has anyone used the Surinder Singh route??

[blackcat22]

Being pedantic benjy, it's not really a loophole it's EU law.

There used to be a lot of true loopholes within the regulations which the government has closed. Sadly.

But you're right, it's a truly ridiculous and completely unfair situation.

UKBA are even making a charge for EEA visas since April 2013 when they always used to be free.

Terpe,
From what I read, once you have exercised your treaty rights in EU state, you don't really need to apply EEA family permit in advance, you can just book a flight/ferry or whatever and head to UK with your wife from the EU country where you've been excercising your treaty rights armed only with your passports, marriage certificate and payslips + prove of adress in EU state and also make it known to immigration officer at UK immigration control by quoting the EU directive of free movement you're exercising. They have no choice but to let you and your wife thru or else they face the wrath of EU in Brussels with fines etc..

I have heard cases where the British government have been given a hefty fine by the EU for refusing to let couples who have exercised their treaty rights thru at UK immigration control.

[tiger31]

do you have to be married to apply the surrinder route as i,ve been living with my g f in the philippines 2 and a half years

[Terpe]

do you have to be married to apply the surrinder route as i,ve been living with my g f in the philippines 2 and a half years

You ask a very good question and one which does not entirely have a clearly defined answer.

Technically the Surinder Singh caselaw mentions only spouse.
Now that does not mean a UK citizen excercising EU treaty rights cannot bring their non-EEA spouse into UK. It means that there is risk that UKBA may get crusty about Family Permits.

However, as I mentioned in my reply to blackcat it's not always necessary to have a UK Family Permit in order to gain legal entry to UK.

If you are prepared/able to live and work in the EU with your family for sufficient time to secure full residence cards for all, then there is a chance that you could also secure all other documentation to enable UK entry.
Do be aware though, that there's always a risk there could be denied UK entry for some reason or other.

I don't know your planned timescales but maybe you have some time to hold fast and wait and see what the results of the UKBA review of income thresholds might be.

The EU outside of UK will eventually accept a relationship of unmarried 'partner' .

Here is the definition of "The partner with whom the Union citizen has a durable relationship, duly attested of " :-

This category covers all other long term “durable” partnerships, including both opposite-sex and same-sex relationships.There is no official definition of how long the relationship must have existed. Some countries expect to see two years of living together, but if you have a child with somebody and live with them it would clearly be incompatible with the Directive to require two years of relationship history.When a member-state does not recognize civil partnerships as equivalent to marriage, this is the category which is used for entry.

You'd need to share a lot more information on your EU plan to be able to get a better idea though.

Can you wait a bit and see how The Home Office will finally decide on this income threshold?
It may work in everyone's favour. We all have our fingers crossed on that.

Stay in touch on this topic and let's find the best option for you.

[tiger31]

You ask a very good question and one which does not entirely have a clearly defined answer.

Technically the Surinder Singh caselaw mentions only spouse.
Now that does not mean a UK citizen excercising EU treaty rights cannot bring their non-EEA spouse into UK. It means that there is risk that UKBA may get crusty about Family Permits.

However, as I mentioned in my reply to blackcat it's not always necessary to have a UK Family Permit in order to gain legal entry to UK.

If you are prepared/able to live and work in the EU with your family for sufficient time to secure full residence cards for all, then there is a chance that you could also secure all other documentation to enable UK entry.
Do be aware though, that there's always a risk there could be denied UK entry for some reason or other.

I don't know your planned timescales but maybe you have some time to hold fast and wait and see what the results of the UKBA review of income thresholds might be.

The EU outside of UK will eventually accept a relationship of unmarried 'partner' .

Here is the definition of "The partner with whom the Union citizen has a durable relationship, duly attested of " :-



You'd need to share a lot more information on your EU plan to be able to get a better idea though.

Can you wait a bit and see how The Home Office will finally decide on this income threshold?
It may work in everyone's favour. We all have our fingers crossed on that.

Stay in touch on this topic and let's find the best option for you.

ok will do i,m thinking of staying with my brother in germany with my g f take a job of some sort although i have a war pension and rental income and can live there on my income from what i understand i need a job of some sort

[Terpe]

.....i have a war pension and rental income and can live there on my income from what i understand i need a job of some sort

Technically, yes you're correct, you do need to be exercising treaty rights. Currently UKBA exclude self-sufficiency in their rules when it comes to UK entry under EU freedom of movement.

My personal view is that the EU Commission will finally lose it's patience with UK and take us to the ECHC where it's ruling cannot be ignored.
Currently all the EU Commission can do is make a complaint by Reasoned Opinion

[Terpe]

Terpe,
From what I read, once you have exercised your treaty rights in EU state, you don't really need to apply EEA family permit in advance, you can just book a flight/ferry or whatever and head to UK with your wife from the EU country where you've been excercising your treaty rights armed only with your passports, marriage certificate and payslips + prove of adress in EU state and also make it known to immigration officer at UK immigration control by quoting the EU directive of free movement you're exercising. They have no choice but to let you and your wife thru or else they face the wrath of EU in Brussels with fines etc..

Yes. That is technically correct given that all appropriate supporting documents are carried and available.
Under the present regulations it is not compulsory for family members of EEA nationals to obtain a UK EEA Family Permit before travelling to the UK.

The only reason I suggest folks consider Family Permit is solely to minimise risks.
I know plenty of folks who have previously by-passed the Family Permit application but who also had ALL the required documentations.

I won't go into all the legal technical issues right now but look, if a spouse is denied entry at the border and the border control officials stick to their guns, all you can do is demand a superior officer. If that doesn't work, what would the spouse do?
Lodging a formal complaint won't do any good I'm afraid.

Everyone has a choice.
Do your research to understand what the legal requirement for entry is (see my post above).

I have heard cases where the British government have been given a hefty fine by the EU for refusing to let couples who have exercised their treaty rights thru at UK immigration control.

Actually that's not the case as I understand it.
If you have caselaw please share.

The EU Commission has written a number of time about this issue and about the refusals of UK entry.
It's a bit like a bat-and-ball going back and forth.
The process can take ages (years) before the EU Commission will forward to the Courts.
As far as I am aware this has not so far happened on a single case.

Make no mistake though, UKBA have refused entry and and will likely continue to refuse entry where they see fit.

These situations certainly aren't the sort of challenge anyone wants to face at an attempted border crossing regardless of the disputes on legal technicalities of a disputed EU regulation.