Most of you will have seen my previous post-EU Family Route: what is the Surinder Singh Route (see post here...). Some time has lapsed since then and I apologise for the delay in writing the second part of the post, which I hope to tackle here. For obvious reasons, this route has grown in popularity and as one can imagine, the Government does not like it.
The Current Position:
In a nutshell, this route currently allows UK citizens to LEGALLY circumvent the UK Immigration rules on spouse and family members from non-EU countries. The UK citizen may purposefully travel to another EU country, work for a few weeks and then return to the UK with his or her non-EU spouse. This route has become increasingly popular as one can avoid the stringent requirements of the spouse visa including the income threshold, which is out of the reach of many ordinary citizens. It also avoids the cost of the application, as this route is free, and the time granted under the EU laws on entry is normally longer; a 5-year residence card as opposed to the 2 and a half years on a spouse visa.
