Getting my wife back home to London

[Erik84]

My wife (who is the non-EEA national and a visa national) is currently in Dublin and has no family permit or visa for the UK. She holds a EUFAM Stamp 4 for Ireland as we used to live there, and a COA for the UK - her EEA2 application made on 20th Nov 2012 is pending.

Now the problem is, how does she get back to home to London?

Im thinking the options are:

1) Apply for a family permit at the UK embassy in Dublin. The downside of this is that it takes a while, that as we sent in originals in the EEA2 application Im not sure we'll have all the documents required. Also, I have heard that the whole EEA2 application must be done from scratch if one leaves the UK and applies for a family permit. This might just be a rumour though.

2) We travel together to Northern Ireland and get to the mainland from there. I've checked with Stena Line and UKBA and it seems my wife can travel between NI and the rest of the UK with photo id, a COA and a UK utility bill. However, it wouldnt be great if there is a control when travelling from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland.

3) My wife waits in Dublin until the UK RC is issued. It will be issued on an A4 that I can bring to Dublin.

4) Try flying or taking a ferry directly from Dublin to the UK mainland/London. Might or might not be allowed boarding. Would actually like to try just to see what happens. I asked Air France if my wife would be allowed to board a flight to London from Dublin, but they never gave a clear answer.




----------------------------------------
EEA2 Application sent: 20/11/2012
Received by UKBA: 21/11/2012
COA received: 27/11/2012 (dated 23/11/2012)
Passports requested: 4/12/12
Passports received: 14/12/12
RC received: Still waiting

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Your wife does not need leave to enter or remain in the UK if you are a EU citizen exercising treaty rights there (or perhaps returning under Singh).

The problem can be convincing a travel company that this is the case. If you made your own travel arrangements to UK territory, you would not have this issue.

[flipper77]

My wife (who is the non-EEA national and a visa national) is currently in Dublin and has no family permit or visa for the UK. She holds a EUFAM Stamp 4 for Ireland as we used to live there, and a COA for the UK - her EEA2 application made on 20th Nov 2012 is pending.

Now the problem is, how does she get back to home to London?

Im thinking the options are:

1) Apply for a family permit at the UK embassy in Dublin. The downside of this is that it takes a while, that as we sent in originals in the EEA2 application Im not sure we'll have all the documents required. Also, I have heard that the whole EEA2 application must be done from scratch if one leaves the UK and applies for a family permit. This might just be a rumour though.

2) We travel together to Northern Ireland and get to the mainland from there. I've checked with Stena Line and UKBA and it seems my wife can travel between NI and the rest of the UK with photo id, a COA and a UK utility bill. However, it wouldnt be great if there is a control when travelling from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland.

3) My wife waits in Dublin until the UK RC is issued. It will be issued on an A4 that I can bring to Dublin.

4) Try flying or taking a ferry directly from Dublin to the UK mainland/London. Might or might not be allowed boarding. Would actually like to try just to see what happens. I asked Air France if my wife would be allowed to board a flight to London from Dublin, but they never gave a clear answer.




----------------------------------------
EEA2 Application sent: 20/11/2012
Received by UKBA: 21/11/2012
COA received: 27/11/2012 (dated 23/11/2012)
Passports requested: 4/12/12
Passports received: 14/12/12
RC received: Still waiting

I travelled from Dublin to Holyhead on Irish Ferries just after Christmas, and didn't need to show ANY ID at any point.

[wiggsy]

i assume since you lived in ireland, you used the singh route?

ukba staff must give you every reasonable chance to provide documentation... if this means she wait at the port, whilst you drive home to collect documents (which i assume are actually with Euro Liverpool?) then they must check the documents ETC...

UKBA port can check on CID to see if an application is in place...

do you have proof of excersising treaty rights still? - any payslips etc? - perhaps you could get a letter from previous employer to avoid hassles...

but like flipper said, CTA has next to no border security... (obviously, if you try to "risk it" then your the one who gets checked though...)

[Erik84]

I travelled from Dublin to Holyhead on Irish Ferries just after Christmas, and didn't need to show ANY ID at any point.

Interesting. I travelled the same route in 2007 and I think I had to show my passport. Well, we might give it a try.

[Erik84]

i assume since you lived in ireland, you used the singh route?

ukba staff must give you every reasonable chance to provide documentation... if this means she wait at the port, whilst you drive home to collect documents (which i assume are actually with Euro Liverpool?) then they must check the documents ETC...

UKBA port can check on CID to see if an application is in place...

do you have proof of excersising treaty rights still? - any payslips etc? - perhaps you could get a letter from previous employer to avoid hassles...

but like flipper said, CTA has next to no border security... (obviously, if you try to "risk it" then your the one who gets checked though...)

No, no Singh route. Im Swedish. And Sweden has this nice feature that the marriage certificate is a extract of the population register. It can be requested in English at any time, so I have an original with me and the UKBA have another original I sent them with the EEA2 application.

I do have UK payslips and a council tax bill in both our names.

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

If you were asked to demonstrate entitlement to enter the UK it would be very easy for a Swedish national along with spouse together with a marriage certificate to demonstrate entitlement on the spot. You would not encounter problems with the authorities in either Ireland or the UK.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

It is worth reading through http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/08 ... to-travel/

It outlines your wife's legal right to enter even if some body claims she needs a visa.

[Erik84]

It is worth reading through http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/08 ... to-travel/

It outlines your wife's legal right to enter even if some body claims she needs a visa.

Yeah, that site was my starting point. I have prepared a pack with Article 5, MRAX vs Belgium, Regulation 11 and everything to bring along.

Im still not sure which of the options 1) to 4) to choose though. I think we can exclude 3) "waiting for the RC in Dublin", but for the rest I don't know.

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

2 and 4 look fine to me. With 2, you are less likely to run into problems with travel company.

You are allowed to be in Ireland together; you are allowed to be in the UK together.

[Erik84]

Update:

My wife and I took the route via Northern Ireland at the end. Car from Dublin to Larne and then ferry to Cairnryan in Scotland. We showed our passports to the lady at counter selling ferry tickets. She said she didnt need those, only our names, and that was it - there were no checks at all neither in Northern Ireland, nor on arrival in Scotland.

All in all quite a long trip, but relatively stress free, and a lot better than being refused boarding at Dublin airport.

[EUsmileWEallsmile]

Good to hear you're back in London.