Letter before action template: please help

Hello

I am new to this forum, so please be patient. We are applying for my (non-EU) mother to join us. Us - is my wife (an Irish citizen, has a document certifying Permanent Residence, did not apply for Settlement Scheme but would qualify, if she did), our child - an Irish citizen, and myself - a non-EU family member on a pre-settled status expiring in 2024.

We applied for EU Settlement Scheme for my mother in May 2021, nearly a year ago. No decision has been made to date. Two complaints and two requests made via MP were responded with a brazen 'this route does not have a limit on decision time'. This wait has a masive toll on the family as we would like the child (an Irish citizen) to spend time with her granmother, a privilege she is now effectively denied for a full year. We also would want her to be around us for support and help.

We would like to initiate proceedings of which a letter before action appears to be the first step. I am sceptical but we would like to give it a try nonetheless. Can the more experienced members suggest some kind of a template and possibly (an exploratory ask), a reference to the relevant legislation? I am not sure if a complaint to the European Commission around UK's implementation of Withdrawal agreement is appropriate here at all.

Thank you very much
I-O

input-output wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:49 pm

Two complaints and two requests made via MP were responded with a brazen 'this route does not have a limit on decision time'.

I'm afraid that is technically correct. There is no timeframe the Home Office has to respect.

We would like to initiate proceedings of which a letter before action appears to be the first step. I am sceptical but we would like to give it a try nonetheless. Can the more experienced members suggest some kind of a template and possibly (an exploratory ask), a reference to the relevant legislation? I am not sure if a complaint to the European Commission around UK's implementation of Withdrawal agreement is appropriate here at all.

Again, I'm afraid the Home Office has not breached any terms. The timeframe was intentionally set to have no limit. The official rationale is so that these cases are prioritised, but the actual result is, sadly, as you say; that they are not bound by any time limit.

I would not waste my time writing an individual letter, as there does not seem to be any legal grounds for complaint (at least not that I know of).

BUT... do report your case with the 3million, the grassroot organisation that represents the interest of EU citizens and their family members after Brexit. They know of cases like yours, and they need examples of issues reported by people to be able to pressure the Home Office to change their terms of commitments. Not a a guarantee that it would happen, but it's the most powerful way of action that I know of.

Contact them with your case here: https://www.the3million.org.uk/report-it

kamoe wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 19, 2022 11:51 am

Again, I'm afraid the Home Office has not breached any terms. The timeframe was intentionally set to have no limit. The official rationale is so that these cases are prioritised, but the actual result is, sadly, as you say; that they are not bound by any time limit.

Hello Kamoe
You appear to be a gentleman, bent on seeing good in people and institutions. My reading is that this oversight is set intentionally, as a reflection of disdain for the EU applications going to the front of the queue and not paying for their processing. Mrs Patel is unlikely to continue with the same treatment and here we go.

I will also commence doing research on ways to report this to the European Commission as it appears to descriminate EU citizens and their family members and is not in the spirit of the Withdrawal Agreement. I am also thinking that the writ of mandamus may be appropriate here, given the range of family and human rights.

As for 3million, reporting is unlikely to yeld any results. I would like to see the outcome of their work in the media, however, and would gladly stand corrected.

input-output wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 19, 2022 4:22 pm

You appear to be a gentleman

Why?

bent on seeing good in people and institutions. My reading is that this oversight is set intentionally, as a reflection of disdain for the EU applications going to the front of the queue and not paying for their processing. Mrs Patel is unlikely to continue with the same treatment and here we go.

There is a reason I chose the words "official rationale" and not "genuine rationale".

I will also commence doing research on ways to report this to the European Commission as it appears to descriminate EU citizens and their family members and is not in the spirit of the Withdrawal Agreement. I am also thinking that the writ of mandamus may be appropriate here, given the range of family and human rights.

As for 3million, reporting is unlikely to yeld any results. I would like to see the outcome of their work in the media, however, and would gladly stand corrected.

Your letter was already written in February 2022 (See page 4, Q3). It hasn't yet had an answer, but looking at the 3million 's track record of correspondence with the Home Office, I don't think the issue is wether they get media coverage. You are of course within your right to write any letter you wish.

Hello again Kamoe

Thank you for highlighting this, it is very useful and encouraging to see that 3million have been very proactive on this issues. I depart from the premise that an individual case is the potential legal case as it can be tried and judicially enforced. Just like a dispute on university and further education colleges' pension current dispute, as an example, its took two senior academics to file individual cases to the high court. In other words, class litigation is not working in the UK and whilst UKVI may indeed change policy, it will trickle down in many, many months. Whilst we are not in the same category as people leaving their jobs on the premise of the proecessing time, the delay of ca. 1 year is taking an emotional and personal toll on us, including the child.