eea2 application

copper wrote:1.When I applied for residence card ,we had 3 months old baby and receiving working tax credit and child tax credit benefits,because my wife was her maternity leave.I was working as well,but my earning so much then I changed my job with better one .is it affect my application?

2.at the time of residence card application,my wife has not completed a continues period of 12 months employment in the uk but when I sent away application form,after 1 month she was working for 12 months in the uk.of course she did not work 6 months because of her maternity leave,but her employer stated that she is still employed .

It is not at all against the law to have babies in the EU. And you are fully allowed to get tax credits and similar income support.

Why do you refer to 12 months continuous employement in the UK? I do not think that is a requirement for any sort of Residence Card.

What is your and your wife's citizenship?

I am Turkish and she is Polish.

Why do you refer to 12 months continuous employement in the UK? I do not think that is a requirement for any sort of Residence Card. What do you think needs 12 months?

Why do you refer to 12 months continuous employement in the UK? I do not think that is a requirement for any sort of Residence Card. What do you think needs 12 months?

If I remember correctly, A8 nationals register with WRS upon gaining employment in the UK, and after 12 months employment, their non-EU family members can apply for the residence card using EEA2. An application made for family members before the A8 national has completed the 12 months employment is made using FMRS. Given that copper's spouse is Polish I think this is what he is refering to.

Ah. I stand corrected.

2.at the time of residence card application,my wife has not completed a continues period of 12 months employment in the uk but when I sent away application form,after 1 month she was working for 12 months in the uk.of course she did not work 6 months because of her maternity leave,but her employer stated that she is still employed .

How long did she work in the UK before taking maternity leave? And how long has she been on maternity leave?

HI,

Firstly,I applied for Fmrs then I got a visa which expired exctly the date my wife was going to complete a continues period of 12 months employment.I did not wait till my visa expires ,i applied for residence card 1 months before.

she took 6 months maternity leave. and she has worked 6 months before maternity leave.

Hi all!

I am in a similar situation, maybe a bit better. I applied on the 20th of November 2007 - 6 months deadline is going to be next Tue, 20th May. However, I need to travel in a month time which is quite important, like all of us. I have heard I've got no right to complain until they really have taken full 6 months so I have been waitint, trying to be patient, even though the people on the phone line say that it is still waiting consideration. However, I called HO Complaints Department yesterday just to check what is the procedure of lodging a complaint and they said I could do it already so I lodged a complaint yesterday morning over the phone and today morning a guy from HO Complaints called me himself (!!!!), said the case was given to a caseworker to be considered this morning and they would try to do it asap, did not say how long this "asap" is, though. The people on the line still say it has not been given to any caseworker so I do not even know what to think, who is right, maybe it just takes time to update the system? I prefer to believe in the better version
So i think it's better call than send letters: I've sent three letters to them already and have not received any reply, not even sure if anyone has read them. But the call has got some response - at least they called me back!

Sorry, forgot to say that I have been argueing with them over the phone about the 6 months processing time and they have been trying to prove to me that this is not a LAW, that this is just nothing, some couple of lines of no importance in HO casework instructions and they can take as long as they wish to decide an application, even if it takes a year. No mentioning of the Directive of Free Movement or Immigration Regulations had an effect of them. So it does not seem there is any point in speaking to them directly. I'd say Complaints Department, SOLVIT or MP (there is also MEP) would be better.

Hi,

Could I ask you in which telephone number you phoned about complaint?

thanks

[Could I ask you in which telephone number you phoned about complaint? ]

It's 01612 611 117 and I called at around 9.30am. I called later somewhere around midday 'cos I forgot to ask some stuff in the morning but they were already too busy so I got just an automated msg advising me to submit a complaint by post or email.

lapkapups wrote:Sorry, forgot to say that I have been argueing with them over the phone about the 6 months processing time and they have been trying to prove to me that this is not a LAW, that this is just nothing, some couple of lines of no importance in HO casework instructions and they can take as long as they wish to decide an application, even if it takes a year.

That is weird. If you read the law closely, you will find that the 6 months limit does not cover applications by extended family members. But it certainly applies for family members, and there is no exception whatsoever, not even in "difficult" cases.

Tom

thsths wrote:

That is weird. If you read the law closely, you will find that the 6 months limit does not cover applications by extended family members. But it certainly applies for family members, and there is no exception whatsoever, not even in "difficult" cases.

Tom[/quote]

I think they just can't say "we are sorry and you are right" or maybe the people on the line do not know the laws. I have read the laws very carefully, and I am a family member (spouse) but if I try to say that according to the Directive this, article this, and paragraph this, they have only 6 months they say it's not a law, I don't have any rights to demand the case to be decided and if I am not happy I should contact complaints department. What's more outrageous - they hang up afterwards, saying somehting like: now I have to end the conversation and they hang up!

I have had similar experience - I was told on the phone that the 6 months is merely a guideline. However, having contacted SOLVIT they have advised that the HO is in breach of the regulations by going over the 6 months.

Ani wrote:I have had similar experience - I was told on the phone that the 6 months is merely a guideline. However, having contacted SOLVIT they have advised that the HO is in breach of the regulations by going over the 6 months.

Obviously HO has their own opinion when it's suitable to them. For us they have laws, for them - merely guidelines.

Btw, forgot to mention, not sure if you guys know that all EEA applications have been transfered to Liverpool. I mean all, not only EEA1. I found out when I called Croydon's Complaints Department - they told me they did not deal with it anymore as all the applications are in Liverpool now. 90% transfered to help with the workload. Could not find out when and which ones. And I've been sending all correspondence, updates to Croydon!

thsths wrote:That is weird. If you read the law closely, you will find that the 6 months limit does not cover applications by extended family members. But it certainly applies for family members, and there is no exception whatsoever, not even in "difficult" cases.

Tom

The above speculation is wrong. There is nothing in the directive or any other ECJ case law which member states can impose different requirements for the family members which is defined in article 2 and other family members which is defined in article 3, apart from the conditions laid down in directive.

It appears the Croydon Euro unit that dealt with these claims has been closed and the work moved into another Euro unit in Liverpool.
Given the usual problems with lack of resources I doubt if the Liverpool unit have been given any more staff.

I guess there will be lots of cases where the six month expectation will not be met.

Anyone knows what might mean the following:

Yesterday my application was under consideration and today it is again waiting to be considered?

This HO will make me crazy!!

Ani wrote:I have had similar experience - I was told on the phone that the 6 months is merely a guideline. However, having contacted SOLVIT they have advised that the HO is in breach of the regulations by going over the 6 months.

Six months is explicitly in Directive 2004/38/EC and also clearly in the UK legislation that implements the Directive.

If you are willing to put the time into it, run up some expenses (such as posting letters to the home office by special delivery reminding them that they are not processing your application as required by european law), and then sue them in small claims court for your expenses. You will get very quick resolution of your case at that point!

Hi again!

I received a letter from HO today (by Special Delivery!! isn't it unsual?) asking to submit my husband's passport in addition to his ID that they already have. When I called them they wouldn't transfer me to the caseworker but on my question why they need passport if they have ID already the guy said that evidently in this case an ID is not sufficient to decide the case, he doesn't know why. My husband is Spanish. Have anyone heard anything about an ID not being enough? It says everyone as far as I can see, including their website and the application form that it can be EITHER.

Thank you.

ID card OR Passport is enough. You do not have to submit both. The law is very clear.

What would you consider unusual about your application?

I would suggest you immediately contact Solvit to get them involved. http://eumovement.wordpress.com/help-eu-solvit/

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:ID card OR Passport is enough. You do not have to submit both. The law is very clear.

What would you consider unusual about your application?

I would suggest you immediately contact Solvit to get them involved. http://eumovement.wordpress.com/help-eu-solvit/

I meant it's unsual for them to send a request for additional docs by Special Delivery. Normally they use 2nd class post, as far as I know..

The law is clear; but it says in the letter: "your EEA family member passport. This is in addition to the Spanish Identity card already provided as this is not an acceptable form of proof of nationality for the purpose of this application".
It's all so confusing.
If I contact SOLVIT, what shall I tell? They they want his passport?

Sorry, but why not just send it in very quickly? If they ask for further Info they will probably already have decided on your application and need to verify something before sending out the residence documents and your docs.

They asked us for some additional Info. I sent it to them the same day, and 4 days later we had all the documents back incl. our residence cards. I saw that my wifes one was stamped the same day then they sent us the letter to request further data.

So they had it already approved on the day they asked for the additional docs.

lapkapups wrote:The law is clear; but it says in the letter: "your EEA family member passport. This is in addition to the Spanish Identity card already provided as this is not an acceptable form of proof of nationality for the purpose of this application".

That is ridiculous. The European identity card was created with the purpose that you do not always need your passport.

And the European unit in Croydon did this correctly, when my wife sent the EEA2 application with my ID card. Maybe things are getting worse?

Tom

dsab85 wrote:Sorry, but why not just send it in very quickly? If they ask for further Info they will probably already have decided on your application and need to verify something before sending out the residence documents and your docs.

They asked us for some additional Info. I sent it to them the same day, and 4 days later we had all the documents back incl. our residence cards. I saw that my wifes one was stamped the same day then they sent us the letter to request further data.

So they had it already approved on the day they asked for the additional docs.

I sent them everything by Special Delivery an hour ago so it will be there tomorrow. I do not know how long it is going to take them to process everything after they received it but that would be great if you were right and we could get the documents back in 4 days!! Though my husband was grumpy about being now without any identification

I don't know if it is getting worse or the caseworker doesn't know the law or whatever is going on.

Is it true that if for example I work and my husband does not this is anyway enough to prove that we are exercising Treaty rights?

The purpose of the ID card or the passport is to prove the citizenship of your husband. They do not need both.

I would strongly recommend you complain immediately to solvit about both how long it is taking, and that they are asking for completely unnecessary extra documentation. Complaining will ironically probably ensure the application is processed more quickly then simply keeping quiet and letting them take their time.

I would personally also bill them for the cost of the special delivery postage and for your time. Force them to pay you for the waste.