# EU passport Holder and a Canadian Passport Holder



## Travelling Ginger (Aug 4, 2010)

I've been reading past threads trying to see if anyone has a similar situation but was not able to find anything so hopefully someone will be able to help me out here.

My husband and I are moving to either the UK or Europe later this year and was wondering if someone could confirm something for me. We're looking at Paris and London at the moment and since he holds an EU Passport as well as a Canadian Passport, we know that if we move to France we can both arrive and just register with the town that we're planning on living there.

Now my question is, is this the same for the UK? Can we arrive on his EU passport and I can work because we are considered family, or do I have to go through getting a working/long-term stay visa?

Thank you to anyone who has some advise!


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## distilledfruitcake (Aug 4, 2010)

Travelling Ginger said:


> I've been reading past threads trying to see if anyone has a similar situation but was not able to find anything so hopefully someone will be able to help me out here.
> 
> My husband and I are moving to either the UK or Europe later this year and was wondering if someone could confirm something for me. We're looking at Paris and London at the moment and since he holds an EU Passport as well as a Canadian Passport, we know that if we move to France we can both arrive and just register with the town that we're planning on living there.
> 
> ...


Hi there,

you can enter both the uk and France visa free for up to six months on your canadian passport. You husbands Eu passport entitles him to enter and remain within the EU zone it does not entitile you to immediately enter and live there- big difference. Your husband needs to apply for special visa's for you to remain as his spouse. Depending on your circumstances and how long you have been married you may be allowed to remain for a certain time period and then work after that. Being the spouse of an EU citizen does not immediatly entitle you to work in the EU , just accompany your spouse. 

Now if you settled in France you will get a card which will also entitle you to pass through the Shengen group of countries but not the UK. The UK is totally seperate. Your best bet is to decide where you wish to go then contact the embassy of that country in Canada as to what you need to apply for before you go and what documentation they need.

Hope that helps


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

distilledfruitcake said:


> Hi there,
> 
> you can enter both the uk and France visa free for up to six months on your canadian passport. You husbands Eu passport entitles him to enter and remain within the EU zone it does not entitile you to immediately enter and live there- big difference. Your husband needs to apply for special visa's for you to remain as his spouse. Depending on your circumstances and how long you have been married you may be allowed to remain for a certain time period and then work after that. Being the spouse of an EU citizen does not immediatly entitle you to work in the EU , just accompany your spouse.
> 
> ...


For France, you can both enter just with your passports - his EU passport (which country? as there are some restrictions for holders from newer EU states) and your Canadian passport, and then apply for your carte de sejour at the nearest town hall. Once in possession of your titre de sejour, you can then go and live in many other EU countries with a minimum of fuss (you still have to register in your new country etc), but not UK, Ireland or Denmark, which retain their own rules.

For UK, for both of you to live and work, you need to apply for a special visa called EEA Family Permit at the nearest British consulate to where you live. It's free and application procedure is fairly straightforward. Your permit is valid for 6 months (and you can work straight after arrival), and if staying longer you apply for residence permit (valid 5 years) to Home Office, which can take up to 6 months to process because of backlog. Until your new permit is issued, you can stay on in UK even past the expiration of your original permit.
Now if your husband has a British passport, you are bound by much stricter UK immigration law and have to apply for a settlement visa in advance, both costly and much more involved procedure. But by the quirk of EU rules, provided you both establish residence in France first (or any other EU country beside UK) and your husband becomes economically active there by work or self-employment for 6 months, you can apply for EEA Family Permit and enter UK under EU rules, which supersede UK law in this case (Surinder Singh ruling).


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