EEA Family Permit

The European Economic Area (EEA) Family Permit is a permit for non-EEA family members of an EEA national.

The EEA/Swiss national must be either already living in the UK or will be travelling with you to the UK within six months of the date of the application.

To be eligible for the EEA Family Permit, the applicant must:

• Be from outside the EEA (and Switzerland)
• Be a close or extended family member of an EEA or Swiss national

If the person has been in the UK for more than three months, they must either be a ‘qualified person’ which means working, looking for work, self-employed, studying or self-sufficient, or have a permanent residence document.

To qualify as a family member, you must be the spouse or civil partner of the EEA citizen, or related to them (or to their spouse or civil partner) as their:

• Child or grandchild under 21 years of age
• Dependent child or grandchild of any age
• Dependent parent or grandparent

To qualify as an extended family member, you must be a sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, nephew or niece. In order to be eligible, you must fall into one of the following categories:

• Dependent on the EEA citizen
• A member of their household
• Have a serious health condition and rely on the person to care for you

If you are the unmarried partner of an EEA citizen living in the UK, you might also be eligible for the EEA Family Permit if you can prove that you are in a long-term relationship with them.

You could also be eligible for an EEA Family Permit even if you aren’t a close or extended family member of an EEA citizen.

Other routes to an EEA Family Permit:

• A ‘derivative right of residence’. This includes the carer of someone who has the right to be in the UK, the carer’s child, or the child of an EEA national who worked in the UK previously
• A ‘retained right of residence’. You have the right to stay in the UK as the family member of an EEA national who has died, has left the UK or is no longer the spouse or partner of you
• The ‘Surinder Singh’ route (more below)

For each of these routes, there are additional requirements which must be fulfilled.

Call us now on 0121 667 6530 to speak with one of our immigration law specialists who can provide you with more information on all forms of EEA Family Permits and their requirements.

The documents which you need to submit to the Home Office depends on the route through which you are applying for an EEA Family Permit.

For instance, applications made through the Surinder Singh, derivative right of residence’ and ‘retained right of residence’ routes will require the applicant to submit more documentation than standard EEA Family Permit applications.

The documents/information which you must provide with all EEA Family Permits are:

• Valid passport
• Evidence of your relationship to the EEA member of family. This could be proved through a marriage or civil partnership certificate, birth certificate or documents showing that you have lived together for 2 years (if unmarried)
• Your family member’s valid passport or national identity card
• Proof of your dependency if applying as a dependent of the EEA family member

If your family member has been in the UK for more than three months, you must be able to show that they have a permanent residence document.

If the EEA family member doesn’t have a permanent residence document, you will need to show that:

• They are employed. This can be proven through showing an employment contract, wage slips or a letter from an employer of the EEA family member
• They are self-employed. If the EEA family member is self-employed, the applicant will need to submit, for example, contracts, invoices or audited accounts with bank statements
• They are studying. You will need to show letters from the school, college or university
• They are financially independent. Applicant can show this through bank statements

If any documents are not in English or Welsh, you need to include translations of the documents in your portfolio of documents (along with the originals). These documents must be translated by an accredited translator.

If you have lived in another EEA country with an eligible member of family who’s a British citizen, you could be eligible for an EEA Family Permit. This route is known as a Surinder Singh application.

The British family member must be:

• Your spouse or civil partner
• Your parent or grandparent (or their spouse or civil partner). You must be under 21-years-old or dependent on this person to apply
• Your child or grandchild (or their spouse or civil partner). You must be dependent on this person to apply

The UK residence permit has similar requirements and conditions to the EEA Family Permit. In order to apply for the EEA family permit residence card your family member must already be in the UK, and you must have been living in the UK for at least five years.

Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and, even if you meet the requirements, your application may still be refused.

You can stay for up to six months in the UK under an EEA family permit. You can leave and enter the UK as many times as you need within that time frame.

If you wish to stay in the UK for longer, you will need to apply to the EU settlement scheme, or apply for an EEA residence card. For most individuals, the EU Settlement Scheme application deadline was June 30, 2021. However, if you already possess pre-settled status and are seeking to upgrade to settled status, this deadline does not apply to you.

If the EEA national family member of the non-EEA national is a ‘qualified’ person in the UK, the non-EEA national will be able to work in the UK under an EEA Family Permit without restrictions.