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Hello all,

Another question regarding the EEA FP application process; this time regarding the on-line application.

The last time I contacted the embassy in my country of residence regarding the EEA FP application process, in Autumn 2009, I was told I needed to make an appointment and come in person to submit the application. When I called today to set up the appointment, it turns out all applications must now be submitted on-line via www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk first.

Following advice gleaned from the forums, I chose to leave such questions as 'How long do you intend to stay in the UK' and 'Departure date' blank on my hand-written application; as most of you know, it's impossible to leave any fields blank when filling out an on-line application.

I'll be travelling to the UK to accompany my wife who is a full-time student. Her BA course finishes in June 2012; should I use that date as my departure date and declare the length of time between now and then as the length of time I plan on remaining?

I'd like to put something as simple as 'For the duration of my wife's studies' for how long I intend to stay, but they only allow a few characters in this field.

Although I feel any answer I give here is fairly irrelevant, I'd like to answer it 'correctly'. Is there any rule of thumb here? Thank you in advance for any advice.

If you intend to stay until June 2012, then I would put 2.5 years. I put 2 years in my application, and included a short cover letter explaining our situation, and that my husband and I intend to live in the UK for approximately 2 years so he could further his career before moving to Australia (where I'm from).

What country are you in now?

Agree with the above. I put ‘indefinitely’ on mine and a departure date 10 years in the future and it was fine (granted in 2-3 days) – just be honest and it shouldn’t affect your application, as obviously the duration only relates to a period where you are legally in the UK. It’s also not set in stone – you can change your plans and future visa application as appropriate / necessary.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I finished my on-line application this morning, chose an appointment time, only to get this information after verifying and finalising everything:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION - You MUST provide English language translations of all non-English language documents. Failure to do so will result in a non-translated document being excluded from the decision making process.

Great. I had never seen this before anywhere on the VAF5 form or the additional information which comes with it, in the Guidance Notes, or anywhere in UKBA's official information. At least they let me know after I had confirmed my appointment.

I'm going to assume that, technically, all I need translated is my marriage certificate. As I'm self-employed, I'm going to go ahead and have my 'business license' (for a lack of a better term) translated as well. Is there anything else I might be missing?

As always, thanks for any and all advice.

WellingtonKiwi wrote: just be honest and it shouldn’t affect your application

It should'nt affect the application even if one was dishonest about the length of stay. I wonder, however, how clever this online system actually is. Does it perform sanity checks on the input? At least in the past the UK claimed that many of the requested answers and documents would not be legally required.