To qualify for an EEA family Permit you must show among others that you are the family member of an EEA national in accordance with the EEA Regulations.

 

Proof that you are a family member of an EEA national.

Under the Regulations the ECO must issue an EEA Family Permit to a person who applies for one if he is satisfied that the person is a family member of an EEA national and the EEA national is residing in the UK in accordance with the Regulations. To prove that you are related to the EEA national, you may submit documents like birth certificate or adoption certificate, marriage certificate, phone records, emails, letters, and photographs. However, the submission of these documents does not necessarily guarantee that the ECO will be satisfied that you are related to the EEA national as claimed.

If you are a child of an EEA national, your primary evidence of the relationship to your EEA national father will usually be your birth certificate. However, the officer may be less likely to accept your birth certificate as sufficient evidence of your relationship if it discloses that your birth was registered significantly later after your birth. For example, if your birth certificate discloses that you were born on January, 10, 2000, and the registration column on the birth certificate shows that your birth was registered on January, 10, 2010, this will mean that your birth was registered 10 years after your birth. In the absence of further evidence, the ECO may likely determine that since you birth was registered late, he only accepts the entry as merely a record of what the person who registered your birth told the Registrar of Births and not necessarily that you were born on that date.

If the consular officer disputes the entry on your birth certificate he is in fact disputing that you are the child of your claimed EEA national parent and hence do not qualify as a family member of an EEA national under the Regulations.

 

Primary evidence

To prove that the entry on your birth certificate is a true and accurate reflection of your birth record, you must submit in addition to your birth certificate such primary and/or secondary evidence to support your claims.

Primary evidence may be in the form of original baptismal certificates, hospital records including weighing cards, immunization certificates, etc., school records especially ones from kindergarten or elementary school. Letters obtained from your health or educational institution must specify your dates of admission and exit, your date and place of birth, your parents’ names, and such other relevant information as may be disclosed by the institution’s records.

To give weight to the letters issued by the institution, they must be supported by copies of any document, record, or other entry upon which the contents are based.

 

Secondary evidence

Secondary evidence is generally not documentary evidence and is relevant in cases where documentary evidence is clearly lacking. They are usually statements from persons who can attest to certain facts or events contemporaneous to the time of your birth. This may usually be in the form of witness statements, affidavits, or declarations affirming that they either witnessed your birth, naming or baptismal ceremony or such other event immediately on or about the time of your birth or early childhood.

In preparing affidavits or declarations, it must be noted that legal jargons, fancy language and resort to existing precedents may hold little weight before the consular officer. Where there are no documents to support your statements, you must include names, dates, events, occurrences or other situations that are contemporaneous with the event you are attesting to in order to convince the officer that your statements are indeed a true and accurate representation of the event for which reason they must be accepted.

 

Disclaimer: This article only provides general information and guidance on UK immigration law. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. The writer will not accept any liability for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of this information. The writer is an Immigration law advisor and a practicing law attorney in Ghana. He advises on U.S., UK, and Schengen immigration law. He works part-time for Acheampong & Associates Ltd, an immigration law firm in Accra. He may be contacted on acheampongassociatesgh@gmail.com