4

I am German citizen and my wife is Kazakh. We both live in the UK. She has a non-EEA family permit. The sticker in her passport says that this expired in January but this website https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-residence-card says that she nevertheless has the right to stay in the UK.

In July we want together travel to France for 2 months and I don't know what we need to do.

This website https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-residence-card/apply, in particular the phrase "The qualified person can include you if they apply online for permanent residence", suggested that I can apply online for both of us. After filling in everything and having payed 149.20 GBP I was directed to https://www.ukvcas.co.uk where I was asked to pay another fee of 400 GBP for an appointment. In addition, all options close to my place in the North-East where fully booked and only in London appointments were available.

Do I really have to travel for one day to London and pay this fee? The initial website https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-residence-card/apply (on the botton) says explicitly that the fee is 65 GBP per person - and not 465 GBP.

I am really confused and I would be extremely happy for some advice.

Thank you, Sven

Update: I now figured, that the 400 GBP were for a premium service (thank you, Traveller!). However, the situation is still that I can only book three appointments (for 120 GBP) at Newcastle. As you see in the screenshots the option "View free of charge apointments only" is only available for Manchester - where no appointments are available anyway.

Only three appointments at Newcastle for 120 GBP Zero appointments at Manchester, but the option to show only free of charge appointments

Michael's question, what I payed the 146.20 GBP for, I cannot answer for sure. I was on the website for getting a "residence card" but I fear that the link to the online application brought me to a the application for "permanent residence". I am however not sure if this is something different or not. In case, someone can derive what I applied for from the payment confirmation, here is the screenshot of that:

enter image description here

Sven
  • 41
  • 1
  • 1
    Exactly what did you apply for that cost £149.20 ? – Michael Hampton Apr 18 '19 at 21:59
  • Did you select the ‘free appointment only’ option? It looks like the £400 extra fee is for a priority or expedited biometric appointment https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/soprasteria-ukvi-prd-ukvcas/FAQ.pdf – Traveller Apr 18 '19 at 22:57
  • Hi Michael, hi Traveller, I added screnshots and tried to answer your queries above. Thank you. –  Apr 19 '19 at 12:14
  • 1
    One thing you could do would be to apply for a free Schengen visa for your trip to France, and while you are in France for two months apply for a free EEA family permit to return to the UK. – phoog Apr 19 '19 at 13:04
  • Hi phoog, I thought about this, but here https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/apply-from-uk/) it is stated that one needs a "valid UK residence permit" to apply for a Schengen visa. I am again not sure what that means in view of the strange thing, that my wifes visa is expired but the websites state that she anyway has the right to stay. –  Apr 19 '19 at 13:53
  • Would this question be better for Expatriates? – Willeke Apr 19 '19 at 14:50
  • Hi Willeke, do you mean as a tag? I couldn't find that, but indeed, it is a question relevant to expats. Thanks, Sven –  Apr 19 '19 at 16:17
  • I will move it to our sister site Expatriates, (you might need to register there to comment or edit, but your accounts will be connected unless you keep them separate on purpose.) – Willeke Apr 19 '19 at 17:28
  • @Sven I’m not an expert but there’s probably a big difference between your wife’s right to stay in the UK and being able to demonstrate to a Schengen country that she has the right to return to the UK without having either a valid visa (ie not expired) or a BRP. – Traveller Apr 19 '19 at 17:35
  • Yeah, I fear you are right. That's the reason for my aim to get the resident card. – Sven Apr 19 '19 at 19:05
  • @Traveller the Schengen countries all understand freedom of movement very well, since they participate in the same system. The documents needed to prove Sven's wife's right of residence in the UK are the same ones she'd need to apply for a Schengen visa. Sven, they ought to be looser with the residency requirements for a freedom-of-movement application, but whether they actually will be is of course another question. If you're going by train or ferry you can probably make do without a Schengen visa or family permit. – phoog Apr 21 '19 at 22:36
  • @Traveller in particular, Schengen countries know that they cannot deny the visa because she does or does not have a right to go to any country after the end of her planned visit. – phoog Apr 21 '19 at 22:47

0 Answers0