Family permit for wife from China

[geolykos]

Hi, my wife is trying to apply for a family permit from China so she can come to the UK and apply for an EEA2. I'll tell you our situation in a few words in case it helps you answer my questions later on.

- We've been together for almost 2 years. We studied an MSc in the UK together and finished in September 2013. Her visa expired this January so we've basically been apart for the past 7 months. We got married last month in China. I work in the UK for the past 7 months and she's been working in China for the past 4 months. I got my Residence Permit (EEA1) last week as we read that it helps with the application. -

It would really help us if you could answer some questions about the application:

1) According to the government site it has to be done online but the documents can be sent by mail or they have to be delivered in person? Does she have to book for an interview before submitting the documents?

2) A section in the online application asks for sponsor details. I assume that refers to me? A field in that section is "What is their status in the UK?". Am I considered a Permanent Resident since I'm a Residence permit (EEA1) holder or am I an EEA national? There is also a field asking "What is their relationship to you?" but there's no option for spouse/husband only "Other Relative". Either something is missing or that's not a section for spouse..?

3) The section for English language asks "Are you exempt from the English language requirement?" In what circumstances is someone exempt? My wife finished an MSc in the UK with me, does that make her exempt? Also does she need to fill the field "How did you meet the English language requirement?" either way?

4) She works in China so she gets paid in yuan. In the employment details I assume we fill it in as British pounds?

5) What could be added in the "Additional information" field that might help with the application?

6) In the "supporting documents" website (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... permit.pdf) it mentions a document that's needed from her employee that verifies she's been given time off work. Is that needed? I've asked some agents and they told us that's for a different visa.

7) Any other suggestions about the visa process in general? Anything we could do differently to increase our chances of success? How long does this 6 month Family Permit usually take to be issued?

I apologise if some of these questions sound silly but we've heard quite a few stories of people getting rejected for missing details so we're trying, as best as we can, to avoid that. Thank you.

[rosebead]

Your wife doesn't have to fill in details about her employment. This is only relevant for dependent parents or extended family of the EEA national. English language requirement is irrelevant to family members of EEA nationals - I'm not even sure why that question is in the form as it bears no relevance to Directive 2004/38/EC. Every country will have different procedures for submitting documents. In Ireland you have to make an appointment and then submit documents in person. It's best you contact the Chinese embassy or visa service to check. EEA Family Permits are not supposed to take more than 15 working days to process. Beyond 4 weeks is considered unreasonable by the European Commission. Relationship to you should be spouse - I'm surprised there is nowhere on the form that you can input that. You are not a Permanent Resident - that takes 5 years to achieve. You are simply exercising Treaty rights in the UK as a worker.

[geolykos]

Thank you very much for your response. Maybe it's the same form for all visas and it mentions it's a new website so they may not have set all the fields properly yet. You get the choice to pick the type of application in the beginning though for example "Settlement - Wife" so I guess that's how they figure it. My wife has called them several times to ask how the procedure works - where to submit documents, what is needed etc - and they refused to tell her anything about it. They said that she can find everything on the website. I guess they only help for applications that they get money from.

[rosebead]

This is the webpage from which you are meant to start from for EEA FP applications: https://www.gov.uk/family-permit. Is that the webage your wife used?

[Graham Weifang]

We did very similar.
I exercised my treaty rights in Germany.
We applied in Paris for my wife's visa.
It comes in the form of a full page visa in her Chinese passport

The name of the visa, (The heading across the top) is UK ENTRY CLEARANCE
PLACE OF ISSUE - Paris
VALID FROM - xx/10/13
VALID UNTIL - xx/04/14
Then under that there is a VAF number.
NUMBER OF ENTRIES - Multi
TYPE - Visa EEA FP: Family Member to Acc. [My Name]
NAME - [wifes name]
PASSPORT NO. - [her passport number]
SEX - F
DATE OF BIRTH - [her DoB]
NATIONALITY - CHN

This is her initial entry clearance to enter into UK
A week after entering UK, we completed the EEA2 forms, but as mentioned above, 50% of it is not relevant.
We included all the documentation, that we gave in Paris for the initial entry visa. (valid for 6 months)
I included a postal order for £55.00 so there could be no issues with money payments.
A Certificate of Application was received a week later.
After 10 weeks, all our documents were returned, with her 5 year residence visa.

Wish you luck.

GW

Our effort here
http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... 43763.html

[geolykos]

This is the webpage from which you are meant to start from for EEA FP applications: https://www.gov.uk/family-permit. Is that the webage your wife used?

Yes that's where she's applying through.

There is a website for Chinese now if you through the family page permit (above). My wife tried to book an appointment and they asked for 950£ in the end but that's solved since she started all over and found the right type of visa. I read here on the forums that someone was asked to pay 57£ before booking an appointment. Since we can't get a hold of the British embassy in Beijing I was wondering if anyone here knows a way to avoid that payment. Also, they are asking for "EEA National Registration Certificate number" which I'm guessing is the number of my EEA1. Which of all the numbers on the document is that? There's a UKF on top right and two numbers at bottom.

[rosebead]

The Registration Certificate number is irrelevant to you if you don't have EEA1. EEA1 is not legally compulsory to have in the UK anyway. Some people just fill in their passport numbers or you could just write 00000 if it won't let you skip the question. It's a badly designed online form

[SCS1224]

Hello

I just wanted some advice before we put our papers in..

I am currently and EU citizen(portuguese) moved to the UK in Dec 2013, and have been working since March 2014. I have been with my Girlfriend( now wife) for 7 years, we are high school sweet hearts,She is a kenyan citizen, moved to UK in Sep 2013 on a student visa to pursue her Masters. Before we got married she wanted to finish her education as she thought it would be hard to complete the same if she was married. She submitted her dissertation on the 4th of september and on 23rd of september we got married. Now her visa expires on 30 Jan 2015, We want to avoid the hassle ( Expense) of her going back and coming back to the UK. We have been living together since May 2014. I will be applying for EEA1 along with her EEA2 application, just have a few doubts
1. Do i need to provide a certain amount of funds?
2. We have loads of pictures since we have been together for 7 years, how many should we include
3. What does she need to provide, besides passport and address proof?
4. Do you think she will not be able to get the EEA2 before her visa runs out?
5. Should we provide a detail letter of our relationship?

These are the documents we will be submitting...if you feel i have left out any do let me know
1. My EU passport and ID
2.Her Passport
3.Both our bank statements (proof of Address)
4. Tenancy Agreement
5. Letter of Confirming employment
6. Wage slips
7. My employment contract
8. Marriage certificate
9. Photos of us maybe around 20?

Thank you in Advance ... hope to get some clarity before handing in the forms