I've posted before on how I'm going to be applying for an EEA Residence Card shortly (3rd week of August if everything goes according to plan). I was wondering if I should pay the hefty £2000+ solicitor fees for them to do it on our behalf. Our situation is fairly straightforward:
-I'm a Canadian citizen with a Tier 2 visa valid until June 2020 (was previously on a Tier 5)
-will be getting married to an Austrian citizen once our notice period is over (hopefully only 28 days, but waiting to hear back)
-we've been in a relationship for 3 years (lots of pics and documentation), and been living together for 1 year and 8 months (also have proper documentation for this)
-my fiance (QP) has been working at the same employer (large multinational) for 18 months, basically started working within a few weeks of when we arrived in the UK in Feb 2016
-no dependents, no criminal history, no benefits claimed and no issues with overstaying
I've contacted a few lawyers to ask how much they charge to fill in the form and submit on our behalf etc, and it's quite expensive, but something we're willing to pay for if it's highly recommended. Is the "covering letter" that they provide something that makes or breaks your application? Is this something I can do on my own?
The application itself is very straightforward for us — the majority of it doesn't even apply to us. Might be worth it to pay the £300 for an hour consultation to check it after it's done, but not sure if I should buy the full package. My only issue is that it might look kind of weird that I'm applying for this right after getting married, and also just a few months after getting the Tier 2 (I hate my job, and would rather start my time over closer to the beginning of my Tier 2 time than wait a year or 2).
What do you guys think?
Thank you!!
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)