Able to Travel? divorced from EEA national ROR pending

[meljnlondon]

Dear All,

I think this is a wonderful site - I've spent a lot of time trawling your entries and experiences, I do apologise if anyone else has posted about this, I haven't been able to find anyone's experiences so I thought I would start a topic.

My divorce has just come through and I have engaged a lawyer to help me with me application to Retain Right of Residence.

My question is: I'm unsure of when to submit my application as I need to do some travel for work (and one holiday!) but am very concerned that if I am stopped at immigration at Heathrow on my way back in that I may be denied entry.

My questions are:

I have seen that some of you have been told to do nothing after your divorce and continue as you are (until your 5 year residency card in your passport is up for renewal). What do you do when you need to travel?
My experience is that immigration always ask me where my EEA national is and why I am travelling alone.
Up until now I have always said that he was in London working and I was visiting friends/working. I have never had real problems with this (a bit of questioning at most).
BUT - now that I am divorced I feel awkward - what if I am caught out? Can I be refused entry?

I am preparing my papers now to submit in 3 weeks time (after a holiday to France) and I know I will need to give up my passport for 4 - 6 months or however long the Home Office may need it for.

However, my brother is getting married in Australia in November and I would dearly like to go.
If I request my passport back from the Home Office will I be flagged in the system as divorced and will I experience problems coming back in to the UK?

If I request my passport back will I immediately go to the back of the queue when I resubmit it and be without a passport for another 6 months? (problematic for my work).

I'd really appreciate any guidance from others who have been in the same situation or have any advice to offer.

Has anyone travelled after their divorce? Before having retained their right of residence?

thank you so much!!

[imraniqbal2010]

Dear All,

I think this is a wonderful site - I've spent a lot of time trawling your entries and experiences, I do apologise if anyone else has posted about this, I haven't been able to find anyone's experiences so I thought I would start a topic.

My divorce has just come through and I have engaged a lawyer to help me with me application to Retain Right of Residence.

My question is: I'm unsure of when to submit my application as I need to do some travel for work (and one holiday!) but am very concerned that if I am stopped at immigration at Heathrow on my way back in that I may be denied entry.

My questions are:

I have seen that some of you have been told to do nothing after your divorce and continue as you are (until your 5 year residency card in your passport is up for renewal). What do you do when you need to travel?
My experience is that immigration always ask me where my EEA national is and why I am travelling alone.
Up until now I have always said that he was in London working and I was visiting friends/working. I have never had real problems with this (a bit of questioning at most).
BUT - now that I am divorced I feel awkward - what if I am caught out? Can I be refused entry?

I am preparing my papers now to submit in 3 weeks time (after a holiday to France) and I know I will need to give up my passport for 4 - 6 months or however long the Home Office may need it for.

However, my brother is getting married in Australia in November and I would dearly like to go.
If I request my passport back from the Home Office will I be flagged in the system as divorced and will I experience problems coming back in to the UK?

If I request my passport back will I immediately go to the back of the queue when I resubmit it and be without a passport for another 6 months? (problematic for my work).

I'd really appreciate any guidance from others who have been in the same situation or have any advice to offer.

Has anyone travelled after their divorce? Before having retained their right of residence?

thank you so much!!

How long have you been married,was your eea spouse using treaty rights at the time of divorce,Do you have proof of his exercising treaty rights through out the period?

[bobobo]

This question is out of context here, if the OP has engaged an Immigration lawyer I am sure that is the first thing the lawyer must have checked.

I have travelled under same circumstances, but to be honest I never had any trouble or questions from the Immigration at any airport in London. They never ask me anything just stamp my passport (which is a blessing) as when I apply for PR I have all stamps in my passport to figure out what time periods I was away from the UK.

However I can understand your dilemma. If I was you, I woudl just travel with a letter from the Solicitor saying that you are divorced and applying for retention of rights and that he is representing you. It might not be the best approach but will give HO confidence that atleast they have visiblity of what is going on.

Dear All,

I think this is a wonderful site - I've spent a lot of time trawling your entries and experiences, I do apologise if anyone else has posted about this, I haven't been able to find anyone's experiences so I thought I would start a topic.

My divorce has just come through and I have engaged a lawyer to help me with me application to Retain Right of Residence.

My question is: I'm unsure of when to submit my application as I need to do some travel for work (and one holiday!) but am very concerned that if I am stopped at immigration at Heathrow on my way back in that I may be denied entry.

My questions are:

I have seen that some of you have been told to do nothing after your divorce and continue as you are (until your 5 year residency card in your passport is up for renewal). What do you do when you need to travel?
My experience is that immigration always ask me where my EEA national is and why I am travelling alone.
Up until now I have always said that he was in London working and I was visiting friends/working. I have never had real problems with this (a bit of questioning at most).
BUT - now that I am divorced I feel awkward - what if I am caught out? Can I be refused entry?

I am preparing my papers now to submit in 3 weeks time (after a holiday to France) and I know I will need to give up my passport for 4 - 6 months or however long the Home Office may need it for.

However, my brother is getting married in Australia in November and I would dearly like to go.
If I request my passport back from the Home Office will I be flagged in the system as divorced and will I experience problems coming back in to the UK?

If I request my passport back will I immediately go to the back of the queue when I resubmit it and be without a passport for another 6 months? (problematic for my work).

I'd really appreciate any guidance from others who have been in the same situation or have any advice to offer.

Has anyone travelled after their divorce? Before having retained their right of residence?

thank you so much!!

How long have you been married,was your eea spouse using treaty rights at the time of divorce,Do you have proof of his exercising treaty rights through out the period?

[meljnlondon]

Thank you!

My lawyer told me that he actually wasn't sure what it's best to say when coming back into the country - which is why I wrote here.

When I come back in I am always asked where my husband is and I'm afraid I usually say "oh, he's in London working and didn't come with me".
And I don't have any problems.

BUT now that I'm divorced I'm worried that to say that would be a sort of "fraud" and that I could get in trouble.

I am concerned that if I notify the Home Office of my divorce and send in my application for ROR but ask for my passport back for my brother's wedding in November that they may flag my passport as "DIVORCED" or "status in question" and I may have real issues when trying to come back in.

Does anyone know how closely the Home Office and the Border immigration communicate? Do they have a database that they update details on that are viewed by immigration at Heathrow?

Am I best to do nothing until November and still say that my husband is in London? But then what if they want to call my husband and check?
Could I then say that I am exercising treaty rights or would that be in question?

My lawyer has offered to write a letter saying that he is representing me but he did say he wasn't sure that it would be enough to get me back into the country and it is a gamble so I was really hoping that someone else had some experience with travelling while waiting for their ROR or travelling while divorced and exercising ROR rights (i.e were married for over 3 years and living together in UK for one year before divorce) without telling Home Office of their change in status.

I'd really be grateful for any assistance as this is keeping me up at night!

thank you so much

[bobobo]

Its never a good idea to lie to the Immigration guys as this could land you in trouble. best bet is make an application asap and once you get a COA from HO just ask for your passport back. If you have made an application to the HO it will take 4-6 months anyways and if you come clean to the immigration people that you have an ROR application pending, they cannot refuse entry into the UK unless the application has been decided. If i was you I would just print the EEA directive and show this to the Immigration officer to clear the air if required. He might refer to a senior IO or maybe the CIO but at the ned you should be fine.

Thank you!

My lawyer told me that he actually wasn't sure what it's best to say when coming back into the country - which is why I wrote here.

When I come back in I am always asked where my husband is and I'm afraid I usually say "oh, he's in London working and didn't come with me".
And I don't have any problems.

BUT now that I'm divorced I'm worried that to say that would be a sort of "fraud" and that I could get in trouble.

I am concerned that if I notify the Home Office of my divorce and send in my application for ROR but ask for my passport back for my brother's wedding in November that they may flag my passport as "DIVORCED" or "status in question" and I may have real issues when trying to come back in.

Does anyone know how closely the Home Office and the Border immigration communicate? Do they have a database that they update details on that are viewed by immigration at Heathrow?

Am I best to do nothing until November and still say that my husband is in London? But then what if they want to call my husband and check?
Could I then say that I am exercising treaty rights or would that be in question?

My lawyer has offered to write a letter saying that he is representing me but he did say he wasn't sure that it would be enough to get me back into the country and it is a gamble so I was really hoping that someone else had some experience with travelling while waiting for their ROR or travelling while divorced and exercising ROR rights (i.e were married for over 3 years and living together in UK for one year before divorce) without telling Home Office of their change in status.

I'd really be grateful for any assistance as this is keeping me up at night!

thank you so much

[meljnlondon]

Thank you so much - that all sounds fairly straightforward.

I'd still love to hear from anyone who's actually done this, if any member has first hand experience that would be great.

thanks everyone

[tyoosuf]

Hello Meljnlondon,
How was your application?
Can you please explain.Also How was your trip to Australia for your brother wedding?
Thanks.