Hope everyone is staying safe
I will start with a quick timeline and my current status:
EEA (EFM) for Residence Card Application Posted: 17/03/2020
Money Taken Out: 23/03/2020
(South) Korean national currently on Tier 5 YMS visa, expiring 19/05/2020 (if I qualify for extension due to COVID-19 then 31st I guess)
I applied with the basis of European unmarried partner. We will have been dating for 5 years next month and have been living together since September 2016 (so 3 years and 7 months).
I was accepted into a postgraduate program starting September 2020 which does not sponsor Tier 4, and requires me to work in placement (with a selection process from the offices which will start sometime in the next two weeks). No offers from other universities yet. I was relying on receiving EEA Residence card (and use it to move on to EUSS of course) to secure my right to work and study at this particular institution but now UKVCAS closed without me even receiving a biometrics letter.
I now have no ID whatsoever with me- no passport, no brp.
My main questions are:
Will I become an overstayer if I do not or cannot leave the country before my T5 expires? I understand that this is normally the case, but given this is due to the fact there is a pandemic in the whole world and that home office is practically paralysed and cannot return my documents, have they issued any statement on what will happen beyond May 31st? What is the protocol during an ordinary situation when you do not receive your travel documents back before the expiry of your current visa?
I have found different forums saying that I should wait until having biometrics done before I request for my passports back. Is this true?
If I get accepted into a different programme, can I at least apply for a Tier 4 visa whilst the waiting for the EEA Application? If I have to cancel the EEA application, will that be a long process as well? I am only a year away from ILR through Long Residence (first entered Sep 2011) so even if EEA RC fails me, I would really hate to talk to anything up at this point.
Is it true that EUSS will not take my tier 4 and 5 times into account, and therefore I will be pre-settled instead of settled when I apply? If I am pre-settled, how long will I have to wait for settled status? Furthermore, am I correct to assume that even if I end up with pre-settled status, if I wish to get settled ASAP, I can apply for Long Residence on September 2021 without any restrictions?
and I guess nobody knows the true answer to this but- did anybody hear anything about when the UKVCAS will be back in action? Anyone who recently applied for EEA (EFM) Residence Card who could share advice/ timeline would be great
Apologies for the long and panicky post (well I am really panicking
).Any other helpful advice or consolation will be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.