Immigrationboards.com

Good Morning,
I'm an European Citizen (Portugal), married with an Non-EEA (Venezuela) citizen, we both live in Venezuela and we plan to move to London in February 2nd, 2013.

We search online and we applied for an EEA Family Permit from Venezuelan British Embassy, we fulfill the application requirements and prove that we intend to move to London next year, I have a job offer that I'm accepting but unfortunately the EEA Family Permit for my wife was denied and the response letter said:

"You have applied to settle in the UK as the wife of an EEA National who is exercising their treaty rights. You have provided evidence of your marriage and that your husband holds Portuguese Nationality.

As you are planning to stay in the UK for over three months, you are required to show that your husband is qualified under the following categories;

Job seeker
Worker
Self employed
Self Sufficient
Student

The bank statements provided with your application do not show that your husband is self sufficient. You have provided evidence that your husband is currently employed in Venezuela but no evidence that he has secured employment in the UK. You have provided no other evidence with your application to show that your husband is qualified under any of the other categories."

My questions are:

Can we continue with the plan to move to UK togeter, and after sign the contract and start to work in the company that offered me job, prove that I'm settled in the UK and obviously before her 6 legal months to stay in UK as "tourist" make the EEA Family permit from there?.

or Do I have to go alone (that we don't want to), send her the required documents to Venezuela and request again the EEA Family Permit from Venezuela?.

or we don't need an EEA FP because she doesn't need a visa to enter to UK, and already in England can we apply for a EEA2 Residence Card for her?. in this case, what do I have to say to the Boarder Agent when we arrive? because we obviously are going into the country with plans to stay, but she doesn't have permission, she is entering as "Tourist".

I can't wait to see your response guys,

thanks

respectfully

Since you do not appear to have been in the UK for more than 3 months already you do not have to show that you are a qualified person. The decision of the UK embassy thus seems to be wrong.

If your wife does not need a visa before arrival (aren't the requirements for a Venezuela passport that it is one of the new biometric ones?) I believe she does not need to apply for a EEA FP before travel. She will not be entering as a tourist but as the family member of an EEA national so have your marriage certificate ready.

sum1 wrote:If your wife does not need a visa before arrival (aren't the requirements for a Venezuela passport that it is one of the new biometric ones?) I believe she does not need to apply for a EEA FP before travel. She will not be entering as a tourist but as the family member of an EEA national so have your marriage certificate ready.

Thanks for your answer.

Like you said, she has the new biometric passport so she doesn't need a visa, we spent a few days in London after our wedding 2 years ago.

So I'll have our marriage certificate ready when we approach to the Boarder Agent and explain him that we are moving to london and we will process her EEA 2 Residence Card there.

As Venezuelan citizen she is legally able to stay in UK for 6 months.

Since she is EEA Family Member (my wife) she will not need to leave the country after 6 months without a EEA Family Permit???

I suggest you read the following post, the entire thread and the links t points to as the situation is similar to yours.

EEA FP and moving to the UK.

Also, if you wish, you can complain to the consulate visa section manager and reapply.

The ECO should not test your overall intentions after the three months. This is clearly explained in the HO own guidelines. See EUN2.4 What are the requirements for issuing an EEA family permit?.

Thank you very much Jambo!.
GREAT LINKS you have passed to me!..

I still reading them and taking a lot of notes, after read it all I'll post back my point of view and if I have further questions I'll make them!.

Thanks a lot.

portuguesecitizen wrote:
"You have applied to settle in the UK as the wife of an EEA National who is exercising their treaty rights. You have provided evidence of your marriage and that your husband holds Portuguese Nationality.

As you are planning to stay in the UK for over three months, you are required to show that your husband is qualified under the following categories;

Job seeker
Worker
Self employed
Self Sufficient
Student

The bank statements provided with your application do not show that your husband is self sufficient. You have provided evidence that your husband is currently employed in Venezuela but no evidence that he has secured employment in the UK. You have provided no other evidence with your application to show that your husband is qualified under any of the other categories."

Incredible! You are not the first to have received a refusal such as this. This is down to an ECO who does not understand the regulations (reg 13 in particular) and / or has not read the guidance properly. The decision is incorrect.

The thread Jambo shared with you should help in any case.