UK visa required for Mauritian married to EU citizen?

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

There could be a very simple answer to your question.  When was your husband born, what nationality were his parents and were they married at the time of his birth?

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi, thanks for the warm welcome :-)

My husband was born in 1981 and yes, his parents were married. They are all Mauritian. Not sure I am following you, please explain!

Thxnks, Miri

Hi and thanks for the response.  There is a set of circumstances that arose from Mauritius gaining its independence that led to a small group of people being entitled to British citizenship; those being:

The child was born before 1983.
His father was a naturalised British citizen at the time of his birth.
His father was married to his mother.

all 3 had to be complied with, then he has been a British citizen from birth and needed only to apply for his UK passport; alas, this is not the case.

So, to answer your question; as EU citizens, you and your children have the right to live and work anywhere in the EU; this currently includes the UK, but you should consider what impact Brexit may have on your future plans.  With regards to your husband, he would need to apply for a family visa; this link will take you to the UK Government website that deals with this.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hello Cynic,

Thanks for the lenthly reply, much appreciated!

My understanding of the family visa is that it is needed to enter the UK for all family members that usually would require a visa to enter and once they are there they register for their resident card.

Now as Mauritians dont need a visa to enter, can they not just register once in the country (obviously under the advise that they are with a EU spouse) ?

I might be wrong but just checking...

Also, how could my husband find out if he qualifies for a UK passport? His das was born under the british colony times and my husband was born before 1983.

If other options fail we will do the EEA family permit of course... :-)

Thanks for your help!

Miriam

If his Dad was a British citizen, then yes, he could apply for a UK passport.

I'm a bit confused as to why you think an EEA visa is the way to go; the EEA group of countries does not include Mauritius, who has advised you of this?

Cynic
Expat Team

Ok, thank you, I will ask him to check his dads status with his parents. They never travelled outside Mauritius so never applied for a passport before...

Sorry for confusing you, I mean he will apply then for the mentioned family permit.

Mauritians do not require a visa to enter the Uk if staying less than 6 months and also dont need a shengen visa  if staying less than 90 days. Therefore I thought he can register for the residence card once in the uk...

Hi again,

Try following the link I gave you; it will take you to the "Welcome to Visa4UK" page where you will have to Register an Account and then you can take it further; he can apply now from abroad.  It would be useful if you could give us some feedback on how you get on with that system; not that we can change it, but it better enables us to advise people following you in trying to enter the UK from Mauritius.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thanks so much for all your help! Great service :-)

Mirichick wrote:

Thanks so much for all your help! Great service :-)

No problem, it's why we're here.  One last question - why not Germany (it's much nicer than the UK)?

Hahaha, good question! We are deciding between the two. My husband does not spean german... yet... so will see 🙈

He can learn enough German to get by within a week - I did.  It will depend on whether you can support your family until he gets up to speed.