Myself:
UK/British Citizen (From my parents' birth in UK) with passport
Canadian Citizen with passport
Was born and lived my entire life in Canada until Aug of 2010
Wife:
Albanian Citizen
Came to Canada when she was 8 yrs old with her family who applied as refugees but were denied their claim. She continued to live there for 14 years before being asked to leave. I met her in the summer of 2009 and we almost immediately fell in love. We got married in the Spring of 2010 after immigration asked her to come in but before she was asked to buy her plane ticket and a month before she left. It was not to have a marriage of convenience whatsoever although it was not our ideal wedding we were planning. We just really wanted to be married in Canada and not in Albania.
AUG 2010- I flew from Canada to Greece and then took a bus to Albania
AUG 2010- We applied and were granted a Schengen Visa at the Greek Embassy (They dated it as valid for only 30days and not the 90days we expected).
AUG 2010- Travelled to Greece and visited her mother.
SEPT 2010- Flew to Paris together and stayed at a friend's place.
OCT 2010- Rented a room weekly in Paris
OCT 2010- Opened a joint bank account using the address of my friend in Paris.
NOV 2010- AUG 2011 We have lived in an apartment in Paris but the landlord has not given us a rental contract as the landlord is American and is afraid of paying French taxes for it.
JAN 2011 I registered as self employed via the auto-entrepreneur route.
JUL 2011 I paid French taxes on the amounts I had earned.
I do have a social security number and business number but as of yet I have not received my carte vitale health card.
My wife does not have her residence card or social security number here in France although she was given a work contract of 20 hours a week to babysit for a family.
So here are my questions:
- We are applying for an EEA Family Permit to move to the UK. I know I must prove I have been self-employed here and we have been living together. Is the auto-entrepreneur paper I printed out, along with the tax payment and joint bank account statements enough? Will it matter that the address of the joint bank account is my friend's and not my current address (the bank requires a tenancy agreement or utility bills to change it).
- Does it matter that I am a dual citizen and have never lived in the UK before in terms of applying via the Surinder Singh route?
- The VAF5 online form at one point asks whether my wife is lawfully resident in the country she is applying which in this case is France. It seems to specifically ask if she has a residence card or visa. Would we answer yes as she derives her lawful residence in this country via me or no as her schengen visa has long since expired and she holds no residence card. I believe if we answer no that they send the application to Albania which would delay the processing.
- I am not sure if the prior deportation will matter much and I hope they will realise that it was not her fault as she had no choice as a child when they brought her to Canada. We are answering the question on the form truthfully of course but I wonder what that might mean for being granted the permit.