EEA Family Permit - "not straightforward"?

[degtom]

Dear All,

I noticed many in the Sheffield Visa thread have spoken about receiving a "processing of your application has not been straightforward" email.
Unfortunately, I received one today too and I am frankly, quite taken aback by this.

What exactly does this mean?
Prior to joining this forum, I was under the impression this permit is pretty straightforward - and also, the processing time stated for my country (Singapore) was within 5 working days so it sounded pretty quick.

It seems so many people are receiving this email although I am not sure if this is really an observation stemming from a selection bias since most people on this forum must be facing some issues/problems with their application and hence on this forum.

For those who have received this "not straightforward" email, may I know:

a). any success stories thereafter? how long did you wait (or have been waiting?)?

b). did you ever find out why your application is deemed not straightforward? what exactly does this mean in your case?

c). under what circumstances did you apply for this Permit? (i.e. nationality, applying as spouse or other family member, etc)

For me, in response to c) above --
I am Singaporean and I met my EU spouse whilst on business trips (we kept seeing each other at these things) and we thereafter pursued a long-distance relationship last year.

I then took a break from work and visited him in the UK (my country is visa-free in the UK for tourist visas up to 6mths) for 5 months. He then came to Singapore on an extended work trip that he managed to arrange for about a month, and also proposed. We decided that after marriage, we will live together in the UK as he owns his own home there and enjoys his current career there.

We got married in Singapore last month and after our honeymoon, I applied for the permit and now received this email.
In my application, I did, in my opinion, go over the top, and provided all the documents required - bank statements from both my spouse and myself, payslips, photos, screenshots of some of our chats/video calls (unfortunately both of us have had some mishaps with our phones recently so we could show only a limited but honestly, how many do they need? My documentation of our relationship was already 30pages).

I have no adverse immigration history in any countries (also the Singapore passport allows entry to many countries without need for visa), having travelled extensively in the EU and USA for my work previously. I am not employed anymore at the moment, having left my job before the wedding, partly thinking also this was a very straightforward permit that takes only 5 days. Could this be a factor (currently not employed)?
Some people mentioned high-risk countries but I don't think Singapore is a high-risk country?

My EU spouse works in Finance, a City job he's held in the same industry for the last 10 years he has been in London. He has no working gaps (he was offered the job before he moved to London way back then), has never applied for any benefits, has private health insurance, holds the EU PR card, has no unexplained long absences in the time he has been there.
We intend to live in the home he owns and he has written in his cover letter he is able to support me whilst I am there.

What could be possibly causing this to be "not straightforward"?

[Richard W]

What could be possibly causing this to be "not straightforward"?

It seems that that is a frequent untruth uttered when an application will not be dealt with as promptly as it should be.

My feeling is that you and your husband should have flown to the UK together, you using your status as a non-visa national, and then you should have requested an "EEA Regulations stamp" on entry as you were exercising your EEA right not to have a visa with you when you arrived.

[degtom]

Thank you, Richard.
We tried to simply follow the rules on applying (non-EEA to be outside of the UK, spouse inside of the UK actively exercising his treaty rights).

We were not aware we could get this "EEA Regulations stamp" at the border. Is that the actual name of this entry stamp? Would you have any idea which line we should get into at immigration?

Sorry if this sounds a little silly to ask re the line.
But I just checked with my husband and to my memory as well, EU citizens do not go through any immigration counters at all, and simply scan their biometric passports/cards (?) and go through the automated gantry. (Actually I also own the UK Registered Traveller card which allows me to go through the same automated gantry as the EU citizens, without a need for filling in any landing card or face-to-face at a counter. This RTC card can be obtained for frequent travellers from a selection of countries)

Assuming my current application for the Permit is refused, will it will show up on my passport? In which case, I will no longer be able to use this method you mentioned, to try entering the UK?