Job Discussion Forums

Marcoregano · Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 872 Location: Hong Kong

Just wondering what the legal standpoint is for husbands or wives of EU nationals - does anyone know the rules? For example, I'm a Brit, my wife is a US citizen and we currently live in Hong Kong. If/when we go to Spain, will she be able to work legally?

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

You'll probably need to check at the Embassy. The laws vary.

I'm the spouse of an EU citizen (am American). This entitles me to automatic work/living permits in the country where my spouse was born, but as the 'spouse of EU member citizen' I have NOT been automatically entitled to work permits for the countries I've applied for jobs in (Netherlands, Belgium).

I did ultimately land a legal work permit for Netherlands, and the spousal status helped, but was not the key.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Actually, my British friends say that, if you take your spouse to Britain, she can very quickly have a British passport - eliminating any problems. Maybe you'll want to consider a holiday back home for this purpose.

Marcoregano · Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 872 Location: Hong Kong

Tks spiral78. Having made a few enquiries I think you've summed it up about right, though I'm not sure she can get a Brit passport so easily - I was told it requires three years of residency in the UK? (I'd be interested to learn more details about your friends' Brit passport applications and how long it took, etc.).

But yes, seems she can work in the UK easily - but not Spain, where she needs to apply for a visa through an employer (which is crap). Our best option may be for her to apply for Spanish citizenship, as her father was born in Spain before moving to Cuba and then the US. His Spanish citizenship lapsed, but I think it still gives us a route to take up.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Yeah, I think you are lucky in having a couple of viable options.
I don't really know first-hand, but my British friends said the Brit passport process for spouses is really something like 30 days. However, I don't know how accurate or up-to-date this information is.

Phil_b · Joined: 14 Oct 2003 Posts: 239 Location: Back in London

I'd forget about a UK passport being the easy way round it:

�500 Spouse Visa, then 2 years later �750 Indefinite Leave to Remain, then after a following year your spouse can pay �655 for the privilege of naturalisation... followed by nearly �100 for a Passport... sure, it's possible, but it takes 3 years and nearly �2000... And they're probably going to tack another year on to the process this autumn (and probably another few hundred quid...)

I've done a bit of research into this (my Mrs. is from Argentina and we want to move to Spain...). As your wife is married to an EU national, she is entitled to live and work in Spain, you just have to get hold of a TARJETA DE RESIDENCIA DE FAMILIAR DE CIUDADANO DE LA UNI�N EUROPEA details here: http://www.mir.es/SGACAVT/extranje/ciudadanos_UE/estancia_residencia.html

This APPEARS to be a fairly painless procedure: Your wife will need to fill in the application form, their passport, a marriage certificate(probably translated and apostilled) and the fee, which I seem to remember is the princely sum of �6.80.

Of course bureaucratic procedures are never as easy as they look.... Anyone done it?

Marcoregano · Joined: 19 May 2003 Posts: 872 Location: Hong Kong

Thanks Phil, as I thought - a three year wait, but I didn't know about the expense on top. Seems very stingy to me, especially if you can prove you've been married for X number of years.

The tarjeta sounds good - as you say it'd be good to hear from anybody who's been through the process. Are you sure it covers working entitlement too? I only gave it a quick scan but couldn't see the clause relating to employment - admittedly my Spanish is rusty. Strange that the Spanish consulate in HK made no mention of this tarjeta when I spoke to them yesterday.

Phil_b · Joined: 14 Oct 2003 Posts: 239 Location: Back in London

Ok, this is going to be a big chunk - but I found this here http://www.mir.es/SGACAVT/derecho/rd/rd240_2007.html

travellingscot · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 64 Location: UK/Eastern Europe

How relevant this is I don't know but anyway-- it may depend on the area you go to and the type of job,as well as the prospective employer. My boss [In language school]had other interests and said if we wanted to then technically he could employ my wife legally and sort out the paperwork legally. He knew the system it would seem and also some local officials who would smile favourably on an application by him.
Our situation changed and so we didn't need to go down that road, but from other things which happened where we lived, then perhaps in some smaller towns the rules are interpreted differently to other places.