EEA FAMILY PERMIT and MARRIAGE

[guidomt]

Hi everyone,

thanks in advance for your help! I am italian and my fiance' is Korean (korean people don't need to apply for tourist visa in the UK). I have been living and working in the UK for 2 years and I am planning to get married with my girlfriend who is living in Korea and once got married living together in the UK. I have a couple of questions for you guys:

1) I would like to know where is better to get married first in order to then apply for family permit in the UK? (Korea, Italy or UK?)
2) Can she come here with marriage visa and then apply for family permit in the UK or she need to apply outside UK for the family permit?
3)Which visa can she can get after the 6 months of the family permit?

Thank you very much!

[kuisere]

Hi guidomt,

I'm not expert on visa matters, but this is what I know from researching for EEA permit for my husband:

1. As for where to get married, it's indifferent as long as the marriage it's recognised by the UK and officially translated. But in my experience, it will be hard to get married in any place you would choose (contact your embassy, there are different requirements in different countries). I got married in Italy with my Thai husband and we had to provide an awful amount of documents, all of them translated and signed by the government.

2. I don't think she can come to the UK with a marriage visa, because she would have not to have plans to settle in the UK after the marriage. Also, I doubt she can apply for the EEA permit inside the UK because that would be pointless as the permit is just needed to allow her to travel to the country. Staying in the UK is already her right as your wife.

3. After arriving to the UK she can apply for the residence card.

Another point: when she will apply for the EEA permit she will have to prove that the marriage is not of convenience, and that's hard to prove when you ask for the permit just after the wedding. We sent documents (council tax, bills, flight tickets, chat logs), plus photos of us with our families and friends and photos of the wedding as supporting evidence that we've been living together for 4 years.
The usually expect you to prove you've been in a committed relationship for at least 2 years.