Entering the UK with a valid EEA Family Permit about to expire

Question

I am a Turkish citizen married to an EU (Estonian) citizen, with whom I recently moved to the UK. I am currently based in the UK and holding an EEA Family Member Permit, which will expire by 5th of March 2015. I am unemployed, but I am registered with a local city council as a tenant.

Due to urgent matters, I have to be in Turkey for a while and will return to the UK on the 2nd March, 3 days before my permit's expire date. I will go myself, as my husband needs to work here. I'm aware of my need to apply for the UK residence card before the expiration of my EEA Family Member Permit, but during this application, which is said to take months, I won't be able keep my passport and travel abroad. Due to this, I have no choice but to apply immediately once I am back.

I would like to know if this issue may cause any problems entering the UK borders on my return? If yes, what were the possibilities of lessening the problems?

Answer 1

An alert Immigration Officer (IO) will spot that your Family Permit is expiring soon and they will inform you accordingly. That is the extent of what can happen given that your permit is still valid and you do not flag up on their system for anything else (like an arrest warrant).

Having already obtained a family permit, you would be in a position to know that the residence card application is suspensive, so as long as it is submitted on time you'll have no further problems after that.

Answer 2

So I've come back safe and sound :) Having an EEA permit valid for 3 more days had no impact on my entry although I suspect he didn't check the due date. The officer advised me to go through EU Nationals queue next time with my EEA permit.

Today I've just sent my 'UK residence card application form for EEA family members' and am hoping to hear from them before 6 months.