. Yes, this is where my confusion started, I though the family permit was a visa. I will proceed to apply via the EU Settlement Scheme. Will he have to submit his biometrics again or will the biometrics he provided when he applied for the family permit suffice?

Thank you

[kamoe]

Thank you for your reply. Yes, this is where my confusion started, I though the family permit was a visa. I will proceed to apply via the EU Settlement Scheme. Will he have to submit his biometrics again or will the biometrics he provided when he applied for the family permit suffice?

Thank you

In normal times, people were always required to submit new biometrics every time they applied to a new biometric card, so the answer to your questio would be that he would need to provide biometrics again (I have given biometrics more than 4 times).

However, covid has changed quite a few things and the HO has changed their minds about how much they can recycle old biometric details. They used to ask people to give new biometrics to replace EEA card by EUSS card, now I understand they don't. Point is, the fact that something was done one way doesn't mean it is still done that way.

So... the best answer to your question is, just follow the indications, they will let you know if he needs to submit new biometrics or not.