EEA Family Permit (Visa Application Center)

[BritishAccent]

Dear Members of this useful forum, I have a dilemma and hope someone can help me out. My native country is Belarus, I am married to a Bulgarian citizen for 7 years, we live in Bulgaria and I received here permanent residence permit.

My husband got an offer from the UK company and he starts his job there on 5 April 2016. I am his direct family member and he wanted me to travel with him in the end of March, so I qualify for a family permit. I filled an online form on http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk and wrote there a date of our planned trip to the UK on 27 March 2016, submitted and signed the form.

After that I tried to make an appointment in the visa center in Bulgaria however it gave me only 1 available center and date for an appointment-29 March 2016, which is almost 1 month of waiting.The fun part of it that on the site of this visa center is written that they work ONE DAY A MONTH, on Tuesdays. , which means that no other early date will be shown. I was expecting a way faster service since this is what they say in the law that family permits should be issued on a priority basis, within 15 days on average. So after all it can be up to 2 month procedure for me.

Anyway I see I have no choice and I have to wait. I faced few obstacles, one of which is that I can't travel together with my husband on 27 March as I will not have a family permit. Another - that my travel date and some other info would change by the time I will arrive to this visa center for an appointment. For example, my husband works now in Bulgaria and I wrote in the application that he is not in the UK, his Bulgarian place of work and phone but on the appointment day he already will be in the UK, so I do not know how to show that situation in the application and no to confuse officers in the UKVI because they can call the phone I wrote in the application to check does my husband really work there, and he will work there till 25 March.

Could this info be considered as a false, and be a reason for a family permit refusal? Can they see that a person is in the UK at the moment? What I can't understand is why the Sign Declaration is before Appointment option as I once you sign it you can't even delete the form. How can I choose the travel date in the application when I don't know when I will be able to have an appointment with a visa center?..So the Declaration was signed already but it will not be a truthful application in 1 month as the situation will change.

I wrote few short enquiries (as their form not allowing long letters) on the site https://ukvi-international.faq-help.com/# to ask what should I do. However I didn't get any clarity from them, just very general phrases something like "do not book hotel and tickets before you got your visa". I got a feeling that they are trained to answer this way. I feel so upset because I may not get a family permit after all if they will get confused by something in my application starting with the wrong dates and my husband presence in the UK..

As I read they can easily refuse if anything is not clear to them. Please could someone give me any advice what should I do. Can I make any corrections with a pen in my application after I print it? The thing is also that I have to pay a 59 pounds fee for using this visa center. I am very confused, I still didn't make that appointment and if I don't do it it can get fully booked and they may offer next available date in 2 months (as they work only few hours one day a month). I really don't have desire to pay this money now to find out that I have to pay it again together with a new application and to re-book an appointment 2 months from now.

Could I, as an option, go to the country of my nationality (Belarus) to apply for a family permit in their UK visa center, as I saw that it works every day and I wouldn't need to wait whole month? If yes, how this can be done because the site http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk doesn't give me any other options for a visa center except the one in Bulgaria.

Is this an obligation that I have to use only this visa center in the place of my residence? I can't make an application that I live in Belarus to get an option to apply there as I live in Bulgaria and can't lie in the application about my permanent address.

I apologize for such a long complicated letter. I would appreciate any ideas and advices on my situation. Thanks in advance.

[noajthan]

There are plenty of Bulgarian members of this forum so someone must know how this is done.
Stand by.

Worst case you could travel overland and present yourself at the border (with your spouse if he returned home to pick you up).

This official Border Force manual shows how you will be treated & processed at the border:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... ndents.pdf
- see section 5.5+

In practice see this step-by-step guide:
https://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... to-travel/

Here's an example (I know you are not Russian but its a comparable example):
http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... ml#p739708

[BritishAccent]

There are plenty of Bulgarian members of this forum so someone must know how this is done.
Stand by.

Worst case you could travel overland and present yourself at the border (with your spouse if he returned home to pick you up).

This official Border Force manual shows how you will be treated & processed at the border:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... ndents.pdf
- see section 5.5+

In practice see this step-by-step guide:
https://eumovement.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... to-travel/

Here's an example (I know you are not Russian but its a comparable example):
http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... ml#p739708

Thank you very much, noajthan, for your answer. I was thinking in case of problems to just go there however the main problem would appear not at the border but when boarding a plane in Bulgaria, as they will not let me in without a visa, and I have read about some people who tried this way but they were not allowed on board and their money for tickets were not reimbursed...I know that by the law they should give me all chances to prove that I am a family member and so on but in practice they are often not in desire to comply with the law or just don't know the exact procedure how to deal with the situations like mine.
The question is how should I deal with my application? If my husband is now in Bulgaria but at my appointment date he will be in the UK as he needs to start his job there, should I provide some additional documents like his job offer by email. Yes, I know that first 3 months are initial and they shouldn't be interested in anything else except for my marriage certificate and valid documents but how can I tell them that he will come back when I get a visa to pick me up and accompany to the UK? What type of visa is more secure to ask for-to accompany him or to join him in the UK? And how can I show the date of my travel if in my application is written the old date, earlier than the appointment date? How can I delete the submitted application and make a new one? My concern is that they will see this wrong date and will refuse without digging in our circumstances. Is it allowed to make corrections in the submitted form with a pen after I print it? Or should I leave the old application and just give a letter o explanation from my husband? I have been to the USA several times and to receive american visas was easier for me than a family permit to the UK...

[noajthan]

Thank you very much, noajthan, for your answer. I was thinking in case of problems to just go there however the main problem would appear not at the border but when boarding a plane in Bulgaria, as they will not let me in without a visa, and I have read about some people who tried this way but they were not allowed on board and their money for tickets were not reimbursed...I know that by the law they should give me all chances to prove that I am a family member and so on but in practice they are often not in desire to comply with the law or just don't know the exact procedure how to deal with the situations like mine.

The question is how should I deal with my application? If my husband is now in Bulgaria but at my appointment date he will be in the UK as he needs to start his job there, should I provide some additional documents like his job offer by email. Yes, I know that first 3 months are initial and they shouldn't be interested in anything else except for my marriage certificate and valid documents but how can I tell them that he will come back when I get a visa to pick me up and accompany to the UK?

What type of visa is more secure to ask for-to accompany him or to join him in the UK?

And how can I show the date of my travel if in my application is written the old date, earlier than the appointment date? How can I delete the submitted application and make a new one? My concern is that they will see this wrong date and will refuse without digging in our circumstances. Is it allowed to make corrections in the submitted form with a pen after I print it?

Or should I leave the old application and just give a letter o explanation from my husband? I have been to the USA several times and to receive american visas was easier for me than a family permit to the UK...

Note suggest spacing your messages out so they are aasier for busy people to read.

I did suggest travel overland.
If you search in forum you will see some members have reported some success with certain budget carriers in Europe; admittedly some failings with others.

Your mileage may vary.
If its a budget flight then its a smaller risk.

Otherwise wait and see if any fellow Bulgarian residents can help you out with their experiences.

[BritishAccent]

Thanks noajthan for your advices! I will wait to see if any Bulgarians see my post.

If my husband doesn't have any accommodation in the UK yet because he is still in Bulgaria what should I write in the field "Your address where you will stay in the UK and contact phone"?
Is it better to fill all those financial questions in the application-about how much are my living expenses, how much the trip will cost me, how much money in total I will take with me, how much I will spend for living in the UK, so on? I saw in the forum that there is no need to answer them for a family permit.

However in practice do they have the right to refuse if nearly a half of the application would be filled with N/A answers?

Has anyone been refused on the ground of not answering financial questions in an application?

[BritishAccent]

Hello, I am from Belarus and married to a Bulgarian citizen for 7 years, we live in Bulgaria, I have a Permanent Residence Permit here. As applying for my family permit will take a very long time (this delay does not depend on me, on a visa application center available appointment date), my husband will be in the UK already because he has to start his new job there.

We want to write in a Support Letter from my EEA national husband that he is travelling to the UK before me and asking to issue me an EEA family permit to JOIN him after I get it.

However he doesn't have an arranged accommodation in the UK because he has to be there to choose the place, to do the payment and so on, especially now with new "Right to Rent" landlord checks - he has to be there to show his original ID to prove that he has the right to rent in the UK.
Is it a problem if there will be no accommodation proof for my husband because at the moment of my application to the visa center he still will be not in the UK, he will travel there in 1 day after my appointment.

Together with my application we want to enclose his electronic ticket to the UK and an email from his new employer with a job offer in the UK (the original contract he will have once he is in the UK). Is it a good way to do it or just the ticket is enough to prove that my husband is going there?


I read that by EU law the first 3 months of an EEA national in the UK are considered as initial residence without special conditions and therefore any financial info or an accommodation proof should not be required for a family permit however, as I read in internet, in practice not every non-EEA national who has a genuine marriage with an EEA national and who provided valid original documents and a marriage certificate gets a UK family permit.

So again my question is should I try to keep the amount of the documents enclosed with my application to a minimum or just give all that I have, even if it is not required by the EU law?

In general, can I apply for a Family Permit To Join my husband in the UK during the period of his 3 months of initial residence or do I have to wait till this period is over? I didn't find any specific requirements about this.


I suspect that I worry too much for this family permit and it makes me see things more complicated than they are...We all have tendency to worry about things that matter a lot for us...I would really appreciate someone's objective advice. Thanks

[vinny]

In general, can I apply for a Family Permit To Join my husband in the UK during the period of his 3 months of initial residence or do I have to wait till this period is over? I didn't find any specific requirements about this.

You can.

[BritishAccent]

In general, can I apply for a Family Permit To Join my husband in the UK during the period of his 3 months of initial residence or do I have to wait till this period is over? I didn't find any specific requirements about this.

You can.

Thanks!

[BritishAccent]

Hello, members of the forum! My application online for a family permit was submitted in the beginning of March, and the available appointment to the visa center in Bulgaria was only in the end of March.

When I applied online I answered "NO" in the application for the question "Does EEA national currently living in the UK?" and "YES" - for the question "Will you be travelling to the UK together?"

We planned to get my family permit and travel together however we didn't expect to wait so long for a visa center appointment, and my husband has to start his new job in the UK before I get my family permit.

So my question is how can I show that our circumstances changed and I will not be travelling with my husband but will join him in the UK after I get my visa? What is the best way to make corrections in printed application form? Or should my husband just describe the situation in the cover letter and me not to make any corrections in the form?

I really hope that I don't need to make a new application because for that, as I understand, I have to cancel my appointment and start the process all over again . Thank you in advance for your advices.