Surinder Singh country specific guide

with updates and brand new sections for Denmark and Netherlands available here.  A massive thank you to all the contributors for sharing your experience.  For those with anything to add, major or trivial, please contact us! If your contribution helps even one person it's gratefully received.

Another detention

Original piece on Steve Andrews and Melissa Houghton :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/wales-online-hes-from-wales-shes.html

Steve and Melissa were recently married in Gibraltar. Melissa attempted to travel to the UK, and was detained, in circumstances very similar to those of BritCits supporter Dee late last year. You can read Dee's account of detention here :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/an-account-of-detention-of-spouse-of.html 

The piece below is via Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/groups/650212281695959/permalink/776822782368241/

Steve writes :
What has just happened after Melissa Houghton and I got married in Gibraltar yesterday and she tried to return to the UK.

--A Very Powerful Letter From Melissa About her Experience of Being Detained and Interrogated on her Wedding Night.---

It feels like I've just let every pain I've ever felt just build up, build up, build up, until some horrible event I can't possibly sugar coat no matter how pollyanna-rose-colored glasses I want to be about it, causes me to completely lose it. I shall try to spill out everything without editing, but even now I feel like I'm being watched, as I have a very kind family law officer looking after me, but still being watched nonetheless. Why do I need to be monitored? It seems they are so concerned about my "emotional state" as I was encouraged to write down any questions that came up in my mind and was told by the nurse that all questions had answers, but I do not think this is really thinking. Not all questions are created equal and they constructing being emotional around here as something to be resisted, something to be covered up by visions of a absolutely great life ahead for me in the future.

Wales Online : He's from Wales, she's American, so why can't their romance blossom?

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/steve-andrews-melissa-houghton-hes-7343315

'Self-confessed 'artist-type' Steve Andrews is 62 and partner Melissa Houghton is 32, but it's not the age gap that's causing them problems - it's visa restrictions.'

'Writing about their plight, the Bard of Ely said: “Our age difference causes no problems, but our nationalities do.

'“I couldn’t believe my luck when I found out that despite the fact that I was twice her age and a starving artist-type, Melissa was as attracted to me as I was to her.”

'The couple met and fell in love in Tenerife where Steve had been for nine years. Melissa, who was born in Korea but adopted by American parents, was touring Europe and  moved into Steve’s apartment in  San Marcos.

'Steve said: “Sadly though, the course of transatlantic love was not set to run at all smoothly. Melissa had a tourist visa and this only allowed her to stay in the Canary Islands until the beginning of May. The UK was a logical choice, as she could stay six months on a tourist visa.”'

https://twitter.com/bardofely

Harsh but fair?

Sent by a friend.

I'll only say this - the it's quite unfair to blame the civil servant for this. My own perception - and the perception of many end users - is that the system is set up to be bureaucratic, unfriendly, inefficient and expensive to the user. The phrase 'trial by ordeal' crops up again and again.

See :
Our bureaucracy tag  :
 http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/bureaucracy

The Chief Inspector of Borders : 'Such was the inefficiency of this operation that at one point over 150 boxes of post, including correspondence from applicants, MPs and their legal representatives, lay unopened in a room in Liverpool.' :
 http://icinspector.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/UK-Border-Agencys-handling-of-legacy-asylum-and-migration-cases-22.11.2012.pdf

'Backlogs hit half a million at immigration service' :
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/home-affairs-committee/news/130713-ukba-rpt-published/

'Shambles: The Home Office numbers which don't add up' :
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2014/02/05/shambles-the-home-office-numbers-which-don-t-add-up

''8,000 potential illegal visa 'overstayers' have (already) left UK' :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23187320 & http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/through-post-following-missive-arrived.html

etc. etc.

For amusement - 'Immigration as a game: 'Papers, Please' makes you the border guard' :
http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/14/4329676/papers-please-a-game-about-an-immigration-inspector

Spain, getting started! Surinder Singh for newbies, Spanish-style.

Mirrored here :
http://www.scribd.com/doc/179743639/surinder-singh-spanish-style-docx

Originally spotted on the EU free movement Facebook group :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/477537505627291/
https://www.facebook.com/notes/eu-free-movement-directive200438c/spain-getting-started/597851416929232

Spotted on Facebook #useful

A little something I discovered which might be of interest to those British Nationals with Central or South American Spouses. My wife is Ecuadorian and if we take the SS route then Spain would be the obvious choice. However if you exercise EU treaty rights in Spain then an "Ibero-American" (basically a native of any Spanish speaking country in the world) can apply for Spanish citizenship (and EU passport) after just two years residency enabling them to walk into the UK through the same immigration channel as you or I would.

(This includes spouses from the Philippines, Brazil and former Portuguese colonies).

'Settled at last...'

Postcards from a BritCits supporter doing Surinder Singh. A long journey for this family, but finally home.

Hayley & Manuel

“I will give this country my all. In return I hope it gives me back my husband.”

Hayley is a British citizen. Between the ages 10 and 17, Hayley lived in Spain.

She is now 19 years old and is mother to 4-year old Byron. Even though she was only 14 when she fell pregnant, despite being so young she decided to keep the baby. Even at that age Hayley knew all she wanted was a family.

When the father of her baby turned abusive – emotionally, mentally and sexually - Hayley suffered for three years. She was alone in Spain without financial independence and only her son as family – she felt like she had nowhere to turn. There were times she considered committing suicide, but obtained strength and hope from her son, who also was her impetus to find the courage to escape. She decided she did not want her son to witness the abuse; to see his mother being beaten and raped.

Hayley returned home, to England, believing here she would be safe. She had many dreams. She would continue her education and provide her son with a good life. She felt free and ready for a fresh start. However, the abuse had left its scars and Hayley sought therapy for the resulting depression, nightmares, flashbacks and general negativity. Nothing seemed to bring about closure to allow her to truly move on.

It was then that Hayley met Manuel. A police officer from Colombia who had been sent to England to learn English. They immediately became great friends and then the relationship developed into more.

Seven years older than her, Manuel provides Hayley with the stability and maturity she needs. He is intelligent, kind and wonderful with children, including Byron. Manuel understood Hayley’s pain. He encouraged her to accept the past and love herself. He would playfight with her, give her a reason to smile every time he walked into the room.


For Hayley and Byron, their lives changed with Manuel’s presence. He provided the happiness that had been missing and hope that their future could be bright after all. They planned to marry in August 2012, before Hayley started university in October.

Just when everything was going well, it happened. The rules changed.

Hayley was devastated. Here she was about to embark on university, with her husband by her side. And now she was being told employment not education should be her priority. However at the age of 18, without a university degree, Hayley did not see how she would be able to get a job that paid over £18,600 anyway.

So Manuel left England. Hayley felt the effects of depression again, was referred to a mental health department and then diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Everything suddenly made sense. She wasn't crazy. She had just been affected by many things and finding happiness just to lose it again, felt worse than ever. Hayley’s doctor recommended she defer university until she was better. So Hayley decided to go to Colombia to be with Manuel instead.

Hayley and Byron joined Manuel in December 2012, though she immediately realised that Colombia wasn't where she wanted to be as it was dangerous and didn't offer good education for her son, let alone any future children she and Manuel may have.

She cried and cried; thinking about England night after night. Manuel would simply tell her that one day she’ll be able to come home again.

The stress caused further health problems, with Hayley suffering from chronic gastritis and IBS. The doctors recommended she relax and return home where it would be safer.

Hayley ignored the medical advice - she did not want to leave Manuel. In May 2013, the couple got married – not only making them feel like the happiest couple on earth, but providing Byron with his wish to have a daddy who would love and raise him. Hayley feels every day that she and Byron are lucky to have found such a wonderful man.

When Manuel however was posted in an even more dangerous part of Colombia, they agreed it would be safer for Hayley and Byron to return home.

Hayley has since been in London seeking employment paying over £18,600. She is spending a lot of money on babysitters just so she can attend interviews. She has given up on her dream of going to university. She is heartbroken and at a loss as to what to tell Byron when he asks why his daddy is not with them. How can she explain to a 4-year old that mummy doesn’t earn enough for the government to let daddy in.

Manuel is a good hardworking man. He isn’t a criminal nor someone who will sponge off the system or other people. He is willing to leave his home and career to ensure a better life for his wife and stepson.

Manuel is now not only Hayley’s husband, he is also Byron’s daddy. Out of the first four months of their marriage, they have only been able to live together for one.

Hayley feels that she hasn’t even had the chance to yet learn what it feels like to be a wife. She feels betrayed and cheated by her own government. How is it they expect her to find a job paying £18,600 while having a child to look after, being forced once again into single parenthood? She needs time to heal and excessive stress is more likely to play havoc with her health.

Hayley is determined to help other people and has written a book about her experience. She hopes to prevent teenage pregnancies and raise awareness of rape and domestic violence. She is now an author having self-published her first book through Kindle, “Lead towards the unknown”.

She has dreams and is prepared to give the UK her all. In return she hopes the UK would just allow her to live with her husband.

On the 1st September 2013, a British family will be divided

On the 1st September 2013,  a British family will be divided

Background on Sean's story was posted here : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/sean-i-am-desperate-to-return-home-to.html . Sean is a British citizen, with a non-EEA spouse, who has lived in South East Asia for a few years. The couple has a son, also a British citizen. Because the rules lock so many expat Brits into exile, Sean is desperate to return to the country of his birth to care for his elderly, sick parents. Sean is in the process of pursuing the EEA route to be with his family - a family divided. He continues to fight to be with all his loved one.

On the 1^st of September 2013, a British family will be divided. A British father and his three year old British son will be forced to live in exile. They will have to live and find work in Spain. They have never been there and don’t speak the language.

Father and husband:

I desperately want to stay in the UK, work and help look after my aging parents. They are in their seventies and both have been fighting cancer. My father had a fall this week and mother is in severe pain with her back. I worry so much and I can’t bear to leave them. I can’t help thinking I may never see them again.

My little boy has brought them so much pleasure over the last months and he in turn has learned so much from them. He loves them so much it will be a terrible thing to take him away from them. There will be real heartache and lots of tears when we leave. I really do not want to go, but if we stay my son will loose his mother. What choice do I have?

I have chosen Spain as I think it might be the best place for me to find work as an English teacher. I am scared though. How will we cope? What about language and culture problems? How will my son get on? If I we can’t survive there what will we do? I can’t work in my wife’s country and she will not even be able to enter mine. We will be in limbo. We will have to split up. My son will have a broken family.

Grandparents:

We are coming to the end of our years and all we want is our family around us. Having our son and grandson around is the best medicine we could possible get. But now we have to say goodbye to them at the airport. We don’t know when we will see them again. This is tragic.

We don’t understand why after all these years as hard working, law abiding British citizens we are faced with this situation. What makes us really angry and ashamed to be British is that any other European citizens can just walk into England and live and work just like that. An unmarried Polish/Thai couple with no children can just move here without restriction, yet our British grandson is expected to live without his mother.

Wife and mother:

This is all my fault. I feel so bad for breaking up my husband’s family. My parents in law need their son and grandson. I said maybe I should just leave and go home. I couldn’t though. How can any mother be expected to leave her child. I would be quite happy to go back to my rice farming village in Thailand, but it is not a good place for my child and my husband cannot work in my country. I only want what is best for them. I don’t really matter in all of this.

I thought western countries were very civilized. I don’t really understand why this is happening. I am sure no other country would allow a mother to be taken from her child or expect a father and child to live in another country.

Three year old boy:

I want to be with nanny and grampy. I don’t want to see anyone cry. I don’t want my daddy to be so anxious and sad. I don’t want to loose my mummy. I want to go to school and learn. I want everyone to be happy.

Read and share, please. #spouse #child #elderlydependants #britishcitizens #surindersingh #expatinexile #dividedfamiliescampaign

Mirrored here : http://www.scribd.com/doc/154379210/British-Family-to-Be-Divided

 

Mum continues fight to allow husband UK entry

Mum continues fight to allow husband UK entry

http://www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/10509926.Braintree__Mum_continues_fight_to_allow_husband_UK_entry/

 A mum who was told she must earn at least £18,600 before her Moroccan husband can move to England is refusing to give up the fight.

Jade el Jaghaoui fell in love with Merouane in 2007 when they were living in Spain.

She returned to Braintree in October 2010, hoping he could soon join her, and became even more desperate after discovering she was pregnant.

But immigration rules mean British citizens must earn £18,600 to bring a non-European spouse to join them.

Mr el Jaghaoui even missed the birth of son Sami in September 2011 after a hold-up with a six-month visa application.

BritCit Jade tells her story :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/jade-young-mum-claims-it-is-one-rule.html

House of Commons Hansard Debates for 14 March 2013 (pt 0004)

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130314/debtext/130314-0004.htm#13031445000004

This is a good parliamentary debate on the impact of the rules. Some of our friends in Parliament - Kerry McCarthy, Kate Green, Fiona Mactaggart, and Virendra Sharma - all made good points and importantly raised a number of cases similar to those we have been documenting at http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/stories .

This humanises the debate . It's not about numbers and dog whistle politics, it's about real people whose families are suffering because of these unfair rules.

Also mirrored at http://www.scribd.com/doc/130626192/Hansard-14-March-2013 .

This is the first time this has really been raised in the Commons, and hopefully lays the groundwork for follow-up activity. As we said in the post introducing the rules ( http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/introduction.html ) - The rules were introduced by the 'back door' - first secondary legislation, and then (when the courts ruled against this - the 'Alvi' decision), emergency legislation was pushed through the House of Lords (as the Commons was in recess) without a proper debate. This is a profoundly undemocratic way to go about introducing such a change will has affected the lives of so many in such a dramatic way.

Excerpts :

Mr X needs to return to the UK to look after his elderly parents who are recovering from cancer. They used to go on a fairly regular basis to visit him, his wife and child, but they are now too ill and infirm to visit. Mr X has a professional job in Thailand, which he has held down for a long time. It is a decent salary according to local rates, but it is not the equivalent of the £18,600 earnings limit in the UK. It is enough to provide him with the same living standards in Thailand as he would have if he were on that sort of salary in the UK—it is obviously a lot cheaper to live there. Under the new rules, Mr X will have to leave his wife behind while he finds work in the UK, which he is not prepared to do—by which I mean not that he is not prepared to find work, but that he is not prepared to leave his wife behind. They are now considering moving to Spain instead, so that he is reasonably close to his parents and it will be easier for his wife to join him, perhaps becoming a Spanish national, which would then allow them to enter the UK.

The second case features Mr Z and Ms Z who came to see me in my constituency surgery a few weeks ago. They were married in the UK in March 2011. She is British citizen and her husband, who had been living and working in the UK for six years under a valid work permit, is South African. He was in highly paid professional work in the UK, but soon after they married, he was made redundant. Although he could probably have secured another job at a similarly high salary in the UK, they decided to take a chance and move to Cape Town for a couple of years.
After two years in South Africa, however, they have decided that they want to return to the UK, but the rules changed while they were away. He will not be allowed to join his wife in the UK unless she earns more than £18,600—despite the fact that he is a highly skilled computer programmer who could expect to earn perhaps £60,000 a year in the UK. Before they left for Cape Town, my woman constituent was earning £26,000 a year as a pub manager. As she has been out of work for two years in Cape Town, however, there is a gap in her CV, so she is unlikely to be able to walk straight back into a manager’s position, although she aspires to do so in a couple of years’ time. Wages in the pub trade are not particularly high, so it is likely she will start on a salary below £18,600. As I said, they would have a joint income as a family of about £75,000 because her husband could get a well-paid job, but under the new rules it is based on her income, so he would not be able to join her.

The final case to which I want to refer is that of a constituent whose girlfriend is based in Hong Kong, but is of Philippine origin. He wants her to join him in the United Kingdom, but they cannot marry. She was married to an abusive husband in the Philippines—she fled to Hong Kong to get away from him—but divorce is illegal in the Philippines, which in itself raises interesting questions. What happens if someone from the Philippines comes to this country and wants to marry a British citizen? What will be the impact on that person’s immigration status if that is not allowed?
The couple cannot live in the Philippines together, which is an option that they explored. If my constituent were in a relationship with an undivorced woman in the Philippines, he could face seven years in jail and she could face three to four years.
It turned out, after we had looked into it, that my constituent’s income is just enough for him to qualify under the rules. He came to see me because he had heard about the £62,000 savings limit, and thought that he was expected to have that much money in the bank on top of his income. However, if he had earned just £100 a month less, he would not have been able to bring his partner to the United Kingdom either. They were exploring the possible options. His partner was considering going to Canada, and he thought that perhaps he would be able to join her there.
The situation is ridiculous. My constituent has family responsibilities, and is settled in employment in the UK. The fact that he would have been forced to go to the other side of the world to be with his partner when she could join him here seems nonsensical to me.

People are increasingly working and studying abroad. People are going off to university in other countries, meeting their partners there, and then not being able to return to the United Kingdom with their partners until they have established themselves on the career ladder. It is not uncommon now for graduates to start work—if they can start work; they may be on unpaid or paid internships or low-paid jobs for the first couple of years after graduating—but to be unable to bring their partners into this country. I recognise the need to ensure that new migrants to the UK do not increase the burden on the British taxpayer, but many couples survive on less than the average income without being a burden on the taxpayer.

Andrew

“What if my 92-year-old grandfather dies, without ever having met my wife, and she can’t even pay her last respects at his funeral?!”

Andrew, a British citizen, has lived in Spain with his South African wife for four years.

They had a great beach ceremony and some members of his family from England attended the celebrations, and all was well.

Despite being British and South African, respectively, they did not encounter any problems with the
Spanish authorities regarding issuing a family member spouse visa, and his wife is now a Spanish
resident.

She has had a residence card for 5 years, which clearly states on the back: “Family Member of EEA National”. With this card they are free to travel around the whole of Europe. They can even enter the UK's overseas territory of Gibraltar, where Andrew works. They just can’t enter the UK (the country of which Andrew is a national!) – and where the rest of his family is.

EU law states in 2004/38/EC that any family member with an EU-issued residence card of more than 3 months duration does not require a visa to enter any other EU member state. But the UK does not recognise EU-issued residence cards, it only recognises its own residence cards. As such, in order for his wife to come to the UK with Andrew – even for a two-week visit! – they have to apply for an EEA Family permit.

And thus the red tape, and the farce, begins.

To obtain this family permit, Andrew has to prove that he is working in another EU member state. So if he was unemployed it would be impossible for his wife to visit the UK without applying for a regular visa at a cost of £250 for South African nationals. Fortunately he does work, and as such he is able to provide such documentation.

The EU rules require that there be no prohibitive cost or process for the issue of an EEA Family Permit (indeed, it must be free), yet the UK tries to circumvent this legal requirement by referring to it as a visa.

In the past, they have had to fill out a 12-page form requesting financial details, relationship history, 10- year address history, and so forth. Then they had to make an appointment at the British Consulate in Madrid – 500 miles away – necessitating a 7-hour drive and a hotel stay, i.e. substantial further expense. Given that the next available appointment was 2 months after filling in the visa application online, there was undue delay on top of the expense! Furthermore, they charge €15 to return the passport and documents via DHL and it can take 3 weeks to process an EEA Family Permit, which is referred to as a “decision”.

This might not seem too bad if that was it, and Andrew’s wife was then clear to enter the UK to visit as often as she wished. But no! After all this, she can only enter the UK as long as Andrew is travelling with her, and the permit only lasts for 6 months. After this time, they have to go through the entire laborious process again!

They wanted to visit the UK in August. By the middle of October they still hadn’t received the ‘decision’. They are determined to go for Christmas, especially as many of Andrew’s family have not yet met his wife, including his grandfather, a 92-year-old war veteran who is quite poorly and may not be around for much longer.

And there are nieces and nephews who want to meet their new auntie too.

Andrew is keen to show his wife where he grew up, his home town, his school, his friends. These are all perfectly reasonable expectations and something that he never thought would prove to be so difficult in his own home country, given that they were welcomed with open arms by the administration in Spain.

The UK's policy of forcing them to apply for an EEA Family Permit falls well outside the Free Movement Directives of the EU, so much so that the EU challenged the UK to change these laws back in April or face court action.

However, this UK government seems intent on remaining defiant and is willing to pay millions of pounds in fines. using taxpayers' money, rather than be a law-abiding government that has
respect for its citizens - that is, British voters.



Update:

Andrew’s wife was refused entry clearance and an EEA Family Permit. The UKBA’s view was that Andrew and his wife did not provide sufficient documentary evidence that Andrew was working or self-employed in another member state prior to returning to the UK and therefore the regulations do not apply.

In fact, Andrew submitted:
o letter from his employer, on a company letterhead, stating that he had been employed for the
o evidence of last 4 years permanent employment, with a salary over £30,000;
o copy of his work contract;
o payslips from preceding three months.

It is likely the refusal was on the grounds that Andrew works in Gibraltar but lives in Spain – we don’t know.

No explanation was given, and there’s no one to contact to clarify the reason for the refusal.

Having checked with EU Commission, Andrew received confirmation that the UK government has
acted illegally by refusing his wife a family permit.

Will Andrew’s 92-year-old grandfather ever get to meet Andrew’s wife? Will this family be able to gather together?

Ask the British government.