Advice on Eu family and residence

[MissL]

Hello, my husband is a uk citizen. I am canadian. we just came back to europe from abroad. we settled in germany, for no particular reason except we fancied berlin. he didnt have work yet when we arrived a month ago.
we now are both residents, and i have a 5 year family permit and the right to work.
however, he has gotten work in holland, so travels there for work. he works offshore, 2 weeks on two weeks off for a dutch company. he pays dutch taxes.
now we are worried, are we allowed to be living here in germany?
if he actually works in holland , do we have the right to live here?
i know he does, but me, as exercising the family rights of a eu citizen, do i have the right to live here, or do we have to live in holland?
we only just got here, so its not too hard to move, but to be honest , we prefer berlin and dont want to leave.
he will be getting his pay into a german bank account, but taxed in holland. he works only 6 months out of the year, 2 weeks on two weeks off and travels home.
any advice is appreciated.
we need to know quickly what we need to do!
cheers!

[86ti]

I think if your husband returns home regularly he may actually be a cross border worker and therefore may still be considered resident in Germany. So you should be fine. The real problem may be the taxation but I believe tax residence does not necessarily equal to residence=place where you live (it may be more of a problem which country is actually supposed to receive the tax).

You may want to ask this question on a German forum or get legal advice form a German lawyer specialised in EU law or maybe ask your local Ausländerbehörde.

[MissL]

thank you very much for your reply, i will now try and ask a german lawyer. cheers!

[stmellon]

MissL, you have your 5 year visa so you are allowed to live in Germany, regardless of where your husband is working.

You also enjoy the same EU rights as your British husband (ie. freedom of travel, residence and work within the EU) - you should have a browse through the Directive 2004/38/EC thread.

[lifeart]

No, as a 3rd country national that is resident in the EU because of their EU-national spouse, you only have the right to remain in Germany together WITH your husband. If he lives and works primarily in Holland you cannot stay in Germany as a resident. You can, however, easily move to Holland from an immigration law perspective, because Holland will apply the same easy access to you as relative of an EU citizen

[Ben]

No, as a 3rd country national that is resident in the EU because of their EU-national spouse, you only have the right to remain in Germany together WITH your husband. If he lives and works primarily in Holland you cannot stay in Germany as a resident. You can, however, easily move to Holland from an immigration law perspective, because Holland will apply the same easy access to you as relative of an EU citizen

Spouse can also remain in Germany while EU national is temporarily absent due to working (as a frontier worker) in another Member State.

[MissL]

Hi thanks for the replies. My husband is not living in Holland, he is working for a Dutch company, out in the north sea actually. He goes away working for 2 weeks, and comes home to Germany to our house for two weeks, every month.
So it sounds like were ok, as we do reside here?
CHeers

[lifeart]

Sounds like he is a "border- crosser" (Grenzgänger): living in Germany, but working "across the border" in Holland without any residency in Holland. I hope I understand this correctly. If this is correct, you should not have a problem with your German EU-residency

[MissL]

exactly, this is what hes doing, and im relieved to hear we can stay here, we like berlin! thank you everyone for your replies,
cheers!