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Hi everyone,

I am a EU citizen married to nonEU citizen.
I have a PR and she is on a 5 yrs residence card.
I have been offered a job abroad which will mean 1.5 yrs away so I think I can still keep my PR when back in UK.

The issue is she applied for PR now (as eligible) but as she is coming with me and staying for 1.5 yrs away we requested documents back.
We received them without the PR.

What is the situation when we will come back? Can I take her back to UK with me, as her RC will be expired by then? WIll we face problems?

I assume you didn't tell the HO you are leaving the UK when you asked for the passports back. The application is still valid and will be processed in due course and issued on a standalone piece of paper. As long as you would have someone to look after your post and forward the PR to you she can use it when returning.
Remember, she already have PR status. It's just a PR Confirmation which the HO is issuing. PR status is only lost if you are absent from the UK for more than 2 years.

Thanks Jambo. We did tell the HO that we are leaving but we didn't say for how long.
We asked for all documents back (without withdrawing the application) so can they still process the application?
They said in the letter "do not send the passport back till you get contacted by the case worker" which suggests they might need it (and we will be abroad...) at some point..

They also wrote that to re-enter UK the non-EU needs to have a family permit from a British diplomatic post abroad. Not sure if that's the standard thing they say or does it mean she cannot come back if her RC is expired?
As you are saying otherwise. Should we write to/call them to rectify?


Also when I called the HO helpline they said that HO cannot guarantee she can re-enter UK by herself?? Doesn't really make us feel very safe

mila_uk wrote:We asked for all documents back (without withdrawing the application) so can they still process the application?
They said in the letter "do not send the passport back till you get contacted by the case worker" which suggests they might need it (and we will be abroad...) at some point..

Did you get all documents back or just the passport? If you got all the documents back, the application will probably not get processed any more. If only the passports, it will.

The letter is a standard letter. They normally don't ask for the passport in a later stage just issue the vignette on a standalone paper.

They also wrote that to re-enter UK the non-EU needs to have a family permit from a British diplomatic post abroad. Not sure if that's the standard thing they say or does it mean she cannot come back if her RC is expired?
As you are saying otherwise. Should we write to/call them to rectify?


Also when I called the HO helpline they said that HO cannot guarantee she can re-enter UK by herself?? Doesn't really make us feel very safe

This is a standard letter and a standard reply from the helpline. They don't want to guarantee anything. If your wife is a non visa national, then she can travel to the UK and enter (best together with you) even with expired RC as she would enter as a spouse of EEA national. If she is a visa national, she will find it difficult to board a flight with an expired RC. In that case, she might need to apply for a Family Permit to travel.

It seems that your wife has PR status already so either apply for a PR Confirmation now (if you have time before you leave) or when you are back (as long as you are not absent more than 2 years. Keep evidence of your travel as it can become handy when applying).

We did now ask (after receiving her passport without PR) now all documents because they told us she might need to carry proof of relationship etc at the border

I guess we could cancel the request for these latest documents. But they might be already on the way.

What to do you mean by PR confirmation, is that different from the actual PR? Very confused but I will search now if I can find it on the UKBA site too.

thanks

mila_uk wrote:What to do you mean by PR confirmation, is that different from the actual PR? Very confused but I will search now if I can find it on the UKBA site too.

Under EEA Regulations the PR status is obtained automatically. You don't need to apply for it. It doesn't matter if you had Residence Card or if the Residence Card has not expired yet. After 5 years (of residence as a family member of EEA national exercising treaty rights), you have PR. If you wish, you can make an application (which is optional) for the UKBA to confirm the status by issuing a PR vignette. This is done using form EEA4 (for non EEA).