Exercising Treaty Right
EEA Family Members
An application for a Residency Card as an EEA (FM) Family Member exercising treaty rights.
If you are not an EEA national but you are the family member of a citizen from the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland and your family member is living in the UK in accordance with the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 20016, you may also have the right to live and work in the UK provided you can produce evidence to prove your relationship to your EEA family member.
So what does living in the UK in accordance with the EEA Regulations mean?
Essentially it means that the EEA national is exercising their treaty right in the UK by either:
1- Working
2- Studying
3- Self-employed
4- Self-sufficient
If your EEA family member fall into one of the above categories then you can make an EEA application for a residence card as proof of your association with that family member. The residency card is a document which confirms your right of residence in the UK under European law. Your residence card may take the form of an endorsement in your passport (also called a ‘vignette’), it may be a separate document called an ‘immigration status document’. It is more likely these days to receive a biometric residency card as confirmation of your association with your family member.
To firmly establish your association with your EEA family member you must meet the definition of a family member as specified in Regulation 7 of the EEA Regulations 2016.
The definition does include the following relationships:
1- Spouse
2- Civil partner
3- Dependent child
4- Dependent parent or grandparent of the relevant EEA national
5- Dependent direct relatives in the ascending line
If you can prove that your EEA national sponsor is exercising treaty rights and that you are related to them as specified above then you may be entitled to a 5 year residency card. However, when submitting your application you must submit evidence to demonstrate everything stated above. We hope this information has been useful to you and will aided you in your proposed application. Remember if you need specific immigration advice contact us here to book a consultation. Alternatively, give us a call to see how we can help you. If you want to know more about our services you can read some of our independent google reviews here.