We Got It!!!

Hi all,


I guess a lot of you know about my case, I lived in Bulgaria then The Philippines, got married and had the UK visa for my wife denied. With the help of these boards we managed to get to Bulgaria to use the EU route to try and get home because my wife is pregnant. I really think that our case provides some very valuable information for others in our position. I want to express our sincere gratitude for all the help that we received in this process, particularly from Obie and Benifa. You two have been totally amazing, your knowledge of the process and the time that you spent helping us is simply amazing. Finally, big thank you also to everyone else who helped.

Last week we went for one of those new and amazing 4D(?) scans for the baby, I am incredibly happy to say that we are expecting a very healthy little girl

The full details of our EEA Family Permit application:

We arrived in Bulgaria on 12 September, I began working on 8 October and we applied for the family permit on 11 November. I had been working for one month and 3 days. I had not received any payment for my employment at the time. The application was sent to the Romanian embassy on Friday 13th!. From submitting the application it took 2 weeks and 1 day for the visa to be approved.

Documents included in the application:

Many photo's from our time in The Philippines, and our little European trip. We flew to Germany for one day, then to Greece, and were there for four days before getting to Bulgaria.
Copies of our flight tickets to all the above countries.
A medical report detailing the pregnancy.
A letter from my mothers doctor saying she couldn't travel to Bulgaria due to health reasons.
My rental agreement from my previous residence here (translated).
Our rental agreement and contract from internet provider (it is impossible to get utility bills in the name of the tenant in Bulgaria) both translated.
My contract of employment (translated)
Photocopies of my passport stamps to and from Bulgaria before it joined the EU (8 trips)
Bank statement showing I have about 7,000 left.
A letter from my MEP, (I had written to him expressing my concerns before embarking on this matter).
My letter!

Bulgarian documents were officially translated, but not notarised.

The main reason I thought that the application would fail was that my employment contract was actually a temporary contract. I did email them to ask if they wanted my permanent contract a week into the application when I finally received it but they replied saying it was not necessary. To be fair, the staff at the embassy had been very nice and assisted me when trying to get the residence card for my wife. We had actually filled out the online form and then received the residence card before submitting the documents. The lady accepting the documents asked if I wanted to include the correspondence in the case, which I agreed on.

In my letter I was nice but firm. I quoted parts of the Surinder Singh ruling and twice mentioned that the UK had invented the 'notion' of working in another EU country for six months and this was not mentioned in the ruling. I also mentioned that she cannot be denied for 'marriage of convenience' because she is carrying my child.

I wrote that I have been a resident in Bulgaria for 2.5 years now, although I left for almost one year it was for an important reason: marriage and pregnancy (thanks Benifa!). It does make me chuckle using pregnancy there I also mentioned in the letter about the swine-flu epidemic here in Bulgaria, the fact that we have a translator with us when my wife has check-ups which is not suitable (no doubt we could have found a doctor speaking English though!). My letter was 1.5 pages long.

Sorry for such a long post but I really do hope that this provides some help and hope to others who are going through the same process, or thinking about it.

Thank you all so much for all the wonderful help, and the very best of luck to anyone else in our position!

CONGRATS Andy and Ann! Really chuffed for you! Wishing you the best with the impending little one, and all the happiness in the world!

Hi Andy,

Congratulations!! Really happy for the three of you! You really worked hard, and wasn't it worth it!

Where are you now, in the UK or still in Bulgaria? When is your little girl due?

My wife had a 4D scan in Dublin, when she was pregnant with our son (he'll be two in January). I asked the nurse why they call it 4D - apparently it's because the image itself is 3 dimensional and the forth dimension is because it's moving. Sounds bizarre I know, but that's what the nurse was saying.

They're great though, I'm so glad we got it done. Did they give you a DVD with the video?

Anyways, congrats once again.

Thank you both very much indeed! We are thrilled to bits as I am sure you can imagine! It certainly was worth all the sleepless nights benifa!

It is interesting finding out why it is called a 4d scan, thanks a lot for that! We didn't get a video unfortunately because we didn't realise we had to ask for one at the beginning! But at the end of the day, the checks they make on the baby are unbelievable and that is the main thing, a healthy baby.

We are still in Bulgaria, and I have to chat with my boss this week about our plans, as much as I do want to stay in Bulgaria it wouldn't be fair on Ann or the baby - it would be selfish. We will go to the UK for christmas, and possibly return here for a month. The baby is due first week of march.

My mum has been busy buying all sorts of things for the baby, and we are going to have a wonderful christmas I am sure

I guess that I will be back at some point to get more advice on what we need to do. Apologies in advance!

Thanks again all

andy and ann wrote:We arrived in Bulgaria on 12 September, I began working on 8 October and we applied for the family permit on 11 November. I had been working for one month and 3 days.

Congratulations on getting the EEA Family Permit! And thanks for posting the details I have quoted above. Very helpful information.

Have a great life together in the UK.

Thank you very much indeed!

I know that my initial post here was lengthy, but I have taken so much out of this forum that I wanted to put as much back as I possibly could do and do it as detailed as possible.

All the best!

A very big congratulations to you and Ann again .

Just out of interest i, i undertook a research, and found that between the period of 2008/09, there were 30 applications made for EEA family permit in Bulgaria, of which all were approved and 5 were withdrawn.

This means there is a 0% rejection rate.

Also, there is very low demand for EEA family permit there, as is evident in the figures, in comparison to Ireland, where there were about 800 applicant. Therefore, the stringent measure they usually apply in countries like Ireland might not be the same for Bulgaria.

I suspect the British High commission in Ireland would demand evidence of at least 6 months of treaty rights, for a British national who wants to return back to the UK.

One has to try and be on the err of caution, and not use your fantastic success story as a bench mark.

Best wishes for the future.

Greetings again to you Obie

I will never cease to be amazed at how you find the information that you do! Very interesting!

This is the reason my initial post was so detailed, every case is different and the fact I have been a resident here before returning must have helped immensely. Also the pregnancy and a letter from my mother's doctor saying she cannot travel would have helped, although, I am no expert as you will all agree!!

I certainly didn't want to get the visa and disappear into the night, maybe our case will help others in our situation - hopefully anyway.

Thanks again for contributing so much to our amazing success!

The information you have provided will in no doubt help people immensley. The list of documents you submitted, left them no room for manouvre. Those information will be very helpful, for future applicant.

However, some people might want to assume that you approval was based on your September to November recent arrival, without taking into account the time you had spent in Bulgaria prior to your recent resident, and might be resentful or dissappointed if they were in similar circumstance and get a refusal.

Also, the fact that you have spend a tremendous amount of time in Bulgaria prior to Ann's arrival contributed a lot to them not bringing that up.

Also, i suspect the 5 people who withdrew their application would have probably rejected had they not done so, and probably, the Embassy has a policy of informing applicant who don't meet the requirement before proceeding. Which is a good thing, in comparison to other British missions who just refuse for any reasons.