Post
by macncheese » Sat Feb 15, 2014 6:56 pm
Hi everyone, you all seem very well informed, so I was hoping to ask some advice.
I'm a US citizen living and working in the UK on a tier 1 post study work visa, due to expire end of March. A few months ago I married a Polish national, who lives with me and also works here. So I did what seemed natural, I went to the UKBA website, clicked 'visas and immigration', and found my way to the FLR(M) visa, which seemed appropriate since it was for 'partners of British nationals or settled persons'. What is a settled person, exactly? I went to the UKBA's glossary: "You are normally resident in the United Kingdom with no immigration restriction on the length of your stay. To be free of immigration restriction you must have the right of abode or indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom." That seemed to describe my wife's situation pretty well as an EU citizen living in London.
So with time winding down on my post-study work visa, I paid 953 pounds for a PEO appointment in Croydon. The case worker asked if I had any docs to prove that my wife had been 'exercising her treaty rights' to live in the UK for at least the past 5 years. She doesn't; she's been here 4 years. This 5-year requirement was news to me; it's listed NOWHERE in the application, the guidance notes, or any other relevant place. What I then learned, of course, is that I should never have been going for an FLR(M), but rather an EEA2. Never occurred to me to look under the 'European Nationals' section of the UKBA website. Why would I?
As I now understand it, I technically don't need a 'visa' at all; I have an automatic right to live and work here as the spouse of a non-British EU national who also lives and works here. These EEA2 residence cards are provided just for convenience so that border agents and employers won't hassle you. So, my first question, is this correct?
Secondly, like surely all of you, I'm not happy about giving up my passport and my wife's ID card for 4-6 months. So, question 2: when I send these in for the RC, can I request that they be immediately returned, and will they still process the RC and issue it eventually?
A potential workaround (at least for me, not wife) is that since my US passport is due to expire in a year anyway, I could send it off to the UKBA for the RC, and then report my passport as lost to the US embassy and get a new one (using US driver's license and birth certificate). That might require traveling with two passports in the future (the valid one, and the one with the RC in it), but that's not a big deal. My understanding is that the RC is not 'tied' to the passport that contains it. Question 3: any reason why this might be a bad idea?
Question 4: my wife and I had plans to travel to Ireland at the beginning of April, just after my visa expires. If I either (a) get a new passport by then or (b) use my current passport with the expired visa in it, how much hassle should I expect upon re-entering the UK? I would be sure to bring my marriage certificate and proof of my wife's employment along with us.
Lastly, I'll certainly be filing a complaint about the unnecessary loss of my 953 pounds for the FLR(M) -- it's grossly misleading at best, and a deliberate fraud at worst -- but I'm not holding my breath for a refund.
If anyone can shine some light on any of the questions above I'd be very appreciative!