Spouse questions

[Toto]

Hi everyone on the forum.

I have been 1 month in the UK. I’m a EU citizen from Portugal, although I lived all my live in Venezuela, South America where I graduated as a Doctor – Bachelor in Medicine and then got my specialist degree in Orthopaedics there. My wife who is from Venezuela (she’s a nurse) and I decided to emigrate to Europe firstly arriving in Portugal where I spent 2 months and she recently applied for rights of residence there.

To make this short will just pinpoint the facts and ask the questions.

Facts
- I’m EU citizen(Portuguese) Doctor (no rights of practise her) looking for work.
- Looking for temp. work while I do paperwork for recognition of medical degree.
- I live in UK with my sister who has been here 10 years. Own house-3B.room
- My sisters married, 2 small children. 5 years and 15 months, same sex
- My wife from Venezuela a nurse is in Portugal, applying for residence there.
- I am married for 11 years, no children.
- I’m 40y she’s 38y. Have birth and marriage certificates originales.

Questions.
- How can my wife come over and stay with me,?
- How would she be able to study or work? Needs to learn English first of all.
- Do birth and marriage certificates have time limits of validity (6months?)
- If she came over to visit me with a plane ticket with return date, say in 21 days, could she stay longer, and fly back 2 o 3 months later, does it affect/infringe any law.
-If she comes,visits me(tourist)needed medical attention, could she get it.(just in case)
-What would be the best way to do any application process, through lawyers here, or on my/here own?

Thanks

Toto

[John]

So Toto, you are a Portuguese citizen, and therefore also a citizen of the EU and EEA. You are married and your wife is a Venezuelan citizen.

Under EU/EEA legislation you personally are entitled to live and work in the UK. Your third-country family member also has the same rights as you, but needs an EEA Family Permit in her passport in order to prove it.

If your wife is now living in Portugal she should apply at the British Embassy in Lisbon. Check out British Embassy, Lisbon, visa webpage

The form to use is the VAF1 and the application fee for applying for an EEA Family Permit is NIL! This is because of EU/EEA legislation.

A quick look at the requirements will show that not only is an EEA Family Permit free it is also much easier to get than a visa.

[Toto]

Thanks for the info, John.

She only recently applied for residency in Portugal that's going to take a long time, the is their with my parents, is there another way of going around. Also I would like to know if anybody has advice for the other questions I posted.

Thanks

Toto

[bash_h]

Toto,

Any application to the British Embassy for an EEA family permit will need her passport at least, along with your passport and marriage certificate (with translation if applicable)

If this is currently with the Portugese authorities in the view of getting a Portugese residence permit, then Im afraid it will have to wait until you get it back from them, then you may apply for an EEA permit.

On the other hand, if you havent applied for her portugese residence, why dont you just go ahead and bring her to the UK, after a minimum period has past (usually 6 months or so) if ever you do move back to portugal, you may apply for a similar portugese EEA permit and use that as a basis of residency for her stay in Portugal. Getting an EEA permit requires a minimum amount of hassle & paperwork and will save you money too.

Im currently in the process of doing this in reverse to you (ie. getting out of the UK and into an EU country along with my non-EU spouse) so I know all this can be too much detail to take in at once, but you'll get the hang of it. All the best!