Thought I would share my experience of coming to the UK the other day with my wife, who is from the Philippines and me a Brit working in Spain.
Arrived nice and early at the Brittany Ferries terminal in Bilbao. Ferry employee at the booth was friendly but unsure what to do, asked why she didn't have a visa. In the end he sent us to the terminal building to speak with his manager. I started my pre prepared lecture about treaty rights, direct ect and he interrupted me and just asked to see our marriage certificate. I went to the car and got it. He asked me where I got married and I told him Hong Kong.
Then a Spanish officer of the Policia National arrived who was wearing the uniform of the Spanish Frontier Guard but also had a UK Border Force ID badge around his neck (liaison officer?). He simply looked at the two passports, the Spanish Article 10 RC card, waved his hand and said "vale" (fine) and walked away. They then let us board the ferry.
At Portsmouth we pulled up and the Border Force guy was very friendly but confused. He said "I think she is going to need a visa to be honest", I explained things to him and he suddenly says "I follow you yes, I think you're right actually" he went away to check with someone else and came back with a stamp. He asked for a landing card, I told him we didn't need one, he asked how I had lived in Spain and I said "nearly a year". Then he stamped the passport with a stamp which says "admitted to the United Kingdom under EEA Regulations for...." with 6 months written in pen. I asked him if he could mark it with "work allowed" and he said they couldn't issue the old Code 1A stamps anymore and it has been replaced with.
Whole thing took about 5 minutes didn't get out the car, very pleasant and he even wished me a heartfelt "welcome back to Britain mate" as I drove off.
Not what I was expecting!
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