(first of all I would like to ask admin to relocate, format etc. where needed)
I would like to share our experience in getting EEA family permit, hope it would help those who are still waiting, have been refused or are planning to apply.
The following is just an experience we went through, your situation could differ.
1. In theory, EEA family permiy is easy to get, in practice the process could "eat" a lot of your time, some money and nerves.
2. If you get refused, wipe your tears and - reapply as soon as possible.
I am Croatian citizen and my wife is Indonesian, we applied in Indonesia and today finally we got my wife's permit.
Today is 26.06., we applied first time on 19.04. when we provided only our marriage certificate...
Like some other naive couples we got our refusal on 15.04.
It took exactly 15 working days... (Indonesian holidays, United Kingdom holidays...)
There are two things they mentioned in refusal: 1. lack of photo evidence 2. no evidence of cohabitation...
Because of our marriage length (9 years) they mentioned they expect these kind of supporting evidence.
So, we identified these 2 points in our notice of refusal and decided to focus, prepare the evidence and reapply as soon as possible.
We managed to apply again on 28.05., only this time we prepared 100+ photos with short description to satisfy point number 1 and to satisfy point number 2 ( proof of cohabitation) we gathered whatever documents we could find that show our address (around 7 documents) + our child's birth certificate, Croatian passport + some other bills and documents that prove our cohabitation in the past...
Again, 15 working days - Success! the sticker is there finally.
Advice based on our experience:
*provide more than just marriage certificate (dated photos with short description, whatever documents you have that shows connection between two of you; address; ticket purchase etc.
*if refused, identify what kind of evidence exactly do they expect when you apply for a second time, gather that kind of evidence and reapply.
*no financial proof of any kind so don't bother with that.
I hope this post will be useful for those of you who are still in the process.
#patience
