Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm currently trying to get my husband to join me in the UK using the Surinder Singh route but we're a bit confused by the application process. I'm British and my husband is from outside the EEA and we have lived together in France, where I was working, for the past year. I returned to the Uk a few days ago to start a MA course at University. My husband stayed in France to wait for a renewal of his passport, now he has it so we're applying straight away for him to come join me. As a student I don't have the required income for the family VISA so the family permit (Surinder Singh route) is our only chance.
However, so far, the application form we're filling out (on the Visa4UK website), listed as "Other - EEA/Swiss Family Member - Family Member of an EEA National", doesn't seem to ask about our life in a European country together. It asks what I'm doing now (student-UK) but has no place (appart from an "additional information" section) to put I've just been in France, living and working (for three years in total - 20 months with my husband).
I was wondering if this sounded familiar to you from your experience ? Perhaps I am filling out the wrong form, on the GOV.UK site it says to "apply following the usual EEA family permit process", and I think that's what we're doing. We went to the Visa application centre when I was in France but no one could help us there, the woman we talked to hadn't heard of Surinder Singh.
One more thing, on the application, there are questions about length of stay, reason for stay and who the applicant knows in the UK etc... Did you make it clear in your application that your wife intended to stay in the UK with you and you would apply for the resident's card after she arrived ? Or did your application seem to concern a simple (non-permanent) visit, in order to get the permit and then apply for the rest when she was safely in the UK ? We don't really know what the powers that be are looking for with this application.
Any information you could give would be really helpful. Thanks in advance for your time
