Wrong Letter sent by HO

I just wanted to get the opinion of some of the more learned people on the forum. I applied for retention of my rights in Feb 2010 and was issued another RC in August 2010 valid for the next 5 years. However there were some things that baffled me so I thought i would run it pass the memebers on this forum and see what they haave to say about this:
1. I got the RC but the issue date on teh RC is 15 Aug, which was a Sunday. does this sound right?
2. I got the wrong Covering Letter from the HO saying that I am dependent on my EEEA spouse to stay in the UK, but at the bottom of the doc under the enclosed section they mention Passport, marriage certificate and the Divorce ceritificate so this doesnt seem to add up.
Also my Earlier RC was cancelled by the HO.

I have complaint to the HO by email and also sent them a letter with a copy of my old and new resident card and also sent them a copy of the covering letter that they sent me asking them to re-send me a new letter reflecting the true status.

I havent heard anything back as yet from the HO, would it be advisable to call them or what should I do, Also if I travel would it be an issue when i am returning backl to the UK.

Please let me know your thoughts.
Bob

I don't quite understand what your problem is. You obviously have an RC with an arbitrary date of issuance (maybe their printing machines run over the weekend?) and which is the actual document for your current status in the UK whatever a cover letter may say. What is written on the RC? Does it mention the rentention? If so, where do you forsee problems?

Hi Bobobo

I would call & ask them a new letter saying that you have retained your rights independently of your eea spouse. Mine, which was sent to me with my new RC, clearly states that. Last time I passed through immigration control in Gatwick I had to present this letter to avoid further questions about my ex. Also it will help to make your case clearer when applying for PR.

Thanks Sleeper and 86 ti

86ti - The reseidence permit is just like the old one and nothing no where states that I have retained my rights of reisdence. Thats why I was eager to get something which confirms this. Lets be honest the IO at the airports dont always know the EEA rules and it is my attempt to myself some heartburn at the airport.

Sleeper - Mate Spoke to the HO Advisor over the phone and he asked me to write a letter and send the CL back to them so that they can issue a fresh one, so will be chasing them for the cover letter ove rthe next few weeks.

Thanks for your advise guys!!! much appreciated

One of my friends who is hiring a lawyer was told by his lawyer that:
''In cases of retention, The HO issues a new rc for five years and after those five years you can apply for pr on your own. At that time you will have spent 6 to 9 years in the uk. If you want to apply after 5 years of total residence in the uk, you need your ex's help.
This is wrong anyway but this is the way the home office applies the directive. Take them to court if you wish.''
The problem with the directive is misapplication and misinterpretation of its articles

Hi Guerro - afer you have retained your rights you can still apply after 5 years of residence as once you apply for retention you have already proved that your ex was exercising treaty rights in UK whilst divorce and you can successfully saty on in the UK independently. After 5 yeasr you will need to prove that the non eea national has been exercising treaty right. I am not sure if you have to wait for the second RC to expire.

many people have applied for PR after the 5 year period and have just proved that the eea national was exercising treaty rights in the UK.

Guerro wrote:One of my friends who is hiring a lawyer was told by his lawyer that:
''In cases of retention, The HO issues a new rc for five years and after those five years you can apply for pr on your own. At that time you will have spent 6 to 9 years in the uk. If you want to apply after 5 years of total residence in the uk, you need your ex's help.
This is wrong anyway but this is the way the home office applies the directive. Take them to court if you wish.''
The problem with the directive is misapplication and misinterpretation of its articles

bobobo wrote:Hi Guerro - afer you have retained your rights you can still apply after 5 years of residence as once you apply for retention you have already proved that your ex was exercising treaty rights in UK whilst divorce and you can successfully saty on in the UK independently. After 5 yeasr you will need to prove that the non eea national has been exercising treaty right. I am not sure if you have to wait for the second RC to expire.

many people have applied for PR after the 5 year period and have just proved that the eea national was exercising treaty rights in the UK.

Guerro wrote:One of my friends who is hiring a lawyer was told by his lawyer that:
''In cases of retention, The HO issues a new rc for five years and after those five years you can apply for pr on your own. At that time you will have spent 6 to 9 years in the uk. If you want to apply after 5 years of total residence in the uk, you need your ex's help.
This is wrong anyway but this is the way the home office applies the directive. Take them to court if you wish.''
The problem with the directive is misapplication and misinterpretation of its articles

i know what you mean but the home office is asking for lots of papers from the ex partner to make it difficult for applicants. i advised my friend to wait an extra 5 years and apply for pr on his own. he didn't even get a reply regarding his retention and i'm sure it will be refused

bobobo wrote:86ti - The reseidence permit is just like the old one and nothing no where states that I have retained my rights of reisdence.

But it should.

Hi 86ti - My resident Card is an identical copy of the previous RC I received from the Home Office. It doesnt state anywhere that I have retained rights of residence. which is very surprising. I have sent the Home Office letters explaining this and have called them as well but have not heard anything back as yet.

86ti wrote:

bobobo wrote:86ti - The reseidence permit is just like the old one and nothing no where states that I have retained my rights of reisdence.

But it should.

You are best off not sending email to the Home Office. Send letters by registered mail.

I did email the HO and got a compaint ref number. I included this on the letter to the HO. I called HO last week and was advised by the representative that the notes on my file indicated that my case had been assigned to a Sr Caseworker early last week

Hopefully issuing the correct letter will not be an issue for the HO. Please do let me know if you think otherwise.

I do need to travel in December and maybe mid november as well. Hopefully I should get the correct letter by then.

Ta

just to update you all. I received the correct covering letter from the HO on Friday, In all it took the HO 2 days to issue me with a fresh letter. The Senior Case worker I spoke to was very nice to talk to and called me to update me on the situation and to confirm what I needed exactly.

She also told me that It could be easier for me to apply for PR straight away I was with my ex for 8 years and qualify already.

hello bobobo and sleeper i dont know if u guys could help me by giving me information on how you went about obtaining a new letter 'covering letter' recently i applied to retain my right of residence following divorce from my eea ex wife, it took 3months and 28days from when i applied till when i got my passport back.
applied august 23rd 2010
received by homeoffice 24th august 2010
coa received september dated 6th sep 2010.

i got my passport back 10th january 2011 but i was surprised to received exactly the same vignette dated 20th dec 10 and covering letter i was given when i applied back in jan 07 saying 'your only claim to remain in the UK was as a family memeber of eea national exercising treaty right and the directorate should be notify if i cease to be a family member' i found this to be abit silly bcos the whole point of me applying for retention was because i'm no more a family member, also the covering letter i got says 1passport and 1 divorce certificate returned so i'm pretty sure the caseworker read the detailed letter i sent them when i applied.

Having read your post and saw u had same issue with the homeoffice, would you be so kind to tell me how you manage to obtain the correct letter and also any contact number, fax or email i could contact them. thanks for your help.

Contact them on 01516725626 then option 1 and 2, speak to the Advisor and tell him your story. If I was you I would just put it all down on a covering letter and send the passport and new CL with that to the HO by recorded delivery. The HO would need to see this information and you might be contacted by the Case worker for more info or they will just issue you with a new Covering Letter.

The reason I am telling you to do this is that if you keep speaking to them and sending them complaint letters they will come back and say the samething that I have told you, but you will loose 2-3 months in the process. If you take the suggested action now you should hopefully have your CL and passport back in a month (not tempting Fate)

Hope this makes sense

it does make sense but how long did it take them to acknowledge your complaint letter? i'm gonna call them straight away and also try send a detailed letter explaining this to them, where did u send your complaint letter? liverpool or to customer service manchester? thanks

Once I sent the letter the caseworker called me in about 2 weeks and after speaking to me I was issued a fresh covering letter in 2 days. I sent my letter of complaint to The EEA2 Address on the form, but I sent the passport directly to the caseworker, she provided me with all the details.

ok thanks for your help, i appreciate it

i've now got a new covering letter stating i have retained my right of residence and have same right as eea national exercising treaty right and also 3 letters of apology, it took less than 2weeks for HO to issue a new letter reflecting this, thx again bobobo.

Hi all,

I've had just the same problem as you and I've sent a letter to the HO (addressed to the case worker that signed the letter I received) 4 weeks ago. I haven't heard from them yet. I didn't send my passport.

My visa doesn't state either that i retained my rights even tough I had sent my divorce certificate etc

I have two business trips to the Spain and France booked for for the next weeks and can not miss them. I was wondering what kind of problem I might have at the airport and how do you recommend I do.

Many thanks for your help.

apenteado wrote:I've had just the same problem as you and I've sent a letter to the HO (addressed to the case worker that signed the letter I received) 4 weeks ago. I haven't heard from them yet. I didn't send my passport.

My visa doesn't state either that i retained my rights even tough I had sent my divorce certificate etc

I have two business trips to the Spain and France booked for for the next weeks and can not miss them. I was wondering what kind of problem I might have at the airport and how do you recommend I do.

Do you have a visa, or a Permanent Residence Card?
What is the expiry date for it?
And you have your passport too?

Hi Directive,

Sorry, I should have provided more details:

I am Brazilian, my ex-wife is Hungarian and I fulfill all the conditions for this retaining may rights: we were married for more than 3 years, we lived here together more than 1, I am self-employed, etc
I had all documents to prove everything, including my divorce paper (decree absolute).
With the help of a lawyer, I used the EEA2 form, wrote a covering letter explaining my case (and of course that I had divorced) and sent all the paperwork to the Home Office in March this year.
I've received my passport back in August. It's has Residence Documentation, it's valid for 5 years. On Type of Document it says:

"Residence Card of a FAMILY MEMBER of an EEA National" valid until 14 July 2016

The letter from the Home Office that came with it says: "At the present your only claim to remain in the UK is as a family member of a EEA national who is exercising treaty rights here. If your family member decides to leave the United Kingdon, or ceases to exercises treaty rights, or IF YOU CEASE TO BE A FAMILY MEMBER, you would have to qualify to remain in the UK in your own right. This Directorate should be notified immediately if your family member decides to leave the UK, or ceases to exercise a treaty right here, or IF YOU CEASE TO BE A FAMILY MEMBER."

I called the HO and they told me to write to the case worker that signed the covering letter that came w the passport and so I did it via special delivery on the 6th September. It's been a month and I haven't heard anything back from her yet.

I thought about emailing the HO w a complaint to see if I was given a complaint number but was unable to find the right email to send it. Do you know which one it is?

NOw I have to travel twice for business one on the 16th October and another on the 6th November and don't know what to do. It's not clear to me if I this it is just a problem of wording and getting a new covering letter or if I will need a new Residence card.

What kind of problem can I have at the airport when I return from my trips?

Thank you very much for your help.

So in your hands you have your passport and your RC, but it is mislabeled as being family member of an EU citizen when you are actually the ex-family member of an EU citizen. Correct?

And you are Brazilian so you do not need a Schengen visa in any case.

http://eumovement.wordpress.com/eu-coun ... d-kingdom/ has lots of information about the UK. Also there is a link to the complaints process.

I suspect, without having experience to really feel absolutely sure, you will have no problem reentering the UK.

You should travel with your lawyers phone numbers (including cellphone) and selected documents so that if there is any issue your lawyer can explain it all to the IO.

No matter what, when crossing the border be very patient with the IO and feel free to ask for a senior officer to join the conversation. And make sure you get everything in writing.

Print out and carry a copy of the UK's Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2006, which you can find at the link I sent you.

"So in your hands you have your passport and your RC, but it is mislabeled as being family member of an EU citizen when you are actually the ex-family member of an EU citizen. Correct?"

Yes, this is right. My problem is that even if In my application I had sent all my divorce docs I have no way of proving it as when the HO returned my application they don't acknowledge receiving anything. How can I prove that I have actually applied and was granted the right to retain my residency after my divorce if the covering letter doesn't mention it?

What documents would you recommend me to take with me?
My copy of my application and covering letter? The letter I have sent to the case worker?

What should I say to the IO if he asks me about my wife? (questions I've answered for the last 5 years). I definitely don't want to lie to the IO.

Thanks for your help.

Just carry your marriage certificate and Decree Absolute, the IO should have the sense to see 2 RC's on your passport (assuming you got one initially), you can exlplain that the recent one was stamped after you got divorced and after RoR. might be a good idea to carry the caseworkers guidelines as well, generally if the IO is confused he will refer to chief IO who would know about this rule (hopefully!!!)

apenteado wrote:"So in your hands you have your passport and your RC, but it is mislabeled as being family member of an EU citizen when you are actually the ex-family member of an EU citizen. Correct?"

Yes, this is right. My problem is that even if In my application I had sent all my divorce docs I have no way of proving it as when the HO returned my application they don't acknowledge receiving anything. How can I prove that I have actually applied and was granted the right to retain my residency after my divorce if the covering letter doesn't mention it?

What documents would you recommend me to take with me?
My copy of my application and covering letter? The letter I have sent to the case worker?

What should I say to the IO if he asks me about my wife? (questions I've answered for the last 5 years). I definitely don't want to lie to the IO.

Thanks for your help.

Bobobo, he is not meant to carry the actual marriage certificate as it would have been submitted to start the divorce petition (unless they got two at the time of marriage). Decree Absolute would contain all the info anyway (date of marriage and date of divorce) so that alone should suffice. He should also carry docs confirming his "exercising" treaty rights himself just in case, although none of this should be necessary as he has the right to appeal any adverse decision by the IO in-country. And I would also suggest the Certificate of Application post divorce to show he applied to retain right to reside post divorce! Would help the chronology.



That's exactly what I stated in this thread http://immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=87370

People do NOT want to be associated with their other ex-halves.

I have suggested to some applicants recently to include a covering letter specifying the request to endorse their passports with the correct wording, will let you know when they get their RC but hope that when you warn them in advance, the UKBA should at least know what is required.

Just write to them (do NOT send your passport) and explain your situation. In addition, complain to the NWCSU@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk (don't know if it's still active, but check the complaints section on the UKBA website) and explain to them that this is unacceptable, since they are in effect issuing you with illegal documentation, which makes YOU look bad at the point of entry to the UK. Hope they respond, but do not ignore it cause you will most likely, esp if you travel a lot, have to endure conversations with another bunch of "professionally trained" Immigration Officers and explain every time that the other bunch from the UKBA is so "knowledgeable" that they issued you with a wrong card. The IO obviously would doubt your story, (I would, I wouldn't believe that the UKBA caseworkers could make such a mistake) and then you call a Chief IO and explain everyth again, and the story repeats every time you come back to the UK