EEA Family Permit refused for questionable reasons

[salmouta]

Hello,

This is my first time on this forum and first of all I would like to say hello to all.
The reason why I am writing here now is because I applied for an EEA Family Permit for UK and it was refused for (in my view) weird reasons. Please advise me what would be the best approach from now on.

I am a tunisian woman that just got married with a romanian citizen who is living in the UK for two years already. As you can see in the attached refusal letter, they pick on details to "not be satisfied" about our relation. They NEVER claim this is a convenience marriage, but they pick on details like not providing phone and conversation records.
Second, the officer stated that is not satisfied regarding the fact we meet twice a year (4 times in 2 years) despite the fact we provided my husband's flight tickets for all four trips + plenty of photos for all trips (about 70 photos in total).
Furthermore, it seems they pick on employment and financial status of my husband, even if he was living in the UK for 2 years already. Indeed the UTR letter for self-employment was dated almost 11 months after he started to work, but that is only because the slow system. He paid tax for the 2014 financial year too (for 3 months only). Nonetheless, I am not sure they should ask this for someone who already lives in the UK for more than 3 months.

The documents we presented for this application were as follows:

• Certified English Translation of our Marriage Certificate
• Original (Arabic) Marriage Certificate (according to which the translation above has been made)
• My (wife) Tunisian Passport
• Two identical photos of mine (the wife) that comply with Passport Photos UK regulations ( 45mmx35mm)
• A copy of my previous passport (the original was retained by the issuer)
• A copy of mt father's and mother's French passport (they have french and tunisian citizenship)
• A copy of my husband's passport’s personal details page
• Prints of flight tickets of my husband to Tunisia for all four trips
• A letter describing the evolution of our relationship in time - this was a explanatory letter meant to clarify any possible inconsistence or suspicion they may have
• Marriage & other photos from previous visits as proof of our relationship
• Bank Statements for the last three months before my departure to Tunisia, as proof of my husband's income in UK
• Bank Statements showing my Husband's current savings
• Western Union transfer confirmation emails, to show the amount of money sent to me by my Husband
• Copies after my husband's NINo and UTR official letters
• Letter from the landlord where we will live together, proving that we have permission to use that space for living.

Below are the two pages of the refusal letter we received:



Please help us with advice about the best actions we could take from this point.
Thank you very much.

[Ikonkar]

Given that appeals are taking forever, personally I would re-apply with more documentation. (i.e. more relationship proofs, photographs, chats, telephone calls info, travels, hotels confirmations) basically whatever you could think of.

Get your hubby to ring up HMRC and request for National Insurance records, tax records and these days you can print online as long as they are registered with the service, the more the better, employment and self-employment details, company bank account details (if he has got one), invoices etc....

just my 2 cents, if someone else can shine more light regarding documentation then that would help too.

[soyerlife]

hi ikonkar,
I knew a similar case to yours which was granted an RC after an appeal , appeal cost £800 this is applicable from 10/10/2016 instead of £140 before ,so I believe the now will refuse max application for a silly reason
my cousin was refused a pr after 5years residency with EU wife just cos the last payslip of his wife was note shown in the statement because he didn't provide the last bank statement despite she works for 5 years ,he had to do fresh application and got it at the end ....I believe if you appeal it ,you will get it but you might have to wait minimum a year for hearing day.......

would you please post when did you get your COA(DATE) AND REFUSAL LETTER DATE?

THANK YOU

[Ikonkar]

.

would you please post when did you get your COA(DATE) AND REFUSAL LETTER DATE?

THANK YOU

COA - still awaiting
Refusal letter? - I haven't been refused yet (and I hope not too)

[salmouta]

would you please post when did you get your COA(DATE) AND REFUSAL LETTER DATE?

THANK YOU

Our refusal letter was issued on 10'th of October 2016. Please clarify what is COA ?
One year (even half year) is incredibly much for an appeal... also is the £800 that only guarantee that you will be heard...eventually. So, maybe the best would be another application? But if so, how can we do it better?

I was reading that one lives for more than 3 weeks in the EEA country, they shouldn't ask that person about financial status, or to bring such proof. I don't know if that is correct or not. We don't want to rely on rumors, but on certain facts.

Also, what are those Regulation 6 and 7, they invoke in their refusal?

Thank you very much.

[soyerlife]

HI SALMOUTA

COA means certificate of application ( with or without right to work ) while they are processing your application ,otherwise is the letter it says do not contact us for the next six months
I just want to know when it was dated
sorry ikonkar ,it was my mistake

thank you

[salmouta]

HI SALMOUTA

COA means certificate of application ( with or without right to work ) while they are processing your application ,otherwise is the letter it says do not contact us for the next six months
I just want to know when it was dated
sorry ikonkar ,it was my mistake

thank you

I believe you get those if you are in the UK? We are in Tunisia right now (we just had our wedding here) and we want to leave together to the UK.
All we received was the passport, the refusal letter, a form called IAFT-6 + a related information sheet and all the pictures we gave to them. They didn't even return the documents (as translated marriage certificate, or any document copies that we provided)

Thanks soyerlife.

[soyerlife]

you have a strong case ,I believe you will win an appeal ,but no idea where the hearing will take place in your case
if your husband can get any job in the uk for at least few hours a week so a letter from employer +first payslip will be more than enough

thank you

[salmouta]

you have a strong case ,I believe you will win an appeal ,but no idea where the hearing will take place in your case
if your husband can get any job in the uk for at least few hours a week so a letter from employer +first payslip will be more than enough

thank you

So, your personal advice would be for an appeal, rather than re-apply? Everybody says that appeal takes infinitely long and (i just read now in this topic) that it costs considerably...
And if we reapply, how we can avoid the same reasons for refusal? Please notice they even considered that wasn't true that my husband visited 4 times, even with the flight tickets presented... is like he paid for the tickets to keep them in his drawer? )

thank you for your support on this matter.

[noajthan]

This case is about FP - not RC / COA etc etc.

FP refusals are almost normal. Even old married couples (7+ years marriage plus children) have been refused at first attempt.
Just reapply with better evidence and addressing all concerns.

Ref UK EEA Regulations here:
http://www.eearegulations.co.uk/Latest

Reg 6 & 7 are about qualified persons and family members.
So your relationship/status and status of sponsor as qualified person are being questioned.

[salmouta]

This case is about FP - not RC / COA etc etc.

FP refusals are almost normal. Even old married couples (7+ years marriage plus children) have been refused at first attempt.
Just reapply with better evidence and addressing all concerns.

Thank you for the advice. What is FP, RC? For me all this terms are new and may be confusing.

[noajthan]

This case is about FP - not RC / COA etc etc.

FP refusals are almost normal. Even old married couples (7+ years marriage plus children) have been refused at first attempt.
Just reapply with better evidence and addressing all concerns.

Thank you for the advice. What is FP, RC? For me all this terms are new and may be confusing.

FP - family permit

RC - residence card/certificate

- someone was taking your posts off-topic by talking about RC (also COA and appeals for RC) when you have applied for FP.
RC comes later.

[salmouta]

Thank you for all the clarifications.
Returning now to the Family Permit, as I stated before, my husband is living in the UK for 2 years already (he's a Romanian national). So, considering this and considering the reason for refusal, the best approach is to reapply?
If so, then what other papers and evidence we should provide?

Thank you.

[noajthan]

Thank you for all the clarifications.
Returning now to the Family Permit, as I stated before, my husband is living in the UK for 2 years already (he's a Romanian national). So, considering this and considering the reason for refusal, the best approach is to reapply?
If so, then what other papers and evidence we should provide?

Thank you.

Address points in letter.
Cover your relationship/contacts;
Cover sponsor's activity in UK.

[salmouta]

Thank you for all the valuable advice until now.
We are preparing the second application and there is one more thing that I would like to ask about: should we mention clearly the first application refusal when addressing the points why it was refused? Or maybe quote or attach the refusal reason paragraph?
Or this will not be a good idea? An example of how we should proceed on this matter would be very much appreciated, especially from someone who had a similar experience and eventually got approved.

Thank you very much.

[Wise]

Play wisely, it is part of reducing immigration into the UK. Do your home work again and study the purpose in the refusal letter and try to add any more evidence give yourself couple of month to prepare again and re apply don't show that you so desperate because when you show that it means a lot in UK.


Good luck.

[salmouta]

don't show that you so desperate because when you show that it means a lot in UK.
Good luck.

So, your suggestion would be to not reapply immediately? I am also worried about what is going to come (brexit), if things won't go worse in the following months and will be even harder to reapply...

Thanks

[Armin85parislol]

Hi .
I'm in a situation like yours.
I get refused EEA family permit. Im spouse of Irish citizen.
Have you get your visa after that they refused first time?

[CR001]

Hi .
I'm in a situation like yours.
I get refused EEA family permit. Im spouse of Irish citizen.
Have you get your visa after that they refused first time?

Kindly start your own topic with your questions and circumstances instead of tagging onto a topic that is 2 years old. The OP in this topic has not logged into the forum for more than 18 months.