Marriage in UK and apply for EEA Family Permit from withinUK

[canadian]

Hello all,

I hold a double citizenship - Canadian and Georgian, and my boyfriend is an EEA national who was been working for a company in UK for over a year now.

Our story is straightfoward - we have been together since September 2014 while living in Switzerland, then in Jan 2014 he had to move to UK for the job. He has come back to Switzerland twice since then to see me, and I have visited him twice in UK after that - once in summer 2015 for a month, and now, since mid December 2015, I am living in UK with him. We have had a trip to his country over Christmas to meet his family, and have gone on a couple of trips together.

We have decided that we want to stay together and get married.

I am here currently on a visitor visa basis - as a holder of a Canadian passport, I can stay cumulatively for 6 months on a rolling 12 months time span basis.

Can we get married in UK while I am here on visitor status, and then apply for the EEA Family Permit from within UK?

I find it difficult, however, to find answer to this simple question on the complicated official UK immigration site. Calling up a couple of immigration lawyers for info did not help. I am getting contradictory information on whether we can get married in UK or not - at the Town Hall, they said that we can come and give notice to marry and then do so at the office (providing all the necessary documents, of course).
However, those immigration lawyers that I called are saying that as a visitor to UK i am not allowed to marry here (WHY?..), and that we must get out of UK to get married, say in Georgia, then apply for the EEA Family Permit there, and then once I am back in UK, apply for the 5 year EEA Family Permit.

The problem is that until August my boyfriend will not be able to travel at all, and we would like to get married here in UK and then apply for the EEA Family Permit from within the UK.

Can someone please advise if we can do it?

Many thanks.

[noajthan]

Sadly you cannot marry on a visitor visa.

Why? Because there are fiance and spouse &/or marriage visas for such purposes.

Ref https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa

You can't

• marry or register a civil partnership, or give notice of marriage or civil partnership

And you can't apply for a FP from within UK either (as its a type of entry visa).

Once married, then yes by all means come back to UK with your EEA sponsor and shoot for a RC.
(You wouldn't need a FP as Canadians are visa-free to enter UK).

[sandy88]

Sadly you cannot marry on a visitor visa.

Why? Because there are fiance and spouse &/or marriage visas for such purposes.

Ref https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa

You can't

• marry or register a civil partnership, or give notice of marriage or civil partnership

And you can't apply for a FP from within UK either (as its a type of entry visa).

Once married, then yes by all means come back to UK with your EEA sponsor and shoot for a RC.
(You wouldn't need a FP as Canadians are visa-free to enter UK).

But Can she not give notice to get married in the UK as her fiance is an EEA national? And Canadian does not need visa to enter in the UK?

[noajthan]

Sadly you cannot marry on a visitor visa.

Why? Because there are fiance and spouse &/or marriage visas for such purposes.

Ref https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa

You can't

• marry or register a civil partnership, or give notice of marriage or civil partnership

And you can't apply for a FP from within UK either (as its a type of entry visa).

Once married, then yes by all means come back to UK with your EEA sponsor and shoot for a RC.
(You wouldn't need a FP as Canadians are visa-free to enter UK).

But Can she not give notice to get married in the UK as her fiance is an EEA national? And Canadian does not need visa to enter in the UK?

My understanding is no.
Only one party is EEA and it takes two to tango.

A 'visa-free' national (Canadian in this case) still has an implied visa of no more than 6 months duration.
Its not about getting into UK its what each category of visa holder can do once in UK.

If everyone could simply marry on a visit visa there would be no point in having the other types of marriage-related visas.

[vinny]

Unfortunately, the visitor rules have apparently become stricter with respect to marriages.

[Richard W]

Because there are fiance and spouse &/or marriage visas for such purposes.

Sadly, the OP is eligible for none of them while her boyfriend remains in the UK.

[noajthan]

Because there are fiance and spouse &/or marriage visas for such purposes.

Sadly, the OP is eligible for none of them while her boyfriend remains in the UK.

It should be glaringly obvious OP needs to leave UK.

[Richard W]

Because there are fiance and spouse &/or marriage visas for such purposes.

Sadly, the OP is eligible for none of them while her boyfriend remains in the UK.

It should be glaringly obvious OP need to leave UK.

How will that help? Which visa do you think could be obtained lawfully?

[noajthan]

I have no idea what OP's game plan or personal preference is (within strait jacket of UK immigration).

Alternately, if OP goes and marries abroad somewhere (there seems to be a Europe connection so possibly Switzerland?) they can easily return to UK under EU rules as a married couple.

[vinny]

Or apply for Marriage Visitor visa from Europe.

[canadian]

Many thanks for the above input, it is highly appreciated.

[Richard W]

Or apply for Marriage Visitor visa from Europe.

Sorry, I had assumed the OP would be refused a marriage visit visa because the couple intend to reside in the UK. I see that that's not prohibited in the Immigration Rules. Presumably one can persuade the Entry Clearance Officer that one will do a visa run (e.g. a day trip to Calais) before the visa expires. I would take a lot of persuading in this case.

[canadian]

Sadly you cannot marry on a visitor visa.

Why? Because there are fiance and spouse &/or marriage visas for such purposes.

Ref https://www.gov.uk/standard-visitor-visa

You can't

• marry or register a civil partnership, or give notice of marriage or civil partnership

And you can't apply for a FP from within UK either (as its a type of entry visa).

Once married, then yes by all means come back to UK with your EEA sponsor and shoot for a RC.
(You wouldn't need a FP as Canadians are visa-free to enter UK).

Dear noajthan,

Could you kindly advise what is 'RC'?

My boyfriend is going to Barbados for work trip, and I will be flying shortly after, we decided to go for a civil marriage there. That is quite a lucky coincidence, as we learnt that Barbados civil marriage procedures are quite simplified, compared to anywhere in Europe.

Does this mean we can come back to UK as a married couple and just apply for a residence for me here, as a member of family? If it's possible, we would prefer to go this route, to avoid all the ticket expenses of me having to fly out of UK again. My 6 months on the rolling 12months basis is up shortly after return from Barbados, would that pose any problems?

Or do I STILL need to get out of UK to go to my country of permanent residence and apply for EEA Family permit from there, to come back?

[canadian]

A question for everyone, please:

I was advised that we do not need to do marriage visitor visa -

We are getting married in Barbados, as my boyfriend is, coincidentally, flying there for work for a couple of weeks.

I will be returning to UK right after Barbados trip, then flying to the country that I am originally from,
and from there applying for EEA Family permit as we will be a married couple at that point.

That's what a lawyer advised is the logical route to go.

However, she was not entirely sure on answers to some questions I asked her.

So, the question is:
After coming from Barbados to UK, can I stay here with my husband and apply for some sort of residence permit from within UK, as we are physically here?
What is this permit called?
Or do I still need to fly out of UK?

The preference is, of course, to avoid loosing all this time and money flying back and forth…
Not to say all the anxiety that all this is causing, awaiting the outcome of the UK immigration authorities. At least if we are together, we can be anxious together and give each other moral support...

Kindly advise.

[vinny]

Apply for RC.

[Richard W]

After coming from Barbados to UK, can I stay here with my husband and apply for some sort of residence permit from within UK, as we are physically here?

In principle, there is no need to apply for anything. In practice, the advice to apply for a residence card is sound; it stops making some people feel obliged to treat you as an illegal immigrant. Except for 'extended family members', people who qualify under the EEA Regulations do not officially, at least at present, need to apply for any certificate, card, permit or visa.

[SkippyKoala]

Hi Canadian
I was wondering what ended up happening with your eea family permit and what route you ended up taking in the end?

I too am in a similar situation as you so keen to understand the best option.

I am Australian and have been with my EU French partner for nearly two years of which half was long distance. However during our long distance stages we have not gone without seeing each other for more than three months.

We have both been living in the UK for the past three and a half months and he has been exercising his treaty rights. As an Australian I am on a no visa requirement for 6 months but with work restrictions so have been relying on my partner for financial purposes.

We will be getting married in France next month February and returning to UK until my 6 months free visa ends in April by which I would have to leave the country.

My questions are as follows:

1) once I am married and enter UK again with my eu husband would I get stamped with the same free visa again?

2) would it mean I would still have to leave the country by April and apply for eea family permit outside of uk?

3) Or given when I come back to UK as a married woman with a still valid visa for one and a half months could I just automatically apply for a residence card?

4) if answer is point 4 can I work while awaiting residency card?

Hoping someone could give me advise.

Thank you

[CR001]

Hi Canadian
I was wondering what ended up happening with your eea family permit and what route you ended up taking in the end?

Kindly start your own topic with your questions. This topic is almost 2 years old and the user has not logged into the forum since mid 2016.