Article 10 family card questions

Question

I have some questions re the above.

1 what is SS? Which is referred to above extensively?

2 Our situation is as follows. My wife has a Moroccan passport and has been in Spain 7 years and is now 1.5 years into a 5 years residency permit. I am British-born husband and we have a 10 month old son born in Spain with UK passport. We wish to apply for a family permit article 10 card. However it’s quite confusing about the criteria and who has to prove what!!

I have been ‘living’ in Spain for the last 2.5 years and have padons and tenancy contracts etc. I have a Spanish bank account but only put small amounts of money in it to pay bills. I have UK bank accounts and am self-employed by a UK company. I actually have been working in Spain and this is the only source of my income. I could argue that I’m self-sufficient in Spain. I also rent a flat in UK which I visit every 2 weeks or see my other son from another marriage etc...

My wife has no money in her Spanish bank account as she lives off mine!! I don’t speak Spanish very well at all!

I have heard that she needs 8k in her account (which can easily be organised) and that I myself (or is it both of us?) need private health insurance in Spain, which again can easily be arranged.

Obviously we want to travel to UK with our baby so he can see his grandparents who are very old and my dad's going blind. I am aware of the spouse visa route but don’t really don’t want to go down that route.

My key questions are that given the above is it likely that we get a family permit? If not what do I need to do (and my wife for that matter) in order to qualify?

How long is it likely to take?

Answer 1

1 what is SS? Which is referred to above extensively?

I don't see "SS" anywhere else. What do you mean by "above"?

We wish to apply for a family permit article 10 card. However it’s quite confusing about the criteria and who has to prove what!!

You may be confused because there is no such thing as a "family permit article 10 card." There is something called an EEA family permit, which your wife can get from a UK visa application centre, and there is something called an article 10 card, which is a residence card issued by Spain or another EU country to the family members of EU citizens who reside there.

Since your wife already has a residence permit in Spain, it might make more sense to apply to the UK for the EEA family permit. There are no financial requirements to be met. But you do have to show that you qualify for the Surinder Singh route. This might be problematic, since the UK is claiming a requirement that you be "integrated" and you note that you don't speak Spanish very well. The integration requirement is wholly incompatible with EU law; it's just something they've thrown up as part of the "hostile environment," but if they refuse the EEA family permit it would probably be easier to apply for a standard visitor visa rather than taking the UK to court.

I am aware of the spouse visa route but don’t really don’t want to go down that route.

Your wife certainly does not need a spouse visa for the UK, since that is a settlement visa, and she does not plan to settle there. A visitor visa will do.

is it likely that we get a family permit?

It depends on the Surinder Singh determination, as mentioned above. I'm not sure how it is likely to go.

I'm afraid I don't know much about Spanish residence permits and residence cards. In theory it should be possible to switch from one to the other, but whether it is a good idea to do so I cannot say.

Answer 2

The SS (Surinder Singh) thing is in another thread which is about the article 10 issue. I first posted in that thread as a response to someone else’s questions about the same thing. I will need to go back and find that thread and post it here.

We don’t want to enter on a visitor visa nor apply through the Surinder Singh route or indeed apply through the UK portal at all. We wish to be able to visit with the EEA card she will get here in Spain. We are solely focusing on this and nothing else. My questions about this are about the requirements.

1. Do I or both of us have to have private health insurance?
2. We heard that there has to be 8k in my wife’s bank account, also we heard 12k as we have a son, can you confirm this?
3. Do I have to prove similar requirements as the Singh route such as integration in Spain using this route?

I have spoken with immigration officers and a manager at Gatwick and was told that as long as we have the EEA card, we travel together and we take our marriage certificate then they will allow entry. This is why we want to do this.

Any help or advice would be appreciated about the downsides and processes involved.