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I am Australian, married to an EU national, and have just been issued with a 5 yr residence card. I want to travel to Malta with a friend. My husband and I run an import business in the UK and my husband travels a lot to China. He stays there for 3 to 4 months at a time sorting product and branding etc.

Am I free to travel and come back to the UK without him? Will they question this at the airport? I'm worried they might class him as not living here in UK, as he is kind of living in china. I worry that they won't let me back in the UK to run our business.Or do they not question this at all when I go through customs?

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    I've edited the best I can but the important piece of information - who issued the residence card? Could you edit that into the question please? Feb 12, 2013 at 19:05
  • You added so much irrelevant information. The only that matters is: what passport(s) do you have, which country issued card and where do you want to go. Please state this clearly.
    – Andrey
    Feb 12, 2013 at 19:44
  • The status of your husband is completely irrelevant. And it doesn't matter if you travel alone or together for you.
    – Andrey
    Feb 12, 2013 at 19:46
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    The status of her COULD be relevant because visa rules for people married to EU nationals could be different. Feb 13, 2013 at 13:07
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    @Andrey Under EU law, the husband's status is very important, traveling together also matters in some situations. If the husband is not a UK resident and the OP is not traveling with him, she would be treated as a regular visitor and, depending on her own nationality, might require a costly visa or even be denied the right to enter. If he was not a resident but he was traveling with her, she might need a visa but it should be free. If the husband is a UK resident, she is entitled to have the right to reside there under EU law (which seems to be the case here).
    – Relaxed
    Nov 19, 2013 at 15:45

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I assume that you hold an Australian passport which you can use that to travel to Malta without any problem as long as it's not more than 90 days. Now the question is to go back to the UK. One thing that I know from my friend who used to be in the same position as you (he married to an English girl) is that if the immigration officer didn't think your marriage is a sham. They wouldn't ask where your husband is. Or they might ask how did you get the residence card. And as long as you can provide them with an honest answer they can at least ask questions (I'm not saying they cannot reject your entry). But it's unlikely that if you're husband is outside the country and you'll be rejected your entry. So, they might ask what're you doing in the UK and how long. You can just give them an honest answer.

And as you're Australian you can come to the UK with your Australian passport anyway. So, I don't see any problem for you to travel to Malta and back to the UK.

One thing to note that if you want to apply for a British passport you should not stay outside the UK longer than 180 days in 5 years.

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