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9 Posts
Hi All,
Here's the quick rundown:
Have been visiting my boyfriend in the UK for the past 5 months. We're getting married in the US at the beginning of May (I'm a US citizen, he's an Irish citizen who has been working in the UK for a couple of years) and then I will be applying for an EEA Family Permit so that I can come back. (He's Irish and hence this would be available to us). We've been together for 2 years.
I know generally this application -- the EEA family permit -- is pretty straightforward and the requirements are much less strict than for a UK marriage visa...HOWEVER I was detained on the way into London. The border agent was suspicious about my coming to the UK for so long and I was not forthcoming out the full extent of my relationship with my boyfriend. (I know that one should always be truthful with border control, however I was very nervous and under the impression that if I said exactly how serious we were, they'd assume I would not leave at the time my return ticket specified. If I had to do it again I'd handle the whole thing differently of course, but I was caught off guard. Stupid, I know). When I was taken into custody, they ultimately let me through. What is confusing is that they detained me under suspicion of "trying to use deception to enter the country" (I can't remember the exact wording) and in the end seemed to decide that I I *had* been misleading, but let me into the country anyway.
So, on to my question(s): we found an immigration solicitor who could help us with the application, and by that I mean, advise us on everything/ write us a letter to send along wit our application, etc. He seemed smart/honest and did not seem like he was trying to convince us we needed to hire him just for the sake of his making extra money. (He even said the application was pretty straightforward). The total cost for his services will be around 500 pounds (150 an hour for about 3 hours). This is not an insignificant amount of money, but it isn't going to make or break us either.
So, I guess I have a few questions here: how likely is it that we would be denied the EEA Family Permit visa? On what grounds can a person be denied? My fiance is an Irish citizen and is working in the UK. This is not a 'marriage of convenience" and we have plenty of evidence to prove that. Are there other grounds on which we can be denied? I have no criminal record or anything like that, not even a parking ticket. Or, to put it another way, do we need to hire the lawyer or not? To be honest, it would give me peace of mind to know that an expert was handling it, but at the same time I don't want to waste money.
Also, I've been told the estimated wait time for this type of visa is 2-3 weeks, does anyone have any idea how much extra time we should expect to wait? I am assuming the fact that I was detained will mean my application will have ot undergo more scrutiny than the average application would.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Sorry for the rambling. Any help is much appreciated.
Here's the quick rundown:
Have been visiting my boyfriend in the UK for the past 5 months. We're getting married in the US at the beginning of May (I'm a US citizen, he's an Irish citizen who has been working in the UK for a couple of years) and then I will be applying for an EEA Family Permit so that I can come back. (He's Irish and hence this would be available to us). We've been together for 2 years.
I know generally this application -- the EEA family permit -- is pretty straightforward and the requirements are much less strict than for a UK marriage visa...HOWEVER I was detained on the way into London. The border agent was suspicious about my coming to the UK for so long and I was not forthcoming out the full extent of my relationship with my boyfriend. (I know that one should always be truthful with border control, however I was very nervous and under the impression that if I said exactly how serious we were, they'd assume I would not leave at the time my return ticket specified. If I had to do it again I'd handle the whole thing differently of course, but I was caught off guard. Stupid, I know). When I was taken into custody, they ultimately let me through. What is confusing is that they detained me under suspicion of "trying to use deception to enter the country" (I can't remember the exact wording) and in the end seemed to decide that I I *had* been misleading, but let me into the country anyway.
So, on to my question(s): we found an immigration solicitor who could help us with the application, and by that I mean, advise us on everything/ write us a letter to send along wit our application, etc. He seemed smart/honest and did not seem like he was trying to convince us we needed to hire him just for the sake of his making extra money. (He even said the application was pretty straightforward). The total cost for his services will be around 500 pounds (150 an hour for about 3 hours). This is not an insignificant amount of money, but it isn't going to make or break us either.
So, I guess I have a few questions here: how likely is it that we would be denied the EEA Family Permit visa? On what grounds can a person be denied? My fiance is an Irish citizen and is working in the UK. This is not a 'marriage of convenience" and we have plenty of evidence to prove that. Are there other grounds on which we can be denied? I have no criminal record or anything like that, not even a parking ticket. Or, to put it another way, do we need to hire the lawyer or not? To be honest, it would give me peace of mind to know that an expert was handling it, but at the same time I don't want to waste money.
Also, I've been told the estimated wait time for this type of visa is 2-3 weeks, does anyone have any idea how much extra time we should expect to wait? I am assuming the fact that I was detained will mean my application will have ot undergo more scrutiny than the average application would.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Sorry for the rambling. Any help is much appreciated.