EEA family permit refusal

Question

Like in the title, my wife got refused her visa application. We know each other from 1 year and we married in March 2017, we haven't done a proper wedding just a family lunch but we have several pictures together in different periods of this one year. I live in UK and I am an Albanian-Italian citizen, she is Albanian and lives currently in Italy with my family where she got already an Italian family permit, I have been seeing her several time for short periods every 2-3 months.

Any suggestions of what I have to do next should I re-apply or just send them an appeal ?

Here is the letter as well

Answer 1

The visa refusal notice states that:

• Your Italian marriage certificate cannot be taken as evidence because it is not the original Albanian marriage certificate, and
• The conversation screenshot cannot be taken as evidence either

and no evidence is left.

I would re-apply with your Albanian marriage certificate (I suppose they will need a certified translation) as well as more detailed evidence of your earlier relationship.

Answer 2

The absence of the original certificate doesn't make sense.

Union law states the following requirement:

(b) a document attesting to the existence of a family relationship or of a registered partnership;

In many countries an "extract" is the same as an original. In some countries, like Spain for instance, an extract is the only thing would ever get. And of course, extract or not, it is still proof of relationship.

As your partner has obtained an Italian residence card for non-EU family members, you could use that and travel together to the UK and then reapply in person. From reading the next part, I think the tipping point was that is was not clear to the immigration officer that your relationship still existed.