UK visa (EEA family permit)

Question

I would like to check with you regarding a visa application to enter the UK. I would like to visit Scotland / England. I'm holding a Thai passport.

I've checked on the UK government website previously indicated that I need to apply for a Standard Visitor visa. However I'm now living in The Netherlands and holding a Dutch residence permit card as a partner (unmarried) of a Dutch citizen. On the website they also stated that I may not need a visa if both the following apply:

• You’re travelling with or visiting your partner or family : Yes, I will traveling with my Dutch partner.

• You don’t need a visa if both the following apply: you have an Article 10 residence card: Yes, I have a Dutch residence card your partner or family member is your sponsor: Either myself or my partner can be a sponsor.

Otherwise, you should apply for a family permit if your family member or partner are from the European Economic Area (EEA), a Standard Visitor visa, if they’re from outside the EEA.

I would like to ask for clarification/confirmation that am I eligible to apply for the EEA family permit. And if I only apply for the EEA family permit, is that sufficient to allow me to travel to the UK together with my partner?

1. Regarding the documents that I need to provide in order to apply for an EEA family permit, do I need to translate from Dutch to English (at the rear of my Dutch residence card, there is a statement of my rights to stay in Netherlands as a member of Dutch family)?
2. Does my partner need to apply for any other permit as both of us are staying outside UK at this moment.

Thanks for answering.

Answer 1

You probably need an EEA family permit. Details are in the document Entering the UK as the holder of an Article 10 residence card, but the conclusion also follows from the material in your question.

Your Dutch residence card is probably not an Article 10 card. It only counts as an Article 10 card if it says "family member of a union citizen" or words to that effect. Normally, a Dutch permit issued to the family member of a Dutch citizen would not say that.

There are some circumstances in which it would, but your mention of a "statement of my rights to stay in Netherlands as a member of Dutch family" suggests that these circumstances do not exist in your case. If this is correct, your card is not an Article 10 card, and you need an EEA family permit.

The EEA family permit, if granted, will allow you to travel to the UK with your partner, or to join your partner in the UK if your partner has preceded you there. (To enter the UK without your partner, you would need a standard visitor visa.)

Regarding the documents that I need to provide in order to apply for EEA family permit, do I need to translate from Dutch to English.

Yes.

(at the rear of my Dutch residence card, there is a statement of my rights to stay in Netherlands as a member of Dutch family)?

You do not need to include your Dutch residence card in your EEA family permit application. You do need to include your marriage certificate, however, as well as a copy of your partner's Dutch passport or Dutch identity card.

Does my partner need to apply for any other permit as both of us are staying outside UK at this moment.

What kind of permit do you imagine would be required? To enter the UK, your partner needs a Dutch passport or a Dutch identity card, and no other document. The location of your partner's place of residence has no bearing on that.