Job application conditions for a non EU-spouse

Hello Everyone,

I would need your advice in a question related to the "EU/nonEU-family membership-work options" circle. I saw some similar posts, but still I couldn't find comforting answers for our case.

I'm from Hungary (EU member and Schengen country) my husband is Turkish (non EU) having a Hungarian residence permit based on family membership (since we have been married and lived together in Hungary for almost two years). This allows him to travel in EU and stay in (Schengen) EU countries for the same 90 days as EU nationals, as tourist.

We are collecting information about moving to Malta and the key point seems to be if my husband could find a job, and work there. (I would prefer to be housewife for a while, and anyway one salary would be enough as we have some regular income from HU – unfortunately not enough for self-sufficiency in Malta). So the plan is that he goes first, looks for job and only in the case he finds a nice opportunity I would follow him and settle down there.

If he was the EU national and I the non EU spouse, the process would be clear: he goes, finds a job, applies for residency due to the employment and I could apply for it as family member of him. But in our case it is the opposite and this makes me a bit confused. As much as I could understand, my husband, as a family member, officially has the same rights as an EU national, so also could travel alone to Malta (with his passport and Hungarian residence permit) and could apply for a job in the same way as if he was directly an EU citizen (always referring to these two documents). After and if getting a job, he could apply for the Malta e-Residence card as employee, I suppose..

My first question is if these information are correct?

And if they are (so I hope), my second question is, if anyone has experiences or information about the "reality" in finding a job as non-EU spouse? I mean if also the employers know about this above mentioned equality? Is there no discrimination in the everyday life? Would the employers be in a job applying process the same open for a Turkish (proved EU family member) applicant as for a direct-EU citizen or would they treat him as a non EU National?

Sorry for this long post and thanks for reading it !!  :)
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance for them  :)

Kata

Hi ,

your information is wrong !

Your husbands rights always depend on your rights as an EU citizen and only apply to your country of residency. You can move freely within the EU and take your husband with you but he can't relocate on his own.

There is no European residency permit , it is always national. So if you choose to move to Malta you will have to register for residency here in Malta and apply for you husband's residency as a family member again . He will always be your family member and not the other way around.

Your husband can travel to Malta as a tourist but not apply for a job ( without work permit) on his own. In fact he could not even travel to the UK without a special visa.

Cheers
Ricky

spot on Ricky

Thanks a lot for the comments. Sad news, useful information. We will start to work on plan B..
Thanks again,
Kata