UK Tourist Visa Followed by SSR ?

I'm thinking that it may be an idea to take my wife to the UK on a Tourist Visa for 6 months... so as she can have a look at what she'll be letting herself in for before we up sticks and move there.

I have two questions:

1) Can I take my wife to the UK on a Tourist Visa and then, if she likes it, take her to Eire or Malta and then take her back in to the UK using SSR?

and

2) Can I take her to the UK on a Tourist Visa and then, if she likes it, take her to Eire or Malta or another country (not necc EU) and then take her back in to the UK by applying for a UK Settlement VISA for her but from Eire or Malta or another country? Most of the posts I've read about this seem to indicate the wife has to go back to the Philippines and then apply to enter the UK to settle from there.

Thanks guys

I don't know what you're talking about with SSR. But if SSR refers to the Philippine visa (Special Resident Retiree's Visit) then the SSR has absolutely no relevance to your Filipina partner's travel plan to the UK.

If you take your wife to the UK on a UK tourist visa, no you can not use that visa to travel elsewhere in the EU either to Ireland or Malta. For that, you would need separate visa for the countries in question.

I have no idea whether your wife would be able to apply for a UK settlement visa whilst staying as a tourist in another country. I suspect that it will raise red flags and be a problem. I wouldn't recommend it.

Surinder Singh Route ?

Thanks for your reply.

SSR = Surinder Singh Route or Surinder Singh Rights

I didn't state it in my opening post obviously my non EEA wife would need to get a Tourist Visa to enter for Eire or Malta or another country in Europe etc...

where are you living now ? i take it --not Surrey ?

to go suriner singh you would have to live and work in a european country for 6 months or so--is it worth the hassle to avoid the settlement visa fee ?

Maybe - maybe not - maybe I cannot meet the Financial Requirement etc. We're in the Philippines at the moment - but as I say above - I think I'd prefer to take her to the UK as a tourist in order to see whether she likes it there... if she does then we have another decision to make - which is why I am asking the two questions...

I obviously know I can take or send her back to the Philippines and she can then apply for a UK Settlement VISA from there... and I also know I could take her to Eire or Malta or another Schengen country from here and we could get try to get a Family Permit for the UK later in order to settle her in the UK that way.

I see. As mentioned earlier, you would need to be resident and settled and working in another EU country for at least 3 months before you could apply for your non EU wife to join you there. Theoretically, you could then follow Surinder Singh in your application to enter the UK but only if you could show that you genuinely lived in Europe and had your 'centre of life' there. This is indicated in this publication:

https://www.gov.uk/family-permit/surinder-singh

Can you apply for your non EU wife to join you in Europe under Family Reunification if she is already there on a tourist visa?

I don't know. It doesn't sound very likely to me.

I do not know how difficult this process is likely to be. The UK immigration authorities are not idiots and doubtless questions will be asked, should you elect to try this route, since you are clearly trying to 'buck the system'. You will have to spend a plausible amount of time outside of the UK, and demonstrate to the UK authorities that you were not merely trying to circumvent the immigration rules. That means that, in practice, you may well have to spend a longer time living in Europe (or Ireland) that you imagine.

Finally, given the Brexit vote, I would treat this concept with circumspection. It's not clear what the position is going to be with relation to EU migration in the future. I would suggest that now is not really the time for you to be considering a lengthy period of time living and working in Europe to take advantage of a loophole in the rules that may well disappear.

If you are able to meet the income requirement in the UK I would suggest that you apply for a UK settlement (spouse) visa under Appendix FM, even if that means a short period of separation.

oh--good. you seem to have it all sussed out then

Fascinating - thanks.

If I had I wouldn't still be asking all the questions - fortunately I found another forum with some of the answer and it's common practice for people on short term visa's to apply for a Schengen visa whilst in the UK - the exception is France it doesn't allow it if the visa is 6 months or less. See here

http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/How-and-where-to-apply-for-a-visa

Obviously it'll probably be wiser/easier for us to apply for any Schengen visa whilst we are in the Philippines - after obtaining the UK tourist visa of course.

I feel you are now talking about something quite different.

It is one thing to apply for an EU 'family reunification' visa for your wife to join you and reside in the EU. It is quite another to apply for a straightforward Schengen tourist visa. The two are not related.

Your original questions, neither of which mentioned being a tourist in the EU, are below. So frankly I'm a bit confused now about exactly what you are trying to achieve.

1) Can I take my wife to the UK on a Tourist Visa and then, if she likes it, take her to Eire or Malta and then take her back in to the UK using SSR?

As already indicated, you will need to live and work in the EU for more than 3 months and have moved your centre of life to the EU to be able to do that.

2) Can I take her to the UK on a Tourist Visa and then, if she likes it, take her to Eire or Malta or another country (not necc EU) and then take her back in to the UK by applying for a UK Settlement VISA for her but from Eire or Malta or another country? Most of the posts I've read about this seem to indicate the wife has to go back to the Philippines and then apply to enter the UK to settle from there.

I did some more research about that and the answer is no.

If she is applying in the country of which she is a citizen, she can submit applications in any UK visa category. If not; the following rules apply:

Applications for transit visas, visit visas, and EEA Family Permits may be submitted in any country offering a UK Entry Clearance service.

Applications for entry clearance as a Tier 5 (Temporary Worker) Migrant in the creative and sportive sub-category of Tier 5 may also be made in the country where the applicant is situated at the time but only if the Tier 5 applicant is in that country for a similar activity that she or he proposes to undertake in the UK and only if she or he is legally present in that country.

In addition, Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme) Temporary Migrant applications may also be made elsewhere provided that the applicant is legally present in the country of application and has been granted leave to remain in that country for a period of more than 6 months.

In all other cases (including the settlement visa that we are discussing), applications should be made in her normal country of residence.

Without wishing to appear rude ChoiAndJohn - you and I obviously don't understand each other. So can you do me a favour - don't try to reply to any other questions I might ask on this forum?

Thanks

Actually you do appear very rude.
Frankly I feel a little hurt, given that I have spent time and effort trying to help you.
Be sure that I will not try and assist you again since that is what you want. Good luck.

If that is how you treat someone who is trying to help you, in his own time, don't expect any help from me.

i remember now--member john surrey was very rude and dismissive on a previous thread some months back. i backed out at that point.

@ChoiAndJohn --youve gone out of your way to offer this person good--FREE ---advice. maybe he would be better served using the services of a professional adviser from now on.

Agreed. If I had been in a bad mood this afternoon I might have speculated just how bad a malfunction someone must have in order to treat kindly meant advice in such a fashion, but I wasn't, so I won't.

That is not very nice ..tsk tsk tsk !

I think I asked TWO fairly straightforward questions:

Question 1) was about SSR (Surinder Singh Route) - JonAndChoi's initial reply "I don't know what you're talking about with SSR... "

Question 2) was also indirectly about SSR and then went on to question whether it would be possible for my non EEA to apply for a UK settlement Visa - JonAndChoi's initial reply "I have no idea whether your wife would be able to apply for a UK settlement visa..."

Yes - I was rude - firstly given that JohnAndChoi admitted that he didn't know the answer to question 1 and had no idea about question 2 I wondered why an earth he tried to reply!

As I understand it immigration is basically about law and the practice of that law - So when you ask a question about it I wouldn't expect someone to bother replying unless they knew the answer and could back it up with either personal experience or a reference/link to something factual - sorry if that's a little blunt.

I really don't know what's happened to JohnAndChoi's original post but in contrast to his other contributions it does actually provide some useful and, thankfully, some fairly succinct advice; so I hope he/she doesn't mind me posting the copy of the email version I received.

Thanks JohnAndChoi - if only your first post had been so illuminating and unelaborated.

I deleted it because I decided it was unnecessarily inflammatory, albeit admittedly succinct and apt. I am pleased that you have found at least one of my posts useful. Good luck.