# EEA Family Permit refused - tips and help?



## freezing (Jan 2, 2016)

Me (EEA national) and my non-EEA husband applied from abroad, where we live. 

We made the naive mistake of only providing marriage certificate and my passport copy (alongside husbands required papers) due to info at gov.uk . So naturally our application was mainly refused on these grounds, but also some mistakes were made in my opinion. I read the sticky thread about "if refused outside UK", but some of the information we got in our appeal instructions conflicts that so I ask for tips. 

FYI; Reasons for refusal: 
#1 "You have provided a translation of a marriage certificate, ..., however you have not provided the original document the translation was purportedly made from" FALSE
#2 "You state that your sponsor is a Finnish national...have provided a copy of her passport...However this copy has not been endorsed by the Finnish Embassy in London" ?!
#3 "...You married on (date), four months prior to your application... As you have only provided photocopies of several documents relating to your marriage, it is reasonable to believe you would provide further evidence of your relationship..." OK
#4 "The evidence provided does not demonstrate that you and your sponsor have even met or that you are in a durable relationship. Therefor, the lack of original documents... raises doubts regarding your relationship." OK


My questions...
1. The appeal process seems long and heavy - should we just apply again instead? My initial reaction was "no" because it always looks bad when asked "Have you ever been refused a VISA...?" BUT it would be so much faster...

2. Reason #1: Mistake in our understanding. We provided actual multilingual marriage certificate that we got from the magistrate when we married. The TLS center person took a copy of it and stamped it. So we will have to just send it again in our appeal and explain?

3. Reason #2: On gov.uk it said to provide the EEA-national's passport copy (certified), IF original is not available. I provided original, but the person at the TLS center did not want it, and instead took a copy but did not stamp it. We do not live in London so why do they ask for endorsement by Finnish Embassy in London? Is that a mistake or do I really have to try get it? I am thinking of getting a certified copy of my passport from my local Finnish consulate now, shouldn't it be enough?

4. If we appeal or re-apply, should I provide proof of my (non-UK) payslips or self-sufficiency? It is supposedly not required at this point but maybe I should?

5. As evidence of relationship, we are thinking among other things: rent contract with both our names - however how can be prove it is a real contract, old ones cannot be notarized? It will be expensive to translate etc. so I seriously wonder if it's useless. 

6. "Flight tickets" are always mentioned as good proof of relationship. However these days, we buy those online and have not saved the stubs of boarding passes. So what do we give? The receipts with all the flight info we got in email when purchased? 

7. Could matching dates in stamps on passports be evidence enough (of traveling together)? 

8. As evidence, we are looking to provide: 
-rent contract
-proof of address
-my certified passport copy
-copies of our passport pages showing entry/exit stamps
-photographs with descriptions on a Word.doc
-some of our emails
-link/screenshots from our wedding photographers blog where we were featured -links to and excerpts from my website's blog where i naturally write about my husband hundreds of times, including when we met
-a registry print out from Finland showing our marriage is registered there
-private emails between us (we have been together for 6 years, i'm thinking 10-15 emails)
Does this seem sufficient?

9. For an appeal or re-application, would supporting letters from family members hold any weight, eg. my EEA national mother's, who attended the wedding?

10. IF we re-apply, should we refer to the refusal at all in the cover letter or sponsor letter (eg. regarding the mistake about marriage certificate "translation"), or pretend as if it did not happen?

11. We have not registered our marriage in the country we currently live in - could the Visa center/embassy/Home Office here have access to that data and could that have contributed to the refusal? Should we, just in case, address this in our appeal letter or re-application, and give our (personal) reasons for not registering here?



Sorry for long post, I hope this will help others though, as I have learned a lot by reading other posts too (even before the application, yet we ****ed up?! )


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## timao (Feb 29, 2016)

1 – From my knowledge, EEA Family Permit refusals do not influence in future decision regarding to you.

2 – I believe that if you have sent the correct documents, in this case the translated document and the original one, just write them a letter explaining what are the documents.

3 – For copies of passports, I think is obligatory any kind of “validation”. In my understanding, a stamp assuring the copy is “valid”, could be granted by your country´s embassy. Maybe is a good idea to call your embassy (Finland) and ask them what can be done to have a “valid copy”. Probably this process is default for any kind of immigration process to any country and they know how to handle it.

4 – If you are not in UK already, or is there for less than 3 months, you do not need that.

5 – In this case you need to prove your relationship is genuine. Based on the documents you sent and your situation, I think their refusal was pretty expected. If you are married for just 4 months you need to provide other evidence that your relationship is not only after marriage. You have to prove that you are together for about 2 years at least. You can use skype/facebook/whatsapp conversation logs, old pictures of you together, you with his family, you and him with your in common friends, etc. In my opinion, this is the reason for your refusal. Nothing else.

6 – I have never heard before that flight tickets are proof of relationship.

7 – I have never heard before. Sorry.

8 – If you were together for 6 years, I think proofs that you mentioned are more than enough. I understood that you have not sent any picture of email in your first application. 

9 – I think that just make an appeal would fit in your case. You just need to prove your relationship is genuine, as you did not send any proof of that besides a marriage certificate of 4 months. 

I personally think your case is not complicated. Just move forward.

Good Luck!
lane:


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## freezing (Jan 2, 2016)

Hi Timao, and thank you for your input and thoughts  !

Indeed you are right in that the results was expected. 

I've panicked a little because the appeal backlog is currently 8-12 months minimum (I called First Tribunal that handles them and asked), so I'd really rather apply again assuming it is not "harmful" in our situation. But reading other posts and what you said, it seems to be OK. 

Re: 5, my concern was adding a translated rent contract among evidence. I believe other people have used those as part of their applications, but I am unsure if it holds any weight. Most papers need to be "certified copies" and so on, but certified copy in case of a contract would be one provided by the notary (I might be wrong?). But as I said, I think they will not notarize an old contract. 

Thanks again for your input.


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## freezing (Jan 2, 2016)

For the record, for anyone who stumbles upon this someday possibly, we re-applied with the evidence I listed and got the Family Permit on the 2nd try. Did not appeal at all.


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