Hi all,
First of all let me thank you all for the wealth of information on this board. And secondly let me apologise for the lengthy post.
I am Danish citizen and my Wife is Russian. We have been together for 3 years and married for one. I used to live in the UK but between 2015 and 2017 we lived together at my parents place in Turkey. For the past 6 months we have been house sitting for a friend in Athens, so as you can imagine, we do not have any really proof of cohabitation.
She made her application for an EEA FP a couple of weeks ago here in Athens and got the rejection letter yesterday:
In assessing your application Member States are entitle to be satisfied that you are not party to a marriage of convenience. A married of convenience can be taken to refer to one that does not have substance. Qualifying as a spouse under Regulation 7 extends beyond a valid marriage certificate.
While you have provided a marriage certificate to show that you were married on the 10/06/2016 the evidence before me does no indicate that your relationship with the EEA national can reasonably be considered as one of substance.
You state you first met your spouse on 28/10/2014 and that your relationship started on 20/11/2014. However, aside from your marriage certificate, you have not provided any documents to demonstrate you are in a genuine subsisting relationship. For example you have to provided any photographs showing you and your spouse together at any time before, at or since your marriage. You have provided any evidence of communication or contact between you and your spouse at any stage of your relationship. you have provided no evidence to show how, where and when you met, no evidence of how you have kept in contact during periods apart before and since your marriage and no evidence of cohabitation.
I also note that in your previous visa application form (submitted on 04/05/2015) you declared that you were single.
It is reasonable to expect that in a genuine subsisting, supportive and affection relationship, that there would be significant evidence of regular contact, signs of companionship, emotional support, affection and an abiding interest in each other’s welfare, and well-being. Given the lack of evidence of personal contact and contact between you, I am not satisfied that you have genuinely formed a genuine and durable relationship with outward signs of affection and companionship. You have therefore failed to demonstrate satisfactorily that both you and your sponsor intend to live permanently with each other as his or her spouse or that there is any affection and support between you. You have also failed to demonstrate that there is any substance to the marriage and this gives rise to suspicions that your marriage is one of convenience to facilitate your entry to the UK. I am therefore not satisfied that your relationship with your sponsor is subsisting.
The definition of ‘spouse’ in the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 does not include a party to a marriage of convenience. I am not satisfied that you are not party to a marriage of convenience and are therefore not the family member of an EEA national in accordance with the Regulation 7 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016.
I therefore refuse your EEA Family Permit application because I am not satisfied that you meet all of the requirements of regulations 7 and 12 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016
After having spent time on this forum I was not surprised. She will have to leave the Schengen area soon but she plans to reapply in Moscow this week. I have written the following cover letter:
For the attention of the Entry Clearance Officer,
This is the second time my wife, Mrs Boosh, d.o.b. xx-xx-xxxx, is applying for an EEA Family Permit. Her first application was refused on what I believe to be wrongful grounds as the Entry Clearance Officer failed to request further documentation when he suspected our marriage to be one of convenience. He also failed to request her to attend an interview as set out in the guidelines published by the UK Home Office in “EEA family permits: guidance for entry clearance officers”, and further exemplified in the Upper Tribunal hearing Papajorgji (EEA spouse - marriage of convenience) Greece (2012) UKUT 00038(IAC).
She is submitting her second application in Moscow as she has returned to visit family. She usually resides with me at my parents second home in Turkey, or for the past 6 months at a common friend of ours in Athens.
By writing this letter I again confirm that I, Boosh, citizen of Denmark, d.o.b. xx-xx-xxxx, intend to travel to the UK and in accordance with EEA regulations wish to be joined by my wife, Iuliia Lukianchikova.
To address some issues raised in by the Entrance Clearance Officer in his refusal of her EEA Family Permit (copy inclosed):
While you have provided a marriage certificate to show that you were married on the 10/06/2016 the evidence before me does no indicate that your relationship with the EEA national can reasonably be considered as one of substance.
You state you first met your spouse on 28/10/2014 and that your relationship started on 20/11/2014. However, aside from your marriage certificate, you have not provided any documents to demonstrate you are in a genuine subsisting relationship. For example you have to provided any photographs showing you and your spouse together at any time before, at or since your marriage. You have provided any evidence of communication or contact between you and your spouse at any stage of your relationship. you have provided no evidence to show how, where and when you met, no evidence of how you have kept in contact during periods apart before and since your marriage and no evidence of cohabitation.
She did not enclose any photos, telephone call logs, private emails or the like as this is not a requirement for issuing the EEA Family Permit under EEA regulations. Neither were they asked for at any point while submitting the application. During his investigation, the Entrance Clearance officer failed to request any additional proof of our relationship.
I also note that in your previous visa application form (submitted on 04/05/2015) you declared that you were single.
While making an application for a visitors visa to the UK in 2015 she listed herself as single for the simple reason that at the time she was neither married, engaged, in a civil-partnership or widowed. This does not exclude her from being in a romantic relationship. Again the Entrance Clearance Officer failed to investigate this.
It is reasonable to expect that in a genuine subsisting, supportive and affection relationship, that there would be significant evidence of regular contact, signs of companionship, emotional support, affection and an abiding interest in each other’s welfare, and well-being. Given the lack of evidence of personal contact and contact between you, I am not satisfied that you have genuinely formed a genuine and durable relationship with outward signs of affection and companionship. You have therefore failed to demonstrate satisfactorily that both you and your sponsor intend to live permanently with each other as his or her spouse or that there is any affection and support between you. You have also failed to demonstrate that there is any substance to the marriage and this gives rise to suspicions that your marriage is one of convenience to facilitate your entry to the UK. I am therefore not satisfied that your relationship with your sponsor is subsisting.
Again, the Entrance Clearance Officer failed to request either of us to attend an interview, nor did he request any evidence of the nature of our marriage or our relationship.
Should you have continuing doubts about the validity of our marriage you are welcome to contact me on +123456789 or some@email.com.
To support her second application, we enclose the following documents:
• A signed application form
• Wedding certificate
• Passport
Prof of my EEA nationality in the form of my Danish passport
I trust that this is sufficient for issuing her with an EEA family permit and that her application will be approved with no delay.
Kind regards,
Boosh
We do not plan to appeal at this stage but wait until we hear back from VAC in Moscow. Is there anything else we should be doing?
Thank you
Ps. I would love to see the UKBA's definition of a "genuine subsisting, supportive and affection relationship" perhaps they could write some couples therapy books. And this statement just made me laugh "signs of companionship, emotional support, affection and an abiding interest in each other’s welfare, and well-being."
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