EEA or British

[aromulus]

I strongly advise to take advantage of the situation and take the EEA route.

Apart from the fact that is will be slightly easier and more of a foregone positive conclusion, the "Family Permit" and subsequent "Residence Cards" will be free of charge.
If you weigh this against the Settlement Visa fee, FLR fee, ILR fee, Britishness Test fee, and breathing fees, you save yourself a tidy packet.
Besides , if your wife intends to work, she would be entitled to do it from the moment she steps out of the plane.

[darren-b]

Besides , if your wife intends to work, she would be entitled to do it from the moment she steps out of the plane.

She would be allowed to the other way (British spouse visa) as well. It's only if you weren't married that she wouldn't be able to work.

[Arthur Little]

I strongly advise to take advantage of the situation and take the EEA route.

Apart from the fact that is will be slightly easier and more of a foregone positive conclusion, the "Family Permit" and subsequent "Residence Cards" will be free of charge.
If you weigh this against the Settlement Visa fee, FLR fee, ILR fee, Britishness Test fee, and breathing fees, you save yourself a tidy packet.
Besides , if your wife intends to work, she would be entitled to do it from the moment she steps out of the plane.

My God, Dom! Does that mean, if I'd been born on the correct side of the Irish Sea, I could've saved myself a small fortune and been spared a great deal of hassle into the bargain??

[aromulus]

My God, Dom! Does that mean, if I'd been born on the correct side of the Irish Sea, I could've saved myself a small fortune and been spared a great deal of hassle into the bargain??

Och aye, big man.........

[belfast_dude]

I strongly advise to take advantage of the situation and take the EEA route.

Apart from the fact that is will be slightly easier and more of a foregone positive conclusion, the "Family Permit" and subsequent "Residence Cards" will be free of charge.
If you weigh this against the Settlement Visa fee, FLR fee, ILR fee, Britishness Test fee, and breathing fees, you save yourself a tidy packet.
Besides , if your wife intends to work, she would be entitled to do it from the moment she steps out of the plane.

u appear to know a lot about this process...i am hoping u can give me more info please...u will be making dreams come true...thank you very much

[aromulus]

u appear to know a lot about this process...i am hoping u can give me more info please...u will be making dreams come true...thank you very much

That is what I done for my wife, as I am Italian.

So it is just personal experience.

Obviously the system is very unfairly weighted against the brits, but they have the same rights, as us here, were they resident somewhere in Europe.

A few other people on the site did take advantage of the EEA route.

Spouse visa free of charge
Residence card free of charge
ILR (or whatever) free of charge.

[joebloggs]

That is what I done for my wife, as I am Italian.

So it is just personal experience.

Obviously the system is very unfairly weighted against the brits, but they have the same rights, as us here, were they resident somewhere in Europe.

A few other people on the site did take advantage of the EEA route.

Spouse visa free of charge
Residence card free of charge
ILR (or whatever) free of charge.

if i remember correctly , it takes 5yrs dom to get PR (equivalent to ILR), while using British the immigration system she could have ILR in 2yrs and citizenship in 3yrs.

then with PR if you want citizenship you will have to pay just like the brits, as citizenship is regulated by national law only, not EU.

and if your out of the country for 2yrs or more you can lose your PR just as you can with ILR.

so it depends how much money you have and how quick you want to wait til your wife is free of immigration control.

but for most who have a choice they go for the family permit.