Applying for EEA Family Permit UK

Question

My wife has been working in UK full time for almost 3 years. We met one year ago and we recently got married. She has visited me in my home country 3 times in this year and stayed for 15 days. Since we are both working full time and she can't find a job in my country as she doesn't speak my language, we couldn't spend more time together than vacations. We speak daily via messages, voice and video calls since we've met.

We have a plan to visit her family in her home country soon and then apply for an EEA FP to join her.

After checking the procedure I found 2 things confusing and one thing scaring me: , Question 8.2.9

Have you lived with the EEA National in a relationship like a marriage or civil partnership at any time (including since a wedding or civil partnership ceremony)?

Is our situation a yes or a no?!!

Question 8.9.1

Where do you and the EEA National plan to live in the UK?

My wife is renting a room in London and if I am going to join her there we will rent our own place since I'm taking my savings with me to cover the rent and other expenses until I find a job. So I don't know how to answer this one either.

The most important thing that I found in forums and that scares us is rejection on the ground of marriage of convenience. We have a genuine relationship and I don't know how to prove it, because they say applying after the marriage is considered as sham marriage. Are pictures of us together, and our conversations enough a proof? Printing all of this out would produce a novel!

Answer 1

1. Question 8.2.9: From your question, it appears that you have never lived with your wife. You should therefore answer this question "no." They will suspect a marriage of convenience, so you will want to provide evidence that your relationship is genuine.

2. Question 8.9.1: I would just say London. If they need an address, give your wife's address and then, in the "additional comments" section or similar, indicate that your actual plans are to find another place to live if the permit is granted.

I cannot address your concerns about printing the evidence of your relationship, because I have no direct experience with this. If you cannot afford a lawyer (which does seem like an excessive expense for something that is supposed to be a free application), then perhaps you can try offering a well chosen subset of your evidence that won't be a huge book. Cover the important milestones, and include a few samples. Maybe you can include a log showing the dates and times of the messages, with just a sample of the message content, and an invitation to ask for more messages if they are deemed necessary. But this is all speculation. Perhaps someone with a similar story will come along and offer a more certain answer.