EEA Permit For Arranged Marriage With Cousin

Hello everyone!

I married my cousin/wife a few months ago. She is a 22 year old French National with settled status in the UK and a student at UCL. I am a 24 year old Bangladesh national who recently returned from the US after finishing university there. A few years back, we had a sort of online romance and that's where our mutual attraction started. We still have our chat logs from back then. But when our parents found out, they got angry and forbade contact between us. 5 years later, we were both of marriageable age and one thing led to another and our parents decided to get us married, but we were both on board with this since we still had strong feelings for each other.

The problem is, I just met my cousin/wife recently for the first time since childhood, and that is basically the only time I met her since our relationship started. She came to Bangladesh for a few weeks, and we had our wedding events during that time. Now, it has been a few months and we have compiled all our documents for the EEA Family Permit. I believe she must have sent off the app already because she gave me a date to show up at the embassy for an interview.

Now my question is, how can I prove to the British authorities that our relationship is genuine?

I'm worried that I may have difficulty showing that this isn't a marriage of convenience since we were only physically together for a few weeks, and our relationship spans only about 4 months (although we have about 1000+ pages of chat logs in that time). We also have a few hundred photographs from her time in Bangladesh, some of which show us indulging in intimate acts. We also have some of our old chat logs from back when we had a teen romance, and we also have some pictures of us hanging out as children.

Will all this be sufficient or should we just hold off, have her stay with me in Bangladesh after her degree is complete, and then try again when we have more of a history together?

Well, you are married and the family permit is free, so nothing stopping you from attempting it this time, and if it does not work you can devise a plan B.

I would say, in any case, do not overload them with evidence. Only 5-10 pictures, and representative messages that cover the last couple of years (one per quarter, for example) would do. Unfortunately printouts of communications and pictures are not super strong evidence, but it can help a case that already has some merit, in your case the merit is having a marriage certificate. Pictures of both sets of parents at the wedding, and common holiday, is also stronger evidence.

Quality is better than quantity, select only those pieces that show commitment and personal relationship (although no need to go intimate),rather than just general chatting.

Good luck. Might not be straightforward, but at least it's free, give it a go.