My wife today has received a refusal for EEA Family Permit application that we have submitted for her to move to live with me in UK. I will describe details and our circumstances below and sincerely hope that you could give some useful advise on how to proceed in our case.
I am a EU national, who is living and working in United Kingdom for the last 10 years. I have met my wife (a Ukrainian national) over 2 years ago and since then have been in relationship with her; during that period I have been visiting Ukraine every 2 month.
Once we got married, my wife has submitted an application for EEA Family permit, where the following supporting documents were provided: translated marriage certificate, letter from my employer, my pay slips covering last 6 month, etc. Unfortunately today we have received an unsatisfactory decision from immigration officer, where reason for refusal was laid out as follows:
The refusal documents then goes on explaining how to appeal against this decision. However, having read about the appeal process, I understand that it might take considerable amount of time and that the better way forward would be to re-apply via the same route. Is this the case?While you have provided a marriage certificate to show that you were married on the XXX, the evidence before me does not indicate that your relationship with the EEA national can reasonably be considered as one of substance.
In your current application you state your relationship with sponsor started on 10/3/2014 and that you see each other every 2-3 month, as your spouse has been residing in UK since 2016.
I note that with your application you have provided no evidence of any regular contact with your husband, his visits to Ukraine or photographs showing you and your husband together at any time before, at or since your marriage. You have therefore failed to demonstrate satisfactorily that both you and your sponsor intend to live permanently with each other and that there is any substance to the marriage.
If repeating the application is indeed the suggested way to proceed, I would need to better understand what documents/evidence could be added to demonstrate the fact that we have been in relationship for the past 2 years... My initial thoughts was to add a photocopy of my passport showing a large number of Ukraine border stamps (which you get when entering/leaving the country), as well as past hotel bookings (showing her/my names). Finally, we can add a selection of photographs covering past 2 years and showing us together. Any suggestion on how many to include? Am I missing something from this list?
Finally, we have made a mistake of purchasing flight tickets for my wife (assuming that decision from Immigration office will be satisfactory) upfront and since the flight is due in 1 week - my wife is not likely to make it. Can you suggest if there are any reasonable way to fast-track the application process or take any further actions to avoid having to re-purchase costly flights?
I would really appreciate any help/advise you can give and am willing to provide any additional information if required.
Many Thanks!
