I had my biometrics appointment recently and learned a lot that I could be useful for other EEA applicants. I'm applying under Surinder Singh, but the lessons here are universally applicable to all EEA applicants.
STEP BY STEP RECOUNT OF MY BIOMETRICS APPOINTMENT
After completing the online application, and submitting the application electronically, I was prompted by the visa4uk website to create an appointment with the biometrics company (Teleperformance). The company had appointments available only on Mondays and Tuesdays for Cyprus, during morning and afternoon hours.
I set a biometrics appointment and then created an account login on the Teleperformance website (this is mandatory). While creating an online account, the Teleperformance website asked which type of visa I was applying for. “EEA” was unfortunately not an option, so I chose the other most likely option called “Short Stay Non Settlement Visa”. As I later found out, this was the correct choice for EEA Family Permit applications.
On the day of my appointment, I arrived 45 minutes early, and came with my spouse. An employee came to inform us we would have to wait for one other application to finish and then we’d be seen.
The employee was able to see us 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment time. She invited us into a room with no telephone or computer and asked for our documents.
The employee initially seemed stressed, but quickly warmed up. She explained that she has no say in the reviewal process, all she does is assist with biometrics and accept applications to ship to the processing center. When we asked why there is no phone or email in her room, she explained that part of the Teleperformance contract with the UK government stipulates that they have no contact with the public. UK immigration wants all contact to be directed through UK immigration only.
My spouse and I had prepared a very detailed and organized 3-ring binder to hold all of our documents. This turned out to not be the best approach. We learned they don't accept binders, because shipping the extra weight to the UK is costly. All of our documents had to be removed from the binder. This made our application look less organized and less well prepared. I assume they would accept documents bound together with string (or perhaps a very lightweight binder), but definitely not a folder.
The employee informed us that we did not need to submit my partner’s passport (she is the EU citizen) as part of our application. A color photocopy of her passport would be sufficient. SIDE NOTE: I believe the employee was wrong on this account. We’d been informed that it’s necessary to submit the passport of the EU national for EEA applications. If you can’t submit the EU national’s passport, you can submit a certified copy of their passport and a good explanation for why the original passport hasn’t been submitted.
We asked the Teleperformance employee the question “If the family permit is approved, when will we be able to use the visa? Will the 6 month visa begin on the date it’s issued by UK immigration, or will it begin on the date we stated in our application that we’ll be arriving in the UK?”. The employee told us the visa will be valid from the day it’s issued, so we’ll be able to use it immediately.
After the employee took our documents out of the binder, she bound them together with rubberbands and placed them into a large plastic envelope to be shipped to the UK.
We were informed that applications are processed in three locations for Europe: Turkey (for processing applications from Northern Cyprus only), Croyden U.K. (for Western Europe applications, and probably the majority of all applications) and Warsaw (for applications from Eastern Europe). We were told that when our application reaches the UK, portions will be photocopied for records, including photos which show our life together and our community involvement.
The employee then asked us to decide which documents we’ll want mailed back, and which documents the immigration processing center can keep. We asked for all of our documents to be returned, because we assume we'll be using many of them for our EEA2 application. SIDE NOTE: I later found out from my solicitor that the Teleperformance employee was wrong about this detail. For EEA applications, all original documents are returned.
The employee explained that processing applications typically takes 3 weeks, but sometimes as long as 4 weeks.
After I’d handed over my documents, I was instructed to go to another room, where my photo was taken on two different digital cameras, and then I was fingerprinted using an electronic scanner. Although my solicitor instructed me to bring passport sized photos, I was informed that Teleperformance now takes their own photos and they don’t accept passport photos that are taken elsewhere. I don’t know if this is the case at all Teleperformance locations, so I would still recommend bringing passport sized photos to your appointment.
After fingerprints were taken, the appointment was over. In total it lasted approximately 30 minutes.
The employee explained to us that we'll get email updates that will tell where in the process we are, but that we won't find out the result until our documents are returned
Later that day, I received an email that my application was being transferred to UK Visas and Immigration.
Three days later, I received an email that my application had been received by UK Visas and Immigration.
As of today, two weeks after my biometrics appointment, my application is still in process.
KEY LESSONS
UK immigration requires photocopies of your most important documents. This isn't necessary for all documents, but for key documents (passports, work contracts, pay stubs, tax receipts, etc), photocopies are needed. Black and white photocopies are acceptable.
Don’t put your documents into a folder.
The employee said the way the immigration officers look at it, it's up to applicants to provide the necessary documents and present their case for why they should receive a visa. That's why there isn't any clear documentation online for the exact documents that applicants need to provide.
Documents are returned by courier. We did not have to provide a prepaid envelope.
We were told that immigration officers greatly appreciate applications that are well organized. SIDE NOTE: I’ll include our table of contents in another post.
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