Withdrawal agreement and rights of dependent family members of EU citizens

[input-output]

Hi everyone

i originally posted in the Irish thread (ireland/are-dependent-family-members-of ... 41016.html) and realise that, to my surprise, this is more of a question in the UK thread, specifically the protection of rights of dependent family members of EU citizens under Withdrawal agreement.

My mother is a dependent family member of an Irish citzen and resides in Northern Ireland. She was previously recognised as a dependent family member of an Irish citzen and issued with Article 10 residence card before it expired and was exchnaged for US SS scheme BRP. Her dependency was established as part of the successful immigration appeal, and continues to date. As of recent, she hold a settled status.

We wanted to apply for an Irish visa for toursm purposes which include day trips to Ireland, as well travel from Dublin airport, accompanied by the Irish citizen. An irish embassy advised that my mother is not a beneficiary of EU law and cannot obtain a free visa because UK left the EU.

In effect, i want to establish what level of protection of rights of dependent family members of EU ctizens residing in the UK does Withdrawal agreement provide?

[secret.simon]

The Withdrawal Agreement is not part of EU law, but a treaty between the EU and a third party country (the UK).

It preserves certain specific rights of people who had exercised them before 31st December 2020. But it does not preserve the entire status quo ante.

As an example, British citizens who had exercised their freedom of movement before 31st December 2020 continue to have a right to continue residence in the country they were resident in on that date. But they do not have a right to freedom of movement in any other EEA member-state, until they become a citizen of another current EEA member-state. So, if they were resident in Germany on that date, they can reside in Germany, but no other EEA member-state, until they get German (or some other EEA member-state) citizenship.

So, as you can see, the Withdrawal Agreement preserves many rights, but it does not preserve everything as before Brexit.

Your mother's pre-settled status is a matter of UK law under the Withdrawal Agreement, not EU law.

From an Irish point of view, she is a non-EEA (presumably) citizen resident in another non-EEA country (the UK) and therefore may require a visit visa, if that is what Irish law states.

Note that the above is my interpretation and somebody more au fait with EU law and the Withdrawal Agreement in this context, such as @Obie, @meself2 and @littlerr may have a different or more precise interpretation.

[Obie]

This case raises an interesting legal point, which has not been addressed by any caselaw from the CJEU.

If a person resides in an EEA state, which cease to be an EEA state in the course of their residence.

If those individuals chooses to return to their state of origin after departure of the Host state from the Union, will they still be covered by Surinder Singh.

I agree that as the law stands, the Article 10 Residence card will not be valid and hence can't be used. EU Settlement Scheme card is not an EEA Residence card.