EEA2 Residence Card Confusion

Hello,

My wife has just received a refusal notice for our application for a UK Residence Card. Reading through the documentation, it appears we misunderstood the qualifications for obtaining a residence card.

(I am a British Citizen by birth; my wife is from the Philippines; we married in 2012 in Manila and she subsequently came to the UK under a spousal visa, which is due for extension to ILR this summer. We both live and work in the UK and intend to remain here permanently).

MY ORIGINAL UNDERSTANDING
A residence card is available to the spouse of a British Citizen living in ANY EEA COUNTRY (which obviously includes the UK). We therefore applied on the basis that I am a British Citizen living in Britain. We knew the RC is not required, but if we had one it would enable us to travel to any EU country more easily. Thus, we applied for one to enable us to take European vacations without the need to apply for any additional visas from any other European country. This was our only motive for the application.

MY UPDATED UNDERSTANDING AFTER READING THE REFUSAL LETTER
A residence card is available to the spouse of a British Citizen who essentially has transferred the centre of his/her life to an EEA country other than the UK.

If the above is correct (I'd be grateful if someone could confirm), then of course we understand and accept the refusal. We simply misunderstood what a Residence Card is. The confusion arose over what it means for a British Citizen to be living in an EEA country (the wording of the Regulations is very unclear, in my opinion).

What worries us is that while the Home Office letter says that the refusal is based only on the application for a RC, it is worded in their usual strident style, and ALSO says that my wife seems to have no other basis for her stay and is required to leave immediately - if she does not do so, her departure may be enforced. There are also contact details for refugee charities and reintegration assistance. This has obviously thrown our Saturday morning into confusion, and every Home Office telephone line and every other organisation that might be able to advise us is closed for the weekend.

Just to clarify - my wife has a valid spousal visa which we intend to extend to ILR in July, and we are not aware of any reason why she should not stay (other than the Home Office letter of this morning).

Does anyone have any knowledge or experience of this situation? Do we need to submit an appeal or just carry on our lives as normal? Should we write to the Home Office? What should we do?

Thanks for any advice.

The question is, why did you apply for residence card.

She clearly dont meet the qualifying criteria.

I guess her passport would have been returned.

If that is the case, you wait till June and apply for ILR, 28 days before Leave is due to expire, or apply for PEO service.

Thanks, Obie

Of course, we realise now that we do not meet the criteria for a Residence Card, but I think the reasons for my misunderstanding were credible, as explained above. It is true that the UK is an EEA country, and this was confusing to me.

The question is, though, if we need to do anything like write to the Home Office - or should we just ignore the letter? We don't wish to appeal the RC decision, but I feel it is not right for the HO to threaten my wife with deportation if she does not leave, when she has a valid Spousal Visa. How should we respond to the letter? Is there any action we need to take?

Thanks agian.

It is a standard template letter that does not address the particular circumstance of the case.

I dont think UKBA has any intention to remove your wife.

In fact they have no legal power to do so as her leave has not been curtailed.

I will simly ignore the letter.