Immigrationboards.com

Hi everyone

I have noticed a lot of UK family permit refusals recently after the new 'centre of life' rule has come out in Jan. I am interested in knowing the exact reasons and I'm sure it would also help others who are planning to apply via the Surrinder Singh route.

It would be great if you could post your refusals here and hopefully others can also help re-apply or appeal. (Hope this is okay with admins)

Hello, this is my wife's refusal received today -

The decision
- Regulation 9 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, as amended by the Immigration (EEA) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations 2013, states:
9. (1) If the conditions in paragraph (2) are satisfied, these Regulations apply to a person who is the family member of a British citizen (“P”) were an EEA national.
(2) The conditions are that –
[…]
(c ) the centre of P’s life has transferred to the EEA State where P resided as a worker or self-employed person.
(3) Factors relevant to whether the centre of P’s life has transferred to another EEA State include –
(a) the period of residence in the EEA State as a worker or self-employed person;
(b) the location of P’s principal residence;
(c ) the degree of integration of P in the EEA State

- You have stated that you wish to visit the United Kingdom with your British spouse, Mr. SS. I acknowledge that you have provided a photocopy of your spouse´s British passport, and your original British marriage certificate, as evidence that you are related as claimed to a British national. I note that your spouse has provided evidence of his employment in France, in the form of an employer’s letter, a contract of employment, and three payslips. The letter from Mr. SS's employer states that your spouse is working fifteen hours per week, which is confirmed in the payslips showing sixty hours per month. This contract is a fixed-term contract (“contra a duree determine”) and was only made for twenty days with no further contractual indication of how long this has been extended. I note that you state in your application form that your spouses’s employment ended on the 31 December 2013, and you now wish to visit the United Kingdom for a period of 4 months. You have provided a document from “Credit Agricole du Morbihan”, a bank, which shows that your accounts have been open since 02 October 2013, a period of only three months. You have provided a letter from Mr. xxxxxxxx, a British national living in France, who states that he provides accommodation for you and your spouse, with no tenancy agreement, seemingly no rent, and no utilities in your or Mr. SS’s name. Due to these reasons, I am not satisfied that your British national spouse has transferred his centre of life to another EEA Member State.
- I therefore refuse your EEA Family Permit application because I am not satisfied that you meet all of the requirements of regulation 12 of the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2006

Please remove your name from the letter

This is one of many to come, you wouldn't convince them otherwise, you should quickly send in your appeal, HO will try as much and drag these coming cases to the highest court possible.

Jellybean105 wrote:Hi everyone

I have noticed a lot of UK family permit refusals recently after the new 'centre of life' rule has come out in Jan. I am interested in knowing the exact reasons and I'm sure it would also help others who are planning to apply via the Surrinder Singh route.

It would be great if you could post your refusals here and hopefully others can also help re-apply or appeal. (Hope this is okay with admins)

You might consider changing the title to something more specific to the thread you intend to create. This can be done by editing your first thread. (Hint for possible title above).

I, too, would like to know about whether one should appeal or re-apply. Before Dec 2012 it seemed that there were only two ways to refuse an FP application: marriage of convenience and not long enough time for EEA working in the other country. So if they said it wasn't long enough then it would be pretty straight forward to work a while longer and re-apply. Now with the Centre of Life restrictions there are many more ways to reject applications and once they are rejected working a few weeks longer won't change anything.

My fiance and I will stay in Ireland as long as we need to, but we want to return to the UK as soon as we reasonably can because she is caring for her elderly mother and the back and forth is really challenging. Is there any guidance from anyone to suggest how long is a reasonable amount of time giving the newness of these new restrictions?

thanks...

Hi jestew,

Well I wrote to the Home Office recently for clarification about the new Surinder Singh rules and according to them there is no minimum period of time that you have to work in the EU that is imposed by the amendment. Here's my email to the Home Office and their reply.

My gut feeling is that over 185 days would be more than sufficient, only because in most countries the tax rule is that over 185 days spent in one country deems you as a tax resident for that country. That said, the Home Office themselves told me that there is no minimum period of time that you have to work in the EU, so I would apply after 3 months anyway since that is the maximum time limit you can stay in your host EU country without exercising a treaty right.

Thats good logic rosebead and maybe something a person could use in an appeal, you simply cant stay in a country over 90 days unless you are exercising treaty rights. Well ok you will get a 6 months temporary and if over that then you must be into the position of resident and worker.

357mag wrote:Thats good logic rosebead and maybe something a person could use in an appeal, you simply cant stay in a country over 90 days unless you are exercising treaty rights. Well ok you will get a 6 months temporary and if over that then you must be into the position of resident and worker.

But you can. You have no right to do so, but you can.

Just learnt of another Family Permit refusal - done in Dublin

Application done on 6 January - refusal today

Four months employment etc

Seems this is going to be happening more and more.

AngieD wrote:Just learnt of another Family Permit refusal - done in Dublin

Application done on 6 January - refusal today

Four months employment etc

Seems this is going to be happening more and more.

any details?

sebstewart wrote:

AngieD wrote:Just learnt of another Family Permit refusal - done in Dublin

Application done on 6 January - refusal today

Four months employment etc

Seems this is going to be happening more and more.

any details?

I can't give you too many details without the applicants permission

The UK Citizen worked for 4 months and is still working in Dublin, They sent a lot of evidence re employment - pay slips, contract, letter from uk citizen re his job - they lived together and provided evidence of that, PPS confirmation, confirmation of irish bank account, tax certificates, confirmation that residency card applied for (letter from INIS) - etc

The refusal states "not satisfied transferred centre of life and not been exercising treaty rights in an EU State for a qualifying quantifying period......."

Qualifying Quantifying period - what the hell is that?

[quote=
Qualifying Quantifying period - what the hell is that?[/quote]
abuse of power, HO didn't set minimum qualifying period making it easy for them to refuse application by saying this.
I am hoping we will get positive decision in OS.

It is important to appeal these refusals. That is the only way the UK changes will be rejected by a court.

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:It is important to appeal these refusals. That is the only way the UK changes will be rejected by a court.

I agree and hopefully they are going to do just that - she is very stressed and upset at the moment - understandably.

Quick question - given she is in Ireland - should they return to UK in any event and go straight for EEA 2 and then appeal that likely refusal or appeal from Ireland.

What do you think is the best approach?

I have only seen one successful applicant under the "new guidelines" which was issued in Germany.

U know how long they were there in Germany?

jinkazama_11 wrote:U know how long they were there in Germany?

Since early September 2013

They did have 5 years residence cards - this may have made a difference

I suspect the HO would scrutinise applications from Dublin.
a) because the decision is made in the UK. Not by the diplomatic post.
b) because Ireland is more common for a quick SS round.

If possible, I would wait for 2 months so there stay is 6 months and reapply. Might be quicker than going via an appeal process.

Jambo wrote:I suspect the HO would scrutinise applications from Dublin.
a) because the decision is made in the UK. Not by the diplomatic post.
b) because Ireland is more common for a quick SS round.

If possible, I would wait for 2 months so there stay is 6 months and reapply. Might be quicker than going via an appeal process.

That did cross my mind regarding Dublin applications and the fact they are done in the UK.

AngieD wrote:

jinkazama_11 wrote:U know how long they were there in Germany?

Since early September 2013

They did have 5 years residence cards - this may have made a difference

my wife had a 5 year residency card from France but they did not seem to take it in to consideration. it seems the German residency cards are special though.

Good info and it´s nice to hear some people have been successful! For me the successful applications are much more interesting than the refusals all though I would like to appeal, if it is quicker I would be very happy to make a successful application.

Thanks
seb

sebstewart wrote:

AngieD wrote:

jinkazama_11 wrote:U know how long they were there in Germany?

Since early September 2013

They did have 5 years residence cards - this may have made a difference

my wife had a 5 year residency card from France but they did not seem to take it in to consideration. it seems the German residency cards are special though.

Good info and it´s nice to hear some people have been successful! For me the successful applications are much more interesting than the refusals all though I would like to appeal, if it is quicker I would be very happy to make a successful application.

Thanks
seb

How long you were in France before you applied for family permit?

jinkazama_11 wrote: How long you were in France before you applied for family permit?

We arrived in France on the 2nd of May 2013 my wife’s appointment for a uk FP was on the 6th of January 2014 so that over 8 months.

They still refuse ur wife's application. Thats harsh.

It is harsh in sebstewart's case, however I think it might have been the length of time spent working (11 weeks part-time if I recall) that the Home Office might have had issues with (even though according to ECJ judgments you can be deemed a "worker" in the EU if you work 10-12 hours per week, and after 10 weeks of a fixed contract). I believe the Home Office also weren't satisfied by the submission of just a landlord's letter as proof of a substantive tenancy (which personally I think is good enough). Sebstewart, it just occurred to me, did your wife apply for the EEA Family Permit before 1 January 2014 or after? If it's before, then your wife's application should be assessed under the old rules, before these new "centre of life" requirements.

Regarding the recent successful application in Germany for FP, it sounds like the Entry Clearance Officer in Germany is assessing things proportionately, unlike in Ireland. I mean, what the heck is a "qualifying quantifying period" for exercising treaty rights? Currently there is no minimum period set under EU law for proving "habitual residence". Under European community law, the test for habitual residence is more directed to a person’s fixed centre of interest (such as where he has stable employment as one factor) rather than length of residency.

rosebead wrote:Sebstewart, it just occurred to me, did your wife apply for the EEA Family Permit before 1 January 2014 or after?

Interesting! We made two applications. The first one was made on December 2013 but my wife didn’t apply with this one because we didn’t declare I had savings (but evidence I was submitting showed I have savings in my English account). That’s why we made a second application on the 2nd January 2014 (I didn’t know they were changing the regulations) and we declare the savings and made the appointment for the 6th January. I think I can still make an appointment with the application we made in December but I don’t know how they will judge it, or is me lying about my savings will make a difference?

Thanks
seb