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 


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