eea2 application

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote: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.

Thank you.
I think I'll probably do it. Not sure if it's going to give us anything but it won't hurt to try. I thought as well I might give a call to that guy from the Complaints Department and ask him what's going on.

Extract from the UK EEA regulations.

Initial right of residence
13. —(1) An EEA national is entitled to reside in the United Kingdom for a period not exceeding three months beginning on the date on which he is admitted to the United Kingdom provided that he holds a valid national identity card or passport issued by an EEA State.
(2) A family member of an EEA national residing in the United Kingdom under paragraph (1) who is not himself an EEA national is entitled to reside in the United Kingdom provided that he holds a valid passport.

I think the confusion comes from the exercising of EEA rights where all the parties are EEA citizens. I think the caseworkers take the view that a valid passport is always required, rather than accept a valid EEA ID card. Not an excuse really.

There is no requirement to have a passport to live and move in Europe as an EU national. They can not turn you or your family down if you have just your national ID card.

Frontier Mole wrote:Extract from the UK EEA regulations.

I think the confusion comes from the exercising of EEA rights where all the parties are EEA citizens. I think the caseworkers take the view that a valid passport is always required, rather than accept a valid EEA ID card. Not an excuse really.

May be you are right. It does not give her any credit, though. Well, I guess we'll just wait and see what happens.

Btw, I realised yesterday evening that the dates when my husband's employment started are not the same in the application form and the job letter. I am almost sure in the application we put 24th October though I don't remember now where we got this date from. But in the job letter they gave him yesterday they put 18th October and we in the hurry didn't think of checking it against the draft application we're keeping. Do you think this mistake is going to influence negatively the application?

Makes me scared that they'll refuse and we'll have to leave the country.

If you are married, and your EU citizen spouse is working, they can refuse you for only one of three reasons:

(1) WHO listed nasty diseases like Ebola
(2) You are a threat to national security
(3) You are a major public policy issue

Do any of these three apply to you?

If not, then do not worry.

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:If you are married, and your EU citizen spouse is working, they can refuse you for only one of three reasons:

(1) WHO listed nasty diseases like Ebola
(2) You are a threat to national security
(3) You are a major public policy issue

Do any of these three apply to you?

If not, then do not worry.

Thank you.

That's exactly what my husband says but he's never had to deal with visas while I've had so I am alsways panicky

No need to panic. You have a right to accompany your husband. The Residence Card is just a formality to confirm in writing the right you already have. You do not even need to apply for the Residence Card (assuming you do not want to travel).

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote:No need to panic. You have a right to accompany your husband. The Residence Card is just a formality to confirm in writing the right you already have. You do not even need to apply for the Residence Card (assuming you do not want to travel).

Yeah, imagine someone who wants to stay here for all life without visiting family or going for holidays

I know this in theory. I hope the practice is the same

Just an example of how they work.

Having been unable to find out from the General Enquiry Line if my letter has been passed to the caseworker, I called the guy from the Complaints Department. He checked, and the caseworker has not received my letter yet, nor does she know that I've sent anything.

This is three days after my letter arrived to HO, and I put the caseworker's name and the department number in the address!

Love without borders... You can't even imagine it can you?

Hello dear friends,

I've been reading this forum (immigration for family members) for the past few days and I got red eyes of going through 57 pages! The caseworkers of the HomeOffice should read these forums and then see what kind of impact they have on people's lifes.

Where did my story start...
A little while ago I used to live in the Netherlands where I was also born.
Then I married the woman I love so much (she holds a Turkish passport).
The Netherlands were very strict in immigration and finally I got so annoyed that I decided to move to the UK after hearing of the 'EU-way'.
She received her EU family permit and we travelled together to London.

DECEMBER 2007 we made a joint application: a Registration Certificate (EEA1) for me and a residence card (EEA2) for her. We did send all the required documents: both passports, my most recent wage slip and the wedding certificate. I didn't send any additional docs like bankstatemens, because they will request for additional documents if needed. I HOPE I AM RIGHT ON THIS ONE?

We received the COA quite quickly and recently I got a letter requesting to send my most recent wage slip. I did send this and I received my Registration Certificate together with my passport. "Supporting documents have been retained to consider Spouse application".

The thing is that on the envelop itself it stated that the post came from the Croydon office, but the letter was signed by somebody within the LNC2 General Group Managed Migration Directorate in Liverpool. ?????

I have been reading that a lot of people are waiting to hear from the HomeOffice and that the HO exceed the limit of 6 months for a Residence Card. This has definitely to do with the changes that has occured recently between the Croydon - Liverpool move. Until Februar or so the application processing time for EEA2 was okay, but then it stopped and it has been staying at OCTOBER! for a couple of months now!

I want to now a couple of thing and hope you can help:
1) Have any of you had success by making a complaint to the HO complaints department or contacting Solvit on this matter?
2) Would it make sense to make a joint complaint to the EU or/and Solvit?
I mean together we are stronger than on our own. I think that the EU needs to know about this and chase up the UK for it or else this will continue.
3) What does LNC2 mean? This is the department where it came from. In the responses received from the HO, the caseworker name is everytime different?
4) Does anybody knows why it takes so long? Okay reorganisation Croydon-Liverpool etc., but is it because of a lack of resources or are they becoming stricter? We are paying enough tax I would say in order for them to have enough resources

Sorry for the long reply, but I am new and I need to catch up
I find this forum very helpful and hope that we can help each other, because...

LOVE IS STRONGER THAN ANY BORDER ON EARTH (I try to believe it is

[quote="Love-Without-Borders"]
1) Have any of you had success by making a complaint to the HO complaints department or contacting Solvit on this matter?
quote]

I have complained to the HO Complaints Department and as a result my case has been allocated and taken into consideration. It's been under consideration for two weeks by now.

Unfortunately, I do not know anything about the other questions.

Love-Without-Borders wrote:I have been reading that a lot of people are waiting to hear from the HomeOffice and that the HO exceed the limit of 6 months for a Residence Card. This has definitely to do with the changes that has occured recently between the Croydon - Liverpool move. Until Februar or so the application processing time for EEA2 was okay, but then it stopped and it has been staying at OCTOBER! for a couple of months now!

Indeed. I still wonder whether they just forgot to update the web page, or whether EEA2 processing is basically at a halt. I did not see any reports of a Residence Card being issued since the move.

The reason for asking is that it is obviously a bad idea of move pending cases. They could have opened a new processing centre in Liverpool for new applications, while keeping the existing applications in Croydon. This may even have reduced waiting times to acceptable levels (faster than the legal maximum of 6 months).

2) Would it make sense to make a joint complaint to the EU or/and Solvit?
I mean together we are stronger than on our own. I think that the EU needs to know about this and chase up the UK for it or else this will continue.

I agree. The Home Office has been unwilling to do anything about the bad state of European applications. Which is funny because it is costing them money: lost taxes because people cannot get a job, additional work due to the delay, a massive amount of complaints etc.

Actually, that may be the reason for moving the applications: if the complaints have to be made to Liverpool, it is much easier to just ignore them.

4) Does anybody knows why it takes so long? Okay reorganisation Croydon-Liverpool etc., but is it because of a lack of resources or are they becoming stricter?

It is a lack of organisation. In Germany you get the Residence Card on the spot when you register your address. In Holland you get a temporary card when you register, and you can submit the application (without sending your passports) for the real one. Since you usually live together, all the necessary documents are being checked anyway.

Now of course in the UK officially you do not have to register. Except that is not true: you have to register for council tax, the EU citizen gets on the electoral role, certain nationalities have to register with the police, and soon you have to submit an entry to the central ID database, too. One of these places really could issue a Residence Card on the spot.

Tom

Liverpool is not a new processing centre, EEA work was already being performed there. The lack of resources at both Croydon & Liverpool is in part due to the massive in flux of new EU member state workers. The numbers were massively under estimated and the Euro units were not resourced at any point to deal with the Government estimate never mind the actual number.

While other countries may hand out residence cards more easily, that is due more to the requirement in those countries to have ID cards. Once the requirement for all non EEA workers to have an ID card is fully implemented I imagine the UK will be much the same.

There is abuse of the family member permits; hence checks are being made to ensure that this abuse is negated. The usual story a few spoil it for everyone.

The problem is not going to get better any time soon.

Frontier Mole wrote:Liverpool is not a new processing centre, EEA work was already being performed there. The lack of resources at both Croydon & Liverpool is in part due to the massive in flux of new EU member state workers. The numbers were massively under estimated and the Euro units were not resourced at any point to deal with the Government estimate never mind the actual number.

Yes, I have heard this before. The lack of resources is obvious, and it is also obvious that it is deliberate. The estimates may have been wrong in 2006, but ever since then it has been pretty clear that there is a significant demand.

While other countries may hand out residence cards more easily, that is due more to the requirement in those countries to have ID cards.
Once the requirement for all non EEA workers to have an ID card is fully implemented I imagine the UK will be much the same.

This may be a bit off topic, but is there any plan to actually make things simpler? So far it seem like "just another database" that you have to keep up to date, and it also says you have to pay for this "privilege". Personally I would try to stay out of it as long as possible, and I think I can claim equal treatment with UK citizens.

The problem is not going to get better any time soon.

Yes, that is what I am afraid of. But this is a dangerous situation, because the Home Office has certainly lost the moral high ground.

Tom

But can we actually do something? If we really make a joint complaint as Love-Without-Borders suggested? It is true that HO is losing their high moral ground but it does not look that they care. Besides, though in theory we are supposed to be treated on the same grounds as EU nationals in practice it is not so.

lapkapups wrote:But can we actually do something? If we really make a joint complaint as Love-Without-Borders suggested? It is true that HO is losing their high moral ground but it does not look that they care. Besides, though in theory we are supposed to be treated on the same grounds as EU nationals in practice it is not so.

Sometimes I think that we should forget about it and do something else while waiting. This is what I tell my wife too, BUT WE JUST CAN'T!!!! We don't know where we stand. For more than 3 months they still are processing the october applications!!!!

I think we should make a joint complaint. I mean contacting HO, making a complaint to HO's complaints department doesn't help as I see it. I haven't done it yet, I am planning to do, because in about a week or so it has been six(!) months for the residence card application of my wife.

Some of you even applied earlier than us (December 2007), even made a complaint to HO and / or Solvit. As it seems none had success?
We should seek our right at a higher level. You can go to court etc. as mentioned, but there should be a way to raise our voice together to the HomeOffice, Solvit and / or EU. This isn't morally right, they should stop playing with peoples' lifes!

PLAN A
1) I am first going to chase the HO up
2) Make a complaint to the HO's complaint department (should this be London? where I live or North West=Liverpool where the application is made). Call them, because I already wrote a letter.
3) Thinking about point to 1 and 2 I don't think it will help, thus contacting Solvit.
4) Looking at point 3 I think Solvit can't threaten the HomeOffice to move their butt and get those applications done ASAP.
5) Seek our rights at a higher EU level by making a joint complaint.

PLAN B
Just sit down, relax, don't think about it, we are together, they can't seperate us, do something else, one day they will issue the residence card.

Hmmm...

Love-Without-Borders wrote:I think we should make a joint complaint.

I think I am with your wife here: just get on with your life. Theoretically, there is nothing that you cannot do without the residence card (assuming you are classified as a family member). So once the 6 months are up, just behave as if you had a residence card.

Yes, it is entirely possible that you will run into issues. So what? Just charge any problems you encounter to the Home Office. As long as you have taken reasonable measures to avoid problems (and I would really like to know what you could do), you have an excellent legal case. Plus you have the satisfaction that they are actually paying for it.

Tom

Love-Without-Borders wrote:

lapkapups wrote:But can we actually do something? If we really make a joint complaint as Love-Without-Borders suggested? It is true that HO is losing their high moral ground but it does not look that they care. Besides, though in theory we are supposed to be treated on the same grounds as EU nationals in practice it is not so.

Sometimes I think that we should forget about it and do something else while waiting. This is what I tell my wife too, BUT WE JUST CAN'T!!!! We don't know where we stand. For more than 3 months they still are processing the october applications!!!!

I think we should make a joint complaint. I mean contacting HO, making a complaint to HO's complaints department doesn't help as I see it. I haven't done it yet, I am planning to do, because in about a week or so it has been six(!) months for the residence card application of my wife.

Some of you even applied earlier than us (December 2007), even made a complaint to HO and / or Solvit. As it seems none had success?
We should seek our right at a higher level. You can go to court etc. as mentioned, but there should be a way to raise our voice together to the HomeOffice, Solvit and / or EU. This isn't morally right, they should stop playing with peoples' lifes!

PLAN A
1) I am first going to chase the HO up
2) Make a complaint to the HO's complaint department (should this be London? where I live or North West=Liverpool where the application is made). Call them, because I already wrote a letter.
3) Thinking about point to 1 and 2 I don't think it will help, thus contacting Solvit.
4) Looking at point 3 I think Solvit can't threaten the HomeOffice to move their butt and get those applications done ASAP.
5) Seek our rights at a higher EU level by making a joint complaint.

PLAN B
Just sit down, relax, don't think about it, we are together, they can't seperate us, do something else, one day they will issue the residence card.

Hmmm...

I think it depends on the temperament of people, some people are quite relaxed, like your wife (or my husband) and some people are worried about it like you or me. I had a plan of complaining to SOLVIT, to MP, to MEP, to European Commission and to some Home Office officials (like head of Border and Immigration Department, etc), to all of them together on the day it was 6 months since they were holding my application. And I would have complained, but as I said before, I made a complaint to HO Complaints Department one week before it was 6 months and as a result my case was taken into consideration. Today is 6 months, one week and one day and I am still waiting. But at least it is not under a pile of papers anymore. So I guess a complaint to them might be effective, depending probably on a person who will be dealing with it. You need to complain to Liverpool as that's where your papers are. I live in London as well but I complained to Liverpool. And I guess the guy from the Complaints is regretting giving me his phone number as I have called him numerous times trying to chase it, especially that they found the letter, with the additional document that I sent them, only today (while they received it last Wed - but could not find it!). When I spoke to him last time - this morning - he promised that my case will be decided this week. Fingers crossed... Maybe it will, since he knows I'll keep calling him until I get the papers!

So I think it's worth a try. I personally would not be so worried but we are having a "wedding" in Spain soon - we did not have a wedding here and are having a proper celebration with families and friends so you can imagine after all the planning and money spent it would be horrible if it was spoilt by HO

Hi,

I recieved a letter from office last Friday.
It says"My application(RESIDENCE CARD) was decided on 13 th MAY and my documents will be sent back shortly,including endorsed passport"

I do not know Why Home office keeps my doucuments although they made a decison on my application.It is strange.Is not it?

any comments please,
thanks

congrats !

First of all congratulations copper. They will send your docs soon I would say. Yours is decided because on their website they state that they are considering october applications. You applied in october.

Lapkapups, it think I'll use your tactic. I'll make a complaint to the Complaints Department of the HO North-West : 0161 261 1117 if I am right. Then I will try to get a phone number of somebody and call him / her day and night

If you have success and your case will be decided I would be surprised, because on their website they say that they are currenctly processing October applications. You applied on the 20th of November? Lets wait and see.

In general, nobody had success with Solvit? You should chase them up yourself. And if all your efforts doesn't help at all, then I'll get on with my life Tom. I just can't do nothing first. In some other EU countries UK nationals can get a residence card very quick, but in the UK those EU nationals need to wait longer than the 6 months limit. Doesn't sound fair to me what about you?

Okey, now it starts to become interesting.

I just called with 0161 261 1117 the North-West Liverpool complaints department of the HO. They said my wifes' application for a residence card was decided and they need to sort out the papers and will send the documents very soon!

Hmmm. On the website they say that the October applications are processed. I applied in December. It has been almost six months so I will be very happy when they send the residence card. I forgot to ask which months' applications they process, maybe they don't update their processing times regularly.

Lapkapups. I used your tactic. Hope you, I and other people will receive good news very soon. I've got my doubts about receiving it, but I hope so.

Love-Without-Borders wrote:Okey, now it starts to become interesting.

I just called with 0161 261 1117 the North-West Liverpool complaints department of the HO. They said my wifes' application for a residence card was decided and they need to sort out the papers and will send the documents very soon!

Hmmm. On the website they say that the October applications are processed. I applied in December. It has been almost six months so I will be very happy when they send the residence card. I forgot to ask which months' applications they process, maybe they don't update their processing times regularly.

Lapkapups. I used your tactic. Hope you, I and other people will receive good news very soon. I've got my doubts about receiving it, but I hope so.

I'm glad it helped I do hope that we all will receive our docs very soon. This long waiting is not fair.

Love-Without-Borders wrote:Okey, now it starts to become interesting.

I just called with 0161 261 1117 the North-West Liverpool complaints department of the HO. They said my wifes' application for a residence card was decided and they need to sort out the papers and will send the documents very soon!

Hmmm. On the website they say that the October applications are processed. I applied in December. It has been almost six months so I will be very happy when they send the residence card. I forgot to ask which months' applications they process, maybe they don't update their processing times regularly.

Lapkapups. I used your tactic. Hope you, I and other people will receive good news very soon. I've got my doubts about receiving it, but I hope so.

I was told the same thing, the decision was already made, but the paperwork hasnt been done yet. Seems they started working finally recently.

Okey, this is getting more and more interesting.
As I read in your posted messages mimiki, lapkapups and copper:
- Copper applied in October 2007
- Lapkapups in November 2007
- Mimiki in November 2007
- I applied in December 2007.

The HO now says to all of us that the applications are decided, but the paperwork hasn't been done yet and/or they need to send the docs back.
Doesn't this sound a little bit strange to you guys? On their website they say that they are still processing October. And even if they don't update their website regularly the October - Nov - December difference?

Copper you wrote that your one was decided on 13 May. You posted on 28 May! How long does it take to sort the paperwork and send the docs if they decided already.

I think they are just trying to make us happy for the moment by saying it has been decided already. We will wait and see. Please let know when you get your docs back or any other news. We should keep track of this.