Permanent residence rejected due to military service absence

My main question is that what is the benefit of UK PR even UK citizenship for a person who is an EU national.

If you hold PR card you can prove your rights hassle free to gov workers when needed. Like my kids were born after I had PR issued so for passport applicati9ns it was handy, no questions asked.

I have worked during my entire stay in the UK asian at heart. Best of luck with your partner's application.

U Soldier - Currently there is little benefit in UK citizenship if already EEA agreed, the UK passport is better than a Greek one for visiting some places in the world but i wouldn't pay 1k for the privilege.

A few years (even months) down the line there is a chance of both the UK/Greece exiting the EEA so i regard the 1k as an investment that will allow me to work and reside in the UK under all scenarios for the rest of my life. Better safe than sorry.

tesb wrote:Got my application documents back this morning, along with my Residence card

Along with my original documents there is a printout of the 'How to join' section of the British Army Website (?!), i think this is where the HO guys were looking for guidance on my case and the printout was accidentally returned to me along with my documents.

Hats off and many thanks to the members of the forum, your help turned a pre-announced rejection letter into a shiny new registration card.

Did you end up contacting the Free Movement Policy team? Or was this just your caseworker learning in the course of interacting with you?

Directive/2004/38/EC wrote: Did you end up contacting the Free Movement Policy team? Or was this just your caseworker learning in the course of interacting with you?

No i was waiting for the rejection letter (that never came in the end) before involving them.

your case was very simple because other than EU regulations the UKBA guideline also goes in your favour which i think the caseworker maybe new learner/agency worker not know. Following quote back your case:

3.8 You should also note that longer absences for compulsory military service will not
affect the five years continuous residence. Additionally a single absence of a maximum of
twelve months for important reasons such as pregnancy/childbirth, serious illness, study or
vocational training or posting overseas will not affect it either. Please request further
evidence if parents claim to have been absent for more than six months due to one of the
above reasons

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

Hi tesb,

Thanks for your input. My EEA partner (Greek) received his PR card today in the post.
The timeline:
Application sent: 4th April 2015
Application received: 8th April 2015
Acknowledgement of receipt: dated: 10th April 2015
Payment taken: 13th April 2015
PR card: received today 19th May 2015 (Dated 15th May 2015)

On the whole processing time was about 6 weeks (though taking into consideration it was the Easter break and a Bank Holiday between processing-so in all a good time span! Hopefully should make our lives easier now)