Tell me more about the key change
This has Theresa May all over it. She shut the door on families, we found windows and the windows are to be bolted as well, leaving us trapped inside the house and our families outside.
The things caseworkers are told to consider in determining the motive/purpose of the move include:
- the family member’s history of UK immigration applications and lawful residence ==> refusals are now likely to work against you, as they're more likely to suggest purpose of the move was because you couldn't get a UK visa. Yes, this is in breach of EEA regs.
- if the family has never made such an application, the reason they did not apply to join the British citizen in the UK before the British citizen moved to the EEA host country. ==> This strikes me as a bit stupid cos the answer could simply be that why would the family go through an expensive and intrusive UK visa application if their sponsor was going to move to another country anyway! What the HO is however trying to do I reckon is use a non-application as motive for circumvention. Thus the only people who are left alone are those who have succeeded in obtaining a UK visa, but have subsequently chosen to move to another EEA member state and now return.
- the timing and reason for the sponsor and applicant's move to the EEA host country and ditto the return to the UK
Not quite satisfying the above, or even having been deported, doesn't make a refusal certain, says the guidance (as if!) - the genuineness of the stay, transfer of COL (stage 3) also weigh in, suggesting that maybe, maybe, if there's some uncertainty over motive, then having genuinely lived in the other member state could tip the scales your way. However, the example given for likely refusal does use the inability to meet the £18600 minimum income threshold even where the couple lived in Ireland for six months. They do confuse it by suggesting the family member was living in the UK unlawfully, likely I think to curry favour from those reading the guidance without any real understanding of the impact of the changes on those who haven't breached their visa conditions.
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