10 days remaining on EEA Family Permit. Can I get back into the UK?

Question

My Family Permit expires on 10 July 2018. I want to leave the UK 5 June 2018 and return on 25 June 2018. Can I do that?

Key points:

• We've been in the UK since early February 2018.
• I work in the UK. I applied for a National Insurance Number and I should get it in a couple of weeks.
• My wife is an EEA National. She doesn't work yet but is looking for a job.

What would your advice be?

Answer 1

Yes, you can use the family permit up to its last day of validity as long as your wife is in the UK or traveling with you when you enter.

The EEA family permit is different from a visa in that it does not authorize you to be in the UK. Rather, your right to be in the UK flows directly from EU law and the UK immigration regulations that implement that law. So once you're in the UK, it's fine for the permit to expire, and border officers should not seek to establish that you will leave before it does.

The government's pages on the family permit say as much:

Stay after your EEA family permit expires

You can stay in the UK after your permit expires if you:

• are the family member of an EEA national - see if you’re eligible

• ...

Note how the link for eligibility to stay after the permit's expiration points to the page that describes eligibility for the permit itself.