EEA Family Permit question

[franciszek]

Hi All,

I'm EEA national (not British) and have been in a relationship with Malawian girl for 2.5 years now. We have little daughter together who will be 1 year old soon.

Our problem is that my fiancee have overstayed for a few years.
We were reading a lot and it seems that EEA Family Permit is our best hope.

Can someone tell us if it is possible to get this permit in our circumstances (i.e. her overstayed visa) or point us to other possibilities?

Thanks in advance,
F.

[vinny]

Possible (26.15.7).

[franciszek]

Thanks vinny. We read this and are a little bit confused.
Can you tell us what the real chances are of getting EEA Family Visa in our case (overstayed, apply from uk, baby together).

Thanks in advance.

[franciszek]

Can someone help us with this, please?

[John]

How long have the two of you lived together "in a relationship akin to marriage". Is that at least two years? And more important, have you the evidence that the two of you have lived together for at least two years?

I ask this because "in a relationship with Malawian girl for 2.5 years now" does not indicate how long the two of you have lived together.

[franciszek]

We've been living together for 2 years now.
We have evidence for that (utility bills with our names, tenancy agreement, pictures).

Can you tell us what our chances are of getting EEA Family Permit in our case?

[franciszek]

We've been living together for 2 years now.
We have evidence for that (utility bills with our names, tenancy agreement, pictures).

Can you tell us what our chances are of getting EEA Family Permit in our case?

[isceon]

you cannot apply for a EEA family permit from the UK.
You can apply for the EEA family permit from any country out of the UK without condition of lawfull residence.
You could apply for a non EEA residence card from the uk as a partner of an EEA citizen in a durable relationship(extended family member).
Unfortunately the directive 2004/38 does not give an automatic right of residence to such family member as opposed to direct family members(spouse or children).
The Ho has for policy to refuse such applications where the non EEA has no legal status in the uk and the courts are agreeing with it .
For these reasons your best option is to leave the uk apply for a EEA family permit or apply for a coa to marry ur partner in the uk and gain the automatic right of residence.You could also leave the uk ,get married abroad ,apply for the Ridiculous Family permit and come back .
Good luck.
If I was you I would:
1 apply for a residence card as non EEA partner of an EEA citizen
2 once you receive the coa(certificate of application) the HO can take up to year (unlawfully) to decide ur application,You would have a legal status in the uk and apply for a certificate of approval to marry ur partner (if he agrees and the relation is genuine and u can prove it.
3 once married send ur marriage certificate to the HO they can t refuse you the RC at that point.
Good luck

[franciszek]

Thanks for you reply!
It made our choices much clearer now.

So as far as we understand, we would have to:

1) apply for EEA2 (residence card) (unmarried)
2) wait for Certificate of Application (which should arrive after more or less 4 weeks, while EEA2 application is still being processed). From this moment my overstayed partner cannot be removed from UK.
3) apply for Certificate of Approval (which takes about 6 weeks) (HO cannot deport my partner as she's got Certificate of Application)
4) get married once we get COA
5) Forward documents to Home Office - Our EEA2 application cannot be refused any more.

Are we getting it right?

Can you tell us what are the chances of Certificate of Approval to be refused in our case (2 years living together, 1yr old baby together)?

Also can you tell us what status will my partner be given after receiving Certificate of Application (is it leave to remain or some sort of temporary admision)?

Thanks in advance.

[isceon]

yes it is right
99% succes
I would think it s just a sort of temporary leave until decision is made.but at lest you are legal.
good luck

[John]

The Ho has for policy to refuse such applications where the non EEA has no legal status in the uk and the courts are agreeing with it .

That is no longer true, since the Metock judgement of the ECJ last summer.

But as regards your list, I cannot disagree with any of your comments 1, 2 & 3.

[shandave2001]

Why there will be need for EEA family permit? Non-EEA will get CoA after submitting EEA2, CoA is fine and provide all what a EEA familiy permit would provide.

After Metock, certficate of Approval has no practical effect as a non-EEA family member's immigration status can no longer be bar to get RC. It seems HO keeping it to gerate £295 per person.

[86ti]

Why there will be need for EEA family permit? Non-EEA will get CoA after submitting EEA2, CoA is fine and provide all what a EEA familiy permit would provide.

Like convincing an airline that you are entitled to re-enter the UK or an employer that you are indeed allowed to work? Good luck with that!

[isceon]

The Ho has for policy to refuse such applications where the non EEA has no legal status in the uk and the courts are agreeing with it .

That is no longer true, since the Metock judgement of the ECJ last summer.

But as regards your list, I cannot disagree with any of your comments 1, 2 & 3.

John
The Metock judgement does not include extended family members (partner in durable relationship)but only direct family members(spouse and children I think.
The Ho keep refusing RC for partners unlawfully residing in the UK.

[isceon]

Why there will be need for EEA family permit? Non-EEA will get CoA after submitting EEA2, CoA is fine and provide all what a EEA familiy permit would provide.

After Metock, certificate of Approval has no practical effect as a non-EEA family member's immigration status can no longer be bar to get RC. It seems HO keeping it to gerate £295 per person.

COA certificate of application for a RC as a partner in durable relationship of an EEA is useless as it does not even give the right to work.
Travelling with a coa and without EEA family permit is just impossible unless they are married and travel together and the airline agrees to let them board(I doubt it)

[Jersey]

Can someone let me know why there is a need at all for this EEA FAMILY PERMIT? I'm a Romanian national and my wife is NON-EEA, who wants to join me in the UK. The British Embassy in her country told her to apply for EEA FAMILY PERMIT, but I don't really see a need for it, as she can enter as a tourist and then apply for a residence card while she's here. Is that sensible?

[86ti]

Can someone let me know why there is a need at all for this EEA FAMILY PERMIT? I'm a Romanian national and my wife is NON-EEA, who wants to join me in the UK. The British Embassy in her country told her to apply for EEA FAMILY PERMIT, but I don't really see a need for it, as she can enter as a tourist and then apply for a residence card while she's here. Is that sensible?

I would think so too if she is a non-visa national (otherwise the FP is the better option). The more important point may be if you can satisfy the immigration officer. But that should be ok if you can produce evidence for your relationship: marriage certificate (hopefully you have been married for some time to avoid insinuation of a marriage of convenience), copy of passport of the EEA national if you do not travel together. I remember a case here where the Croation wife entered the UK on herself to join her husband. She got a FLR stamp (not sure if the IO was right to do that) after she explained her situation and that was it. See http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=35331

[Jersey]

Can someone let me know why there is a need at all for this EEA FAMILY PERMIT? I'm a Romanian national and my wife is NON-EEA, who wants to join me in the UK. The British Embassy in her country told her to apply for EEA FAMILY PERMIT, but I don't really see a need for it, as she can enter as a tourist and then apply for a residence card while she's here. Is that sensible?

I would think so too if she is a non-visa national (otherwise the FP is the better option). The more important point may be if you can satisfy the immigration officer. But that should be ok if you can produce evidence for your relationship: marriage certificate (hopefully you have been married for some time to avoid insinuation of a marriage of convenience), copy of passport of the EEA national if you do not travel together. I remember a case here where the Croation wife entered the UK on herself to join her husband. She got a FLR stamp (not sure if the IO was right to do that) after she explained her situation and that was it. See http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=35331

Cheers, that helps.

[franciszek]

Hi,

Thanks all of you for your help.

We are about to apply for EEA2 now but not sure if we should write a letter explaining our situation or is EEA 2 form + required documents and evidence sufficient and no letter is needed?

Thanks in advance.
Franciszek

[Rozen]

Hi,

Thanks all of you for your help.

We are about to apply for EEA2 now but not sure if we should write a letter explaining our situation or is EEA 2 form + required documents and evidence sufficient and no letter is needed?

Thanks in advance.
Franciszek

Just fill in the form, enclose the required documents, and send it off by special or recorded delivery! No letter needed. You will just complicate things by writing a letter. If they want more info, they will request it.

[Obie]

Hi,

Thanks all of you for your help.

We are about to apply for EEA2 now but not sure if we should write a letter explaining our situation or is EEA 2 form + required documents and evidence sufficient and no letter is needed?

Thanks in advance.
Franciszek

I like to be optimistic. But please note that the UKBA have still maintained their position on Extended family member, even in light of Metock ruling.

Perhaps it would be advisable for you to have a legal representative, as you both are unmarried, just to be on the side of caution.

However, i wish you all the best. I hope you have applied for your child's EU citizenship. I suspect it will boast you case immensely if you provide that information, or evidence of it in your application.

They will then have to think twice before refusing her.

[Rozen]

I would go it alone first by just filling in the application and sending it off with the relevant documents. If UKBA make it difficult along the way, then I'd engage a solicitor! But then that's just me and my opinion; which is really rather humble, by the way...

[Obie]

Rozen, like yourself, I don't believe in solicitors at all. Thanks for this forum, that belief was reinforced. I was saved about a 1000 euros, that those so called solicitors would have scoundrel from me.

I was actually meaning to suggest legal advise, as the fiancee is undocumented at present. Had that not been the case, i wouldn't have even suggested that.