# EEA Family Permit NYC Processing Time



## fififaye (Nov 20, 2014)

Hi Guys,

I'm an American and engaged to an Italian. My fiance has been living and working in London for the past 4 years. We're planning on having our civil ceremony in the UK first and then a reception later in the year. From our research, I can not get married to my fiance in the UK on a tourist visa and the legal way is to apply for the EEA Family Permit.

I did my biometric on Jan 7th, 2015 and received an email from British Consulate in NY on Jan 8th, 2014 stating...

_Dear Applicant,

This is an automated message - do not respond to this email address as incoming mail is not monitored. 

The package containing your visa application has been received and opened by an Entry Clearance Assistant at the British Consulate in New York. As you purchased Priority Service, your application will be assessed ahead of other non-Priority Service visa applications.

-Service Standards-
Our average processing times for all Priority Service applications as of 05 January 2015:

Non-settlement applications.......................................... ...5 working days 
Current and forecasted delays to our service..................... We project that processing will continue be 5 working days week of 05 January 2015.

Please note that Priority Service does not guarantee your visa application will be successful or that your application will be completed within a particular time frame. Priority Service means that your application will be handled ahead of non-priority applications at each stage of the process. As indicated in the terms of service, neither the Priority Service fee nor the visa application fee are is refundable if the visa application is delayed because additional processing is required. 

Please note: We strongly recommend that you do not buy a non-refundable, non-flexible ticket to the UK, until your visa application has been approved and you have received your visa. We do not accept responsibility for any financial loss incurred as a result of delays in processing your visa application and we do not fast-track applications solely due to planned date of travel.

-About the application process-

In certain cases, an Entry Clearance Officer may require more information or additional documents in order to process your application. Most requests and communications are sent electronically to the email address you provide in your application. In order to avoid missed communications or delays, please check your email account regularly until your application has been completed.

If your application is considered to be complex and we project that we cannot process your application within the 15 business day target, we will inform you by email.

Once a decision has been made, you will receive an email advising you of the outcome of your application. This email will provide you with the method by which your documents will be returned, along with a tracking number if applicable. Please note that if you reside in the US and chose to provide United States Postal Service standard mail there will be no tracking details for your package. 

_

I actually did not pay for a priority service so the consulate had made a mistake thinking I did. Disregarding the priority service, I read in the forum that EEA Family Permit is processed as priority and many applicants seem to receive their result within 10 business days.

It's now been 12 business days (11 if the British Consulate was off for Martin Luther Day) and I still have not received an answer. I emailed UK Visas and Immigration International Enquiry Service asking for the status but have not heard back and it's been more than 2 business days. I'd emailed this service asking about the EEA Family Permit and always promptly received a reply within 24 hours.

Now I'm starting to get worried about the radio silence especially since the first email indicated that "If your application is considered to be complex and we project that we cannot process your application within the 15 business day target, we will inform you by email."

My questions are, is there any other way I may be able to get the status of my application? Also Is it more likely that I will get rejected due to the longer than average processing time?

Any advice/suggestion would be greatly appreciated!!!

Fifi


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## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

I'm wondering if you even qualify for the family permit. You need to be married or living together as if man and wife for 2 years immediately prior to applying. If your fiance has been living in the UK for 4 years you obviously dont qualify. 

All family permits processed under EU rules are priority and the email us standard catch all that is sent to everyone.


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## fififaye (Nov 20, 2014)

Hmm..My name is on my fiance's lease in London and I have an apartment in NYC as well. I work as a model so my schedule is extremely flexible. So for the last year and half I've been living between NYC and London. We got an advice from an immigration lawyer in London that this is the legal way to get married in the UK...and then once I'm in UK and married, we can then apply Residence Card for me. Any thoughts?


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## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

Highly unlikely you will be granted a family permit. You do not qualify as a family member. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eea-family-permits-eun02/eea-family-permit-eun02#eun29-how-do-i-establish-dependency-under-the-eea-regulations section 12. Durable relationship means cohabiting for 2 years.

Being on a lease proves nothing, you need to have been cohabiting which you haven't been doing as you dont hold a visa that allows you to LIVE in the UK, visitor visa doesnt count. Hope you didnt pay the 'lawyer' much. You did already ask the question here a couple of months ago.


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## fififaye (Nov 20, 2014)

Thanks for your reply. Yes I did come on to the forum and asked the question couple of months ago but after talking to the lawyer (I only paid for a consultation fee), I was advised to get EEA Family visa in order to get married in the UK. 

Does this mean we should consider getting married somewhere else instead of UK for our marriage to be legal? Once we're married, then I can apply for Residence Card from within the UK?


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## _shel (Mar 2, 2014)

As soon as you marry anywhere you qualify for the family permit. The easiest would be the USA as your partner doesnt need a special visa to do so, can marry on an esta. 

Once you have that and are in the UK yes you can apply for a residence card assuming your partner is employed and exercising treaty rights.


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

_shel is right and your lawyer is wrong. If you haven't been living together is a relationship akin to marriage for at least 2 years, you don't qualify for an EEA Family permit. If you want to marry in the UK you need a marriage visit visa and after marriage you can apply for EEA2 which is the residence permit.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Agreed with the other posters upthread. If you want to get married in the U.K., NYClon has the right idea.

If you don't want to deal with visa hassles at all, you can get married in a U.S. state, Denmark, or Gibraltar, as examples. Those are among the easiest places to get married, and they're all accessible to U.S. and Italian citizens without visas (though with an ESTA for an Italian citizen visiting the United States). I'd recommend Denmark in your circumstances since it's nearer the U.K., you can proceed to settle in the U.K. with your Italian spouse immediately after you marry, and you can take care of formalities after you enter the U.K. (Note: You could not do that if your spouse were a U.K. citizen. But non-U.K. EU/EEA citizens fall under treaty rights, and their foreign spouses inherit limited treaty rights from them.)

Note that permission to stay is a separate issue in the United States, but an Italian marrying in the U.S. and leaving within the 90 day ESTA stay limit is allowed.


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## fififaye (Nov 20, 2014)

Thanks so much for all the information guys. It looks like the best way for us is to get married in somewhere else and then apply for the the Residence Card once I join my fiance in London.

Another quick question--since I'd already started EEA Family visa application, is it now too late to rescind the application or my only option is to wait?


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## fififaye (Nov 20, 2014)

I just want to update this thread as I know when I was researching about EEA Family Permit, I read quite a lot of threads to gather information so hopefully my experience can help others.

I applied for an EEA Family Permit as a fiance to an Italian National. The application was submitted on Jan 8th, rejected on Jan 15th but did not receive the rejection email until Jan 29th.

We originally thought EEA Family Permit was the only right visa for us to have our civil ceremony in the UK. After the visa rejection, many friends, family as well as users from this forum suggested to get married outside of the UK. After research, we realized it is indeed much easier to get married in NYC, where I resided. My fiance (now husband) flew to NYC, we had our civil ceremony in City Hall. The process was very simple and much less red tape than the UK. 

We then reapply for EEA Family Permit again. This time with the help of a visa agent <snip> <snip>) registered with the UK Embassy. He submitted the application on our behalf on Feb 17th and I received an email confirming that the visa has been issued on Feb 20th! 

With his advices, we submitted all the necessary documents, which probably helped with the quick turnaround. The only reason I know about him is because I tried to go to the UK Embassy in NY to ask questions about what visa I should apply for. The guards downstairs informed me that only registered agents and UK citizens are allowed up and then gave me his contact information. I wish I had known about his existence the first time I applied. It would've saved us a lot of time and anticipations!


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