Tag: EU Residence Card System

Conservatives and right-wingers will see this as another setback in the government’s campaign to control immigration from the European Union. The Guardian reports that the EU’s freedom of movement rules trumped British claims that visas were needed to combat abuse of the EU residence card system. Judges in Luxembourg said the Colombian wife of Sean McCarthy, a dual British and Irish national living in Spain, did not need a UK visa or family permit to visit Britain. The high court referred the case to the ECJ after McCarthy contested UK insistence on a family permit or visa, valid for six months, for his wife, Helena, every time they visit Britain. The couple have two children, both British nationals. The ECJ decided that Helena McCarthy’s Spanish residence card entitled her to travel to Britain without first obtaining a UK visa in Spain. The UK government is op the opinion that the system of residence permits in some EU countries is suspect and open to abuse. They have therefore imposed a blanket entry requirement but the EU court said: “The fact that a member state is faced with a high number of cases of abuse of rights or fraud cannot justify the adoption of a measure founded on considerations of general prevention, to the exclusion of any specific assessment of the conduct of the person concerned himself. Such measures would mean, as in the present case, that the mere fact of belonging to a particular group of persons would allow the member states to … disregard the very substance of the primary and individual right of EU citizens to move and reside freely within the territory of the member states.” This means Britain will be forced to recognise residence permits issued by any EU member state. But their biggest concern is this, if you are in the UK on a valid visa or a British Citizen this ruling opened the door for your parents and family members to be able to visit you in the UK without a visa. So the possibility that non-EU parents of British Citizens living in the UK will be able to visit without visas but, this just opened the door. Clearly this has not been challenged in court nor is it law because of the ruling but it is going to be interesting to see what happens in the near future.

Tag: EU Residence Card System

Non-EU Parents and family might not need a UK visa to visit