Interesting article on the rights of dual UK/European nationals and their family members: you gain more rights by becoming British. Or do you?
The Daily Mail usually presents
its stories in a certain way for dramatic effect, but this article touches a
very interesting subject in the immigration law – dual UK/EEA nationality and what
rights the Europeans gain (or lose) by becoming British citizens?
In this article (link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4555554/Blow-Theresa-s-immigration-clampdown-EU-court.html
), a Spanish
citizen became British in 2009 and then married a Tunisian (i.e. non-European)
citizen in 2014. The rights of the Spanish/British wife were not affected but
she could not so far secure a residence document for her husband under the
European law (using her Spanish nationality) and was forced to go down the UK
law route (using her UK nationality).
The law (“The Regulations”)
was changed in 2012, stopping dual UK/EEA citizens from “choosing” whether to
use EU or UK law when applying for residence of their family members, such as
for a non-European spouse. Before that this Spanish/Tunisian couple could
simply apply under the European law, paying just £65 for a 5-year visa and having
to meet just a few very basic requirements. The fact her Tunisian husband had
overstayed his UK visa and was here illegally simply did not matter (this
is how the European law works).
With the 2012 changes,
however, dual UK/EEA citizens were told to “use” their UK nationality for visa applications
for their family members. Many European citizens still don’t know this and are
still rushing to apply for a UK passport. We say “Don’t, get professional legal
advice first!”
In reality, you are “better
off” being European in the UK than British, at the moment, i.e. until Brexit.
This is because the European law (to which we are still subscribing until
Brexit) does not allow the member states, i.e. the UK in this case, to
discriminate EU citizens against the UK citizens. The UK Government, however, chose
to interpret it as “But we can discriminate Brits against Europeans”. This is
what this article is about, in the nutshell (in the context of the immigration
law).
So, why was it “bad” for
Perla and Toufik, the subjects of the article? As a spouse of a UK citizen (we
now “ignore” Perla also being Spanish), Toufik has to return to Tunisia and
apply for a “proper” entry visa from there (the Daily Mail is “guilty” of using
a term “deportation” loosely). Perla would need to meet the Financial
Requirement of having income of minimum £18,600 per annum or savings of
£62,500, and Toufik would also need to pass English test. Most importantly,
they would need to pay a UK Government fee of £1,464 plus a health surcharge of
£200 per year (here it would be a lump payment of £600 when applying for a visa
in Tunisia), total just over £2,000. The visa would be for 2.5 years, so after
that the couple would need an extension and another set of fees. Now compare
this with applying inside the UK and paying only £65 for a 5-year visa!
For individual advice
or to make an application please contact us: info@1st4immigration.com or visit www.1st4immigration.com
If you are an Immigration
Adviser or a Solicitor please visit our immigration Training and CPD website: www.1st4immigration.com/training
