UK EEA Family Permit - Family member visa consultant in consultants in Mumbai | Delhi | Gurgaon | Chandigarh | Vadodara | Bangalore

EEA Family Permit – Family member

An EEA family permit is a form of ‘entry clearance’ to the UK (just like a visa). It is for nationals of countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who are family members of EEA nationals.

A non-EEA family member of an EEA national will need to obtain an EEA family permit before traveling to the UK if they are either:

  • a ‘visa national’; or
  • coming to live with the EEA national in the UK permanently or on a long-term basis

Applications for the EEA Family Permit are covered by the framework of European Treaty rights of ‘free movement’ of European nationals and their dependants. Any refusal of an EEA family permit does offer appeal rights in most cases for the applicants.

In the UK an EEA family permit is valid for 6 months. You can leave and enter the UK as many times as you need within that time.

Meaning of ‘family member’

To apply for entry clearance under this category the applicant must demonstrate that:

  • they are the EEA citizen’s spouse or civil partner, or related to them (or their spouse or civil partner) as either their:
  • child or grandchild under 21 years old, or dependent child or grandchild of any age*; or
  • dependent parent or grandparent

*Family members who are adopted under an adoption order that is recognised in UK law are regarded the same as natural family.

At The SmartMove2UK, our UK immigration solicitors have helped numerous non-EEA family members of EU nationals to apply for an EEA Family Permit to the UK. You can contact us if you are seeking legal help from UK visa consultants in relation to the UK EEA Family Permit.

EEA Family Permit – Extended Family member

Extended family members of EEA nationals residing in the UK can apply to join their family members in the UK.

Regulation 8 of the EU Law provides details of extended family members. Extended family members include brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews or nieces of the EEA national. You can also apply as an unmarried partner if you can show that you are in a lasting relationship with the EEA national.

The applicants must be able to show that they are either dependent on the EEA citizen or are a member of their household, or have a serious health condition and rely on them for care.

Until an applicant is recognised as an extended family member and issued with a residence card (or EEA family permit or registration certificate), he has no rights deriving from EU law.

At The SmartMove2UK our UK immigration solicitors have helped extended family members of non-EEA family members of EU nationals to apply for an EEA Family Permit to the UK. You can contact us if you are seeking legal help from UK visa consultants in relation to the UK EEA Family Permit.

Residence card as a Family Member of an EEA National

Non-EEA family members who have joined the EEA national in the UK are eligible to apply for a Residence Card. Non-EEA nationals can be either a family member, or extended family member, of an EEA national. It is not mandatory to apply for a residence card, however, it helps the applicants re-enter the UK more quickly and easily if they are traveling abroad. A residence card also helps employers to ascertain that the applicant is allowed to work in the UK. It can also help applicants prove that they qualify for certain benefits and services.

Applicants can apply for a derivative right of residence card if they are the carer of an EEA citizen, the carer’s child, or the child of a former EEA worker and currently in education.

A residence card is valid for a period of 5 years, following which the applicant can apply for a permanent residence card.
The applicant must submit a valid passport along with other documents for the residence card application to be approved. In addition, the EEA national must be exercising treaty rights in the UK and provide evidence of the same along with the application.

EEA Regulations 2006, require the Home Office to consider and decide an application for residence card within 6 months from the date of receipt of the application. Any delay or negligence in part of the Home Office in not deciding the application within six months can be challenged by way of Judicial Review in the High Courts.

At The SmartMove2UK our UK immigration solicitors have helped non-EEA national family members and extended family members of EEA nationals to apply for their residence card. You can contact us if you are seeking legal help from UK visa consultants in relation to a Residence card application.

Applying under the ‘Surinder Singh’ Route

Though The UK is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), non EEA family members cannot generally apply under this category to come to the UK.

However, you may be able to apply for an EEA family permit as a family member of a British citizen who has worked in another EEA country. This is known as the ‘Surinder Singh’ route.

To be eligible to apply under this route, the British citizen would have to provide evidence that they have been living in an EEA member state as a worker or a self-employed person and their non-EEA family member has been living with them in the EEA country. The non-EEA family member must be related to the British citizen as either their:

  • spouse or civil partner; or
  • child or grandchild (or the child or grandchild of their spouse or civil partner) and under 21 years of age or dependent on them; or
  • parent or grandparent (or of their spouse or civil partner) and dependent on them

At The SmartMove2UK our UK immigration solicitors have helped numerous non-EEA family members of EU nationals to apply for an EEA Family Permit to The UK. You can contact us if you are seeking legal help from UK visa consultants in relation to the UK EEA Family Permit.

Our clients in UK or India can speak to any of our UK EEA Family Permit – Family Member Visa Consultants based in Mumbai | Delhi | Gurgaon | Chandigarh | Vadodara | Bangalore. Call on +91 22 2850 9857 or +91 9819 127 002 and book your appointment with our Experts.

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Related Links

Valuable Resources

Document on UK Visas and Immigration guidance for how it considers applications from an extended family member of an EEA or Swiss national for a document to confirm a right of residence under the immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006. Click here.

*The link will be directed to GOV UK site.