Quote Originally Posted by joebloggs View Post
do you have french residency/passport ?
it might be possible for you to use the EU route using a EEA family permit for your wife, cost nothing and difficult to refuse compared to a spouse visa and bring your wife to the UK that way

http://www.visabureau.com/uk/family-permit-married.aspx

even if it's not possible now, if you could go and live in a European country for a few months and then try the Surinder singh route and bring her to the UK ..

http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/fil...ews17/don.html
From what I've read after following your link above (Surinder singh route) it looks like Ireland might be about the best option for him, it's near enough to nip over to the UK now and then to make other arrangements and they all speak English so his wife won't struggle with the language. If he can settle there and get accomodation, employment etc, from what it says there he could justifably claim that he had exercised EC Treaty rights to work in another Member State as he did when he lived in France. Of course after that uncertain, unstated period of time when it comes to making an application to move to the UK from Ireland, the same rules with regard to finances and not becoming a burden on the state will still apply.
Iain.