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Hi all,

I have recently applied for EEA Residence Card and was refused. I would really appreciate if you kind people out there could advise me what I have to do next.

Here's a bit about me:

I came to London under Working Holiday visa in 2001 and my visa ran out in 2003. I have
overstayed since then but was working full time, paying both tax and NI contribution until 2014.

I met my partner in 2009, he is an Irish citizen (he has an Irish passport) and we lived together since 2011. He is paying the rent ( the tenancy is under his name) and all utilities bills and I give him cash every month for my share of the household bills.

We are unmarried couple and we have decided to apply for the EEA Residence Card as we thought we fulfilled all the requirements, ie my partner is an EEA citizen and he is employed and we have lived together for more than 2 years akin to marriage couple. I submitted all my bank statements, phone bills, etc as evidence that I have lived in the same address as my partner for at least 4 years. We also submitted statements from families and friends supporting the fact that we are a genuine couple, photos of me and my boyfriend throughout the years in different social events and holidays, and also festival cards that we gave to each other, ie. Birthday, Valentine, anniversary.

However, the Home Office rejected our application as the was no official evidence that we are a genuine couple. The main reason being we have no joint statements, no joint utilities bills, and that my partner was paying the " single person" rate for his council tax. All those statements from myself was insufficient to prove that I have been living with my partner since 2011.

Another reason given by the Home Office in refusing my application was that my passport is invalid. I have tried to renew my passport at the embassy but they told me I can't renew my passport as I am an overstayer. However, the embassy sent me an email explaining why I can't renew my passport and I submitted the email together with my EEA application as a proof that I did try to renew my passport but failed. I truly believe the letter from my embassy is a sufficient proof for my invalid passport but to my surprise the Home Office mentioned I have no evidence of "at least trying to obtain a valid passport".

The refusal letter mentioned that I have the right to appeal, which I am intending to do. My questions are how successful would my case be and how much would it costs to hire a barrister for the court? How long will the appeal take, ie to get a hearing with the tribunal? I believe that I have a very strong case here as the reasons given by the Home Office that me and my partner are not in a durable relationship is nonsense. I seriously doubt that many couples, married or unmarried, will have joints bank accounts or utilities bills. The Home Office also disregard the fact that I am paying the bill for Sky (money taken out from my account) and the account holder's name under my partner since 2011.

I have included as much information as I can and I really hope anyone out there could help me. Me and my partner are under extreme stress, both mentally and financially, and we would like to be able to get on with our life as soon as possible.

Kind regards,
D

Goodluck with your application,as i can see that you did have a strong case if appeal you will win in the end.

My strong advice is ask you partner to call the council tax office to pay for couple rate for the last two years in other to cover your both back when you get to court and refer to other two years as you just come to him when you want to during relationship.

Lastly,everyone can make mistake but you shouldn't have put council tax there as it's not a requirement at all.Having said this you do have strong case four years in relationship is not a joke.

Goodluck and i wish you and your partner all the best.
Hope some moderators will find time to advice more on the appealing stuff and the timing. Please make sure you come to this site all the time there is a lot to learn before making any applications.

Regards.

I think in your case you and your partners joint financial commitments to meet the household are missing...
In your case it is very much clear that you two are living at the same place but there is no commitments between both of you.

Hi,

Yes we are lacking of joint financial statement and utilities bills, which was being highlighted by the Home Office. I moved into his flat and all utilities bills are under his name. My partner did try to include my name on those bills but the utilities companies told us we will have to cancel our accounts and reopen them again and it would be easier if the bills are under my partner's name. I wonder how this will affect the tribunal judge in deciding our relationship and granting me the residence permit?

Kind regards,
D

Sunshine1974 wrote:Hi,

Yes we are lacking of joint financial statement and utilities bills, which was being highlighted by the Home Office. I moved into his flat and all utilities bills are under his name. My partner did try to include my name on those bills but the utilities companies told us we will have to cancel our accounts and reopen them again and it would be easier if the bills are under my partner's name. I wonder how this will affect the tribunal judge in deciding our relationship and granting me the residence permit?

Kind regards,
D

Which utility company told you that they can't add another account holder ?
You can easily add your name to the Water bill , Electricity bill .

Also , Don't worry about much , All that matters is that you are in a genuine relationship akin to a marriage , Any plans to get married ?

In my opinion you were refused as you don't have a valid visa. As you have mentioned you overstayed since 2003. This was the same reason that is why your embassy refused to renew your passport. I would suggest you do it right, you need go back to your country, marry your partner and apply for FP.

liane25 wrote:In my opinion you were refused as you don't have a valid visa. As you have mentioned you overstayed since 2003. This was the same reason that is why your embassy refused to renew your passport. I would suggest you do it right, you need go back to your country, marry your partner and apply for FP.

What are you talking about? I understand that it is your opinion, but on this ocassion your opinion is clearly wrong. who told you OP was refused for being an overstayer? Overstaying as far as EEA applications are concerned is an obsolete word.

There is an issue however with working illegally. Also if you have been living with your partner, then he has fraudulently claimed single person discount on Council tax. He has officially claimed to be living alone and you are claiming to have lived together. I'm assuming that may be why you didn't add your name to any utility bills or the rental agreement.
You appear to be short of documented evidence that you have a durable relationship 'akin to marriage'. Without this, the case worker could take the view that you are simply 'house sharing' as friends.

gozo1 wrote:

liane25 wrote:In my opinion you were refused as you don't have a valid visa. As you have mentioned you overstayed since 2003. This was the same reason that is why your embassy refused to renew your passport. I would suggest you do it right, you need go back to your country, marry your partner and apply for FP.

What are you talking about? I understand that it is your opinion, but on this ocassion your opinion is clearly wrong. who told you OP was refused for being an overstayer? Overstaying as far as EEA applications are concerned is an obsolete word.

Please read her thread to know what I am talking about.

I have read the thread and I may do with some directions as I clearly have not seen the part the OP was refused for being an overstayer.

gozo1 wrote:What are you talking about? I understand that it is your opinion, but on this ocassion your opinion is clearly wrong. who told you OP was refused for being an overstayer? Overstaying as far as EEA applications are concerned is an obsolete word.

This is what I am talking about....

I came to London under Working Holiday visa in 2001 and my visa ran out in 2003. I have
overstayed since then but was working full time, paying both tax and NI contribution until 2014.

We are unmarried couple and we have decided to apply for the EEA Residence Card as we thought we fulfilled all the requirements

Another reason given by the Home Office in refusing my application was that my passport is invalid. I have tried to renew my passport at the embassy but they told me I can't renew my passport as I am an overstayer.

liane25 wrote:

gozo1 wrote:What are you talking about? I understand that it is your opinion, but on this ocassion your opinion is clearly wrong. who told you OP was refused for being an overstayer? Overstaying as far as EEA applications are concerned is an obsolete word.

This is what I am talking about....

I came to London under Working Holiday visa in 2001 and my visa ran out in 2003. I have
overstayed since then but was working full time, paying both tax and NI contribution until 2014.

We are unmarried couple and we have decided to apply for the EEA Residence Card as we thought we fulfilled all the requirements

Another reason given by the Home Office in refusing my application was that my passport is invalid. I have tried to renew my passport at the embassy but they told me I can't renew my passport as I am an overstayer.

This is self-contradictory, there is no part of the message indicating that OP was refused for being overstayer,refusal for not having a valid ID is not the same as overstaying, being legally resident is not part of the requirement that needs fulfilling. Your opinion was clearly wrong and dangerous.

gozo1 wrote: This is self-contradictory, there is no part of the message indicating that OP was refused for being overstayer,refusal for not having a valid ID is not the same as overstaying, being legally resident is not part of the requirement that needs fulfilling. Your opinion was clearly wrong and dangerous.

When does being an overstay became legal???

Striking that you are willing to defend and contribute to matters which you clearly do not have knowledge about.

Gozo1, this is a forum where members have a right to free discussion and have a right to an opinion. If you disagree, please post respectfully.

This AIT appeal (which was withdrawn by the Apellant), although lengthy may be of interest as it sets out the argument for a refusal as an Unmarried Partner EEA application. In particular:
"You are considered to be an overstayer.
You therefore have no valid leave at the time this application was made to either enter or remain in the United Kingdom. In the circumstances it is not considered appropriate to issue you with a residence card.”


It would appear that there should not be a refusal for an overstay alone, but it may be a contributing factor if there are other issues.

https://tribunalsdecisions.service.gov.uk/utiac/37767

Casa wrote:Gozo1, this is a forum where members have a right to free discussion and have a right to an opinion. If you disagree, please post respectfully.

And who says members are not entitled to post freely? What exactly was disrespectful in my post? You may tell me because I am not aware of any direspectfullness in my post, shouldn't you have found in disturbing if the forum was awash wrongful statement considering that you are a moderator? incorrect advise do have adverse effect on people's life and it is appropriate to call it out.

You are doing to yourself a great diservice citing YB, the case simply confirmed what I have said, 2008 was a long time ago, time has moved on and such appalling decisions by caseworkers are already into extinct.

It is safe to say, that liane views were not perfectly correct.

I accept what you said Casa, and that seem to be a correct interpretation of the law.

A person cannot be refused for overstaying alone.

In FD, this was make clear. The position was also reiterated in MO.

http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cg ... od=boolean

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2007/981.html

So do we agree Obie that overstaying can be a contributing factor when there are additional reasons to refuse? Or is Gozo1 correct in saying that 'times have moved on' and this no longer applies?

Contributing factor and solely as a reason for refusal are two things which was not what the previous poster was trying to make, Metock was pretty clear on this, the term contributing factor insofar as EU law is concerned is otiose.

Article 3(1) of Directive 2004/38 must be interpreted as meaning that a national of a non-member country who is the spouse of a Union citizen residing in a Member State whose nationality he does not possess and who accompanies or joins that Union citizen benefits from the provisions of that directive, irrespective of when and where their marriage took place and of how the national of a non-member country entered the host Member State.

Over to you Obie.....

I respect your views and your assessment of the caselaw, especially YB. I do however, believe the caselaw and the UKVI policy has moved on since then, especially following the case of Metock.

Even the UKBA Guidance in Page 26, states that a refusal on the basis of Overstaying will be unlawful, whereas breach of rules using deception, may well be a legitimate reasons to refuse, depending on the circumstance.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v2_0.pdf

I think page 26 of this guidance , may resolve things. This is the current policy i believe.

The guidance seem to draw a bright line between overstaying and gaining leave by deception or false representation.

Taking into account the law, policy guidance, I am not sure I am able to give an endorsement to the view of the poster in question.

Hello
I would like to share a experience that happen to me.
I did in my own the old EEA2 application to get the UK residence permite.
It was refused because the evidence of his work , the telephone number provided at the application was wrong and the HO couldn't contact the sponsor. A minor error and it was send back to me with with the letter of refusal and the right to appeal against the decision but at the last paragraph they said that if I feel that I have the right of the details mentioned at my first application or if I have new evidences I could make another application .
I have contacted a lawyer to do the process again with the new application EEA (FM) .
My husband its from Italy , at the same time my VISA was refused his unique identity was about to expire then we needed to contact the Italian Consulate to do a passport to him or even a ID card .
At italian consulate its necessary be registered there to get any assistance and he wasn't registered this process take up to 6 months to be done , in our case it was done in 3 moths .
After all this time I did the process again and have received the letter to send the fingers print which now it is indispensable .

The only question : Does the home office are more quickly in the cases that are already there ?
I didn't provide another application or appealing AFTER 3 months.
My passport are there with them