T5 YMS > EEA Family Permit

[Patrick_D]

Hi all,

I'm hoping for some advice to help my wife please. Apologies if this has been answered previously - I've done by best to filter through older threads. Thanks in advance for your responses

I'm Australian, living unrestricted in the UK on a UK passport. I can also apply for an Irish passport. My wife is Australian, living in the UK on a T5 YMS visa, and we would like to stay past the two years this allows.

I believe the simple (but expensive) route to allow us to stay would be to apply for a Spouse visa for my wife through my UK passport. Doing so, from within the UK, with the Health Surcharge will be £2k-£3k total I believe. I'm wondering if there is any way to avoid this fee by...

Firstly, applying myself for an Irish passport which only costs around £50. Then, have my wife then apply for an EEA Family Permit of an Irish person which is free. It seems like a great idea on the surface but I'm sure it can't be that easy!

I'm concerned about a few things that I'd love your input on:
1) It says that T5 YMS visas don't allow you to extend your stay / switch to another visa. Does that rule out applying for a EEA family permit? Or is this a different category to consider?
2) If above is ok, can my wife apply for an EEA family permit from within the UK while still on the T5? I see mixed messages on the Gov website.
3) I entered the UK originally on my UK passport - not the Irish passport - hence I'm wondering if this looks like I'm not following the rules as I'd be calling myself an EEA citizen when I'm living on a UK passport?

Just to clear up one point - my wife needs to apply from the UK as she doesn't have enough annual leave to go back to Australia, apply and wait for a visa or permit before returning again.

Thanks for telling me if what I'm suggesting is either a terrible idea or a clever one haha! I'm thinking the former but it's so expensive that I'd happily try to avoid the fee if I could!

Appreciate all your input,

Patrick

[Wanderer]

You can't use the Irish route for EEA immigration as dual Brit/Éire citizens in UK are treated as British only for immigration purposes. The way round this is renounce your British Citizenship.

Or, relocate to EU and live and work there for about 12 months and return to UK under Surinder Singh route, mind you, with Brexit etc and the general SS squeeze chances are that won't work.

So it's UK route or Irish/EEA if you renounce UK citizenship realistically.

I don't know how long it takes to renounce citizenship, but I'd imagine it's not quick.

[Richard W]

I don't know how long it takes to renounce citizenship, but I'd imagine it's not quick.

It was taking about 6 months at the time of the referendum from application to release from citizenship. There was a long-running thread that petered out, presumably as doubts about the availability of the EEA route rose.

[Patrick_D]

Thanks Wanderer and Richard W for your kind help!

If I was to renounce UK citizenship to pursue the Irish route, do you happen to know if we could switch from a T5 YMS visa to an EEA Family Permit? When I read that the T5 YMS doesn't allow extension or switching to another visa, I'm not sure if the Family Permit is technically considered of this category? And I'm not sure if we can do this from the UK or if my wife needs to leave the country while the application is processed.

Thanks for clarifying if you or anyone else reading this thread does know


Patrick

[Richard W]

If I was to renounce UK citizenship to pursue the Irish route, do you happen to know if we could switch from a T5 YMS visa to an EEA Family Permit?

Basically, yes you can. She would then apply for a residence card - EEA(FM); she would not have to leave the UK. (A family permit must be applied for from overseas.)