About to apply - EEA2 Residence card

[danimed]

Hello everyone,

I am an Argentinean citizen married to an Estonian citizen, currently living in Edinburgh. We applied for a EEA Family Permit back in September, and luckily got it within three week's time. We travelled to the UK last week and now we are ready to apply for my Residence Card. I would like to double check the list of documents I am going to submit just to save myself any future stress any advice or guidance about this would be immensely appreciated!

- My original passport.
- My husband's Estonian ID card.
- Our original marriage certificate + Certified English translation of it
- His employment contract + first payslip. (We travelled together to the UK and he got a job just a few days ago)
- Tenancy agreement signed by both of us
- Two passport-sized pictures of me

We were thinking of submitting a bit of additional supporting documentation as well, since we read in various forums that during the stage of the process they tend to scrutinise your situation more than when you apply for the EEA FP. We've been in a relationship for 4 years now, but only been married for 7 months, so we thought it would be wiser to show them the following extra documents:

- A few pictures of different stages of our relationship. Trips we took together, photos that show us with different relatives and friends. Also from our wedding.
- Previous tenancy agreements of different places we lived in together.
- A few screenshots of conversations on Facebook and e-mails we sent each other.

Question:

Since we've only been here for a week, and December is proving itself to be one of the worst times of the year to find permanent accommodation , we've signed a short-term tenancy agreement for a month, that would provide us with extra time to look for something of a more permanent nature. Would this be a problem at the moment of application? Should I include a letter explaining our circumstances and letting them now we are living here temporarily while looking for a long-term lease? Same situation with my husband's job. He's taking up employment but he's planning on keeping the job-hunting active until something better comes up. Would that be a problem if he changed jobs while our application is being processed?

Also, do you include a covering letter with this application as well?


How does my list look? I'd appreciate your input on this

Thank you!
-

[noajthan]

Good start.

Perhaps hold off until hubby has been in job a little longer and you have more evidence, eg more payslips.

Note There are two aspects to this: sponsor's exercise of treaty rights and both party's residence in UK.

Keep generating a papertrail of your joint residency in UK.
And how about:

• council tax document;
  dealings with tax & NI offices;
  medical documents (registration with RHA);
  doctor/dentist/optician etc;
  insurance docs (car/house);
  bank statements;
  utility bills (if any);
  voter registration/electoral roll;
  library registration

& etc etc

A cover letter is not necessary unless you have something complicated to explain.

Do remember to notify HO of any material changes after application is submitted; for example:

• sponsor's job change - as HO often contacts the employer!;
  change of address;

fyi - the caseworker is likely to be using this HO guidance to assess and weigh up your application:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... als-v4.pdf
&
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf