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Hi there, I got recently refused and my passport was retained by the home office. I received a letter with a number of options I have next, 1) Leave the country because I don't have the right to stay here. 2) Appeal their decision or 3)Apply again with the documents I missed before. However, when applying for EEA2 RC I still had a lot of time before my Tier 1 expired. The expiry date of my Tier 1 is August 2014 so I don't understand why they have to retained my passport. Has my Tier 1 been automatically cancelled when applying for EEA2? (When I got the refusal I got all the documents back (apart form my passport) including my partners passport and my Tier 1 RC)

I have booked holidays with my partner for this Christmas in my country (Colombia) and since it's our first holiday together we spend a lot of money on it (about £3K). Will I be able to get my passport back for my holiday and will I be allowed to enter the UK with my valid Tier 1?

I still want to apply again for the EEA2 but I know if I do it now I will have to miss my holidays and lose all the money spent on it. I wish I could just get my passport back, go on holidays, and apply again once we are back in the UK. Will it be possible?

anillapilla wrote:Hi there, I got recently refused and my passport was retained by the home office. I received a letter with a number of options I have next, 1) Leave the country because I don't have the right to stay here. 2) Appeal their decision or 3)Apply again with the documents I missed before. However, when applying for EEA2 RC I still had a lot of time before my Tier 1 expired. The expiry date of my Tier 1 is August 2014 so I don't understand why they have to retained my passport. Has my Tier 1 been automatically cancelled when applying for EEA2? (When I got the refusal I got all the documents back (apart form my passport) including my partners passport and my Tier 1 RC)

I have booked holidays with my partner for this Christmas in my country (Colombia) and since it's our first holiday together we spend a lot of money on it (about £3K). Will I be able to get my passport back for my holiday and will I be allowed to enter the UK with my valid Tier 1?

I still want to apply again for the EEA2 but I know if I do it now I will have to miss my holidays and lose all the money spent on it. I wish I could just get my passport back, go on holidays, and apply again once we are back in the UK. Will it be possible?

Since you still have valid leave to remain, they have no reason to retain your passport.
1, Contact them requesting the return of your passport
2, Appeal their decision
3, You may (or may not) reapply after sending in your appeal (choice is yours)

Dear Babz,

Thank you very much for your prompt response. Does it mean that by no chance my Tier 1 has been cancelled because of been refused the EEA2 RC? It's just so odd they retained my passport saying that I don't have valid leave to remain while sending me my Tier 1 back. I am just scared I will go on my holidays and they won't let me back in to the UK.

anillapilla wrote:Dear Babz,

Thank you very much for your prompt response. Does it mean that by no chance my Tier 1 has been cancelled because of been refused the EEA2 RC? It's just so odd they retained my passport saying that I don't have valid leave to remain while sending me my Tier 1 back. I am just scared I will go on my holidays and they won't let me back in to the UK.

I guess it's a mistake on the part of the caseworker...

Except you breached the condition attached to your Tier 1 conditions, it should still be valid. Even if they want to curtail it, the proper course is to inform you of this.

I think your Tier 1 is valid. Write to them asking for your passport or threaten to sue them for damages, including any holiday costs.

I think they will return your passport intact.

You could also file your appeal in the meantime.

Their retention of your passport may be unlawful.

@ anillapilla,

Why was your application refused? Sometimes, letters advising of refusal can be vague when they ought to be specific. Often the letters say the same thing.

If you gave some details as to what your EU family member is doing and how you are related to them, people may be able to help.

anillapilla wrote:Dear Babz,

Thank you very much for your prompt response. Does it mean that by no chance my Tier 1 has been cancelled because of been refused the EEA2 RC? It's just so odd they retained my passport saying that I don't have valid leave to remain while sending me my Tier 1 back. I am just scared I will go on my holidays and they won't let me back in to the UK.

That's really strange..

Retained your passport and returned your tier 1 bio metric card.

Never heard this before.

Can you write down here your full refusal letter?
And which documents you missed before???

Thank you all for your response. It was all our mistake. When we applied (feb 2013) my partner had just finished (jan 2013) his previous employment which lasted 13 months, and he was working on a couple of freelance projects as a website developer. We ticked two boxes then from our application form: that he was a worker and that he was self employed. We provided the last pay slips from his former fulltime employment as a marketing manager (25k pa) as well as his contract and a letter from his boss confirming that he was promoted in June to prove that he was a worker. Little we knew that saying he was self employed too will cause as the application to be refused since we just said he was starting with a couple of projects and send an invoice of one of his clients. The reason for refusal was that we couldn't prove he was a qualified person exercising his treaty rights on the basis of self employed because for that a lot of documents are required.

His situation has chanced nonetheless. He got offered a new position as a marketing director in May 2013, starting in June 2013. He's been on that position since then. We have all the documents required now to apply, since we can provide now his recent pay slips and contract as well as many letters as required confirming his employment. In September 17th since more than 6 months had passed since our application we send his new pay slips as well as our holiday bookings to the home office to provide any further evidence for our case. I have proof they received the day after sending them. One week later we received my RC refusal stating that we didn't provide enough evidence for him as a qualified person exercising his treaty rights and that I could appeal. On the documents they returned the more recent ones that we sent days before and that proved he was employed at the time weren't included although the decision was made after they received them. The letter of refusal has date 19th sept 2013.

If we apply now again there would be no apparent problem since we have documents to prove he is a qualified person, only reason why the previous application was refused. The problem now is that of I apply again for sure I won't have my documents back for my holidays and I will have to miss them.

PS: we are an unmarried couple who has been living together for the last 3 yrs and in a relationship for 3 yrs 6 months.

What was the exact reason they refused the application?

In order for the EU citizen to be a qualified person, they can, for example be a worker. All they require to demonstrate this is a letter of engagement from an employer.

Being unmarried, your case would not be automatic, but given the length of time you've co-habited, this is unlikely to cause you any problems.

anillapilla wrote:Thank you all for your response. It was all our mistake. When we applied (feb 2013) my partner had just finished (jan 2013) his previous employment which lasted 13 months, and he was working on a couple of freelance projects as a website developer. We ticked two boxes then from our application form: that he was a worker and that he was self employed. We provided the last pay slips from his former fulltime employment as a marketing manager (25k pa) as well as his contract and a letter from his boss confirming that he was promoted in June to prove that he was a worker. Little we knew that saying he was self employed too will cause as the application to be refused since we just said he was starting with a couple of projects and send an invoice of one of his clients. The reason for refusal was that we couldn't prove he was a qualified person exercising his treaty rights on the basis of self employed because for that a lot of documents are required.

His situation has chanced nonetheless. He got offered a new position as a marketing director in May 2013, starting in June 2013. He's been on that position since then. We have all the documents required now to apply, since we can provide now his recent pay slips and contract as well as many letters as required confirming his employment. In September 17th since more than 6 months had passed since our application we send his new pay slips as well as our holiday bookings to the home office to provide any further evidence for our case. I have proof they received the day after sending them. One week later we received my RC refusal stating that we didn't provide enough evidence for him as a qualified person exercising his treaty rights and that I could appeal. On the documents they returned the more recent ones that we sent days before and that proved he was employed at the time weren't included although the decision was made after they received them. The letter of refusal has date 19th sept 2013.

If we apply now again there would be no apparent problem since we have documents to prove he is a qualified person, only reason why the previous application was refused. The problem now is that of I apply again for sure I won't have my documents back for my holidays and I will have to miss them.

PS: we are an unmarried couple who has been living together for the last 3 yrs and in a relationship for 3 yrs 6 months.

regarding additional docs.I sent my husband's eea2 on 30/08/2013 and posted additional bundle on 09/09/10/HO received it on the very next day.I called them on 26/09/2013 and found out that my additional docs were indeed attached to ours file but ONLY ON 21/09/2013.It is worth to know this process takes time as well in Liverpool

regarding additional docs.I sent my husband's eea2 on 30/08/2013 and posted additional bundle on 09/09/10/HO received it on the very next day.I called them on 26/09/2013 and found out that my additional docs were indeed attached to ours file but ONLY ON 21/09/2013.It is worth to know this process takes time as well in Liverpool

I sent my application on 27th Feb 2013 with too little evidence of my partner being self-employed because he had just left his job and he was doing some freelance job in the meantime while looking for a job.

On 15th June 2013 he found a job but we failed to send his contract or payslips to HO straightaway.

On 17th September 2013 we sent his payslips and some additional information of our upcoming holidays to support my application.

On 18th September the new bundle of documents was delivered to HO (Liverpool)

On 19th September my application was refused on the basis of my partner not being exercising his treaty rights, a letter saying I had to leave the country was sent along and my passport was retained by HO (the additional information sent on 17th September wasn't taken into account for this decision).

On 30th September my passport was delivered to my home with an endorsement of my new status as a EEA family member for 5 years. The caseworker received (a bit too late) the last bundle of documents (sent 17/09/13) and reconsidered my application and approved my visa.

Conclusion: Miracles happen!

Thank you all for your past replies.

Glad it worked out!

anillapilla wrote:On 19th September my application was refused on the basis of my partner not being exercising his treaty rights, a letter saying I had to leave the country was sent along and my passport was retained by HO (the additional information sent on 17th September wasn't taken into account for this decision).

Was your EU partner also told they had to leave the country?
Would you might sharing exactly the language used by HO in the refusal letter.

On 30th September my passport was delivered to my home with an endorsement of my new status as a EEA family member for 5 years. The caseworker received (a bit too late) the last bundle of documents (sent 17/09/13) and reconsidered my application and approved my visa.

Excellent news, persistence pays off!

anillapilla wrote:

regarding additional docs.I sent my husband's eea2 on 30/08/2013 and posted additional bundle on 09/09/10/HO received it on the very next day.I called them on 26/09/2013 and found out that my additional docs were indeed attached to ours file but ONLY ON 21/09/2013.It is worth to know this process takes time as well in Liverpool

I sent my application on 27th Feb 2013 with too little evidence of my partner being self-employed because he had just left his job and he was doing some freelance job in the meantime while looking for a job.

On 15th June 2013 he found a job but we failed to send his contract or payslips to HO straightaway.

On 17th September 2013 we sent his payslips and some additional information of our upcoming holidays to support my application.

On 18th September the new bundle of documents was delivered to HO (Liverpool)

On 19th September my application was refused on the basis of my partner not being exercising his treaty rights, a letter saying I had to leave the country was sent along and my passport was retained by HO (the additional information sent on 17th September wasn't taken into account for this decision).

On 30th September my passport was delivered to my home with an endorsement of my new status as a EEA family member for 5 years. The caseworker received (a bit too late) the last bundle of documents (sent 17/09/13) and reconsidered my application and approved my visa.

Conclusion: Miracles happen!

Thank you all for your past replies.

On what address did you send your other documents?

I sent them to Durham,the same address as my application