I have been issued a PR card by mistake?

[birbal]

Hello everyone,

I have applied for an EEA (PR) card recently on a basis that I have been working and studying for the last 5 years in UK as a Romanian citizen. Romania joined EU in 2007 but UK had work restrictions for the first 7 years.

The letter from HO states:

"Our records show that on 20 September 2010 you were issued with an A2 Student Registration Certificate which was issued on 10 December 2010. Unfortunately during your time as a student you breached the employment restrictions that were detailed on this Registration Certificate. On 02 February 2012 you applied for a Registration Certificate confirming that you were exempt from Accession Worker Scheme employment restriction which was refused on 08 January 2013 for this reason. As such you cannot be considered under the Immigration (EEA) Regulation 2006 to be a qualified person for the period you breached your employment restriction in the United Kingdom.
The employment restriction for Romanian and Bulgarian national workers were lifted on 01 January 2014. Please note that because of your employment restriction breach, the earliest you can be considered for permanent residence is on or after 01 January 2019, five years from the date the transitional restrictions ended.
You have now been issued a Registration Certificate that dos not detail any employment restriction for you as a Romanian national. I trust that you find this satisfactory."

An this is the document I have received:


I'm totally confused, in the letter it says that I will be issued a Registration Certificate but I received a Document Certifying Permanent Residence. My questions are as follows:

1) Did HO made a mistake?
2) Is this document that is required if I'm trying to apply for naturalization next year?
3) Will my naturalization application be rejected because I breached employment restriction in 2012?

Many thanks!

[Annebee]

U need this PR to apply for naturalisation (basically to make the application easier with the thought that all the eligibility requirements were considered before issuance). Now based on the letter you received, you clearly see you aren't qualified and this was issued in errorr. So I won't advise you risk using that to apply for PR cos you may end of ditching the high application fee .

It's upto you to flag it up with HO, I would if I were you. After all you have no restriction moving in and out of UK.

If you hope to naturalise in future . Get the required document from HO and take it from there.

Alternatively, with naturalisation you can also apply with required documentation showing you have lived and exercised treaty right for 5 years. So PR isn't a mandatory requirement.

[vinny]

1) Did HO made a mistake?

Apparently. Sticker also may contain errors: for example, no renewal date, no remarks.

3) Will my naturalization application be rejected because I breached employment restriction in 2012?

Probably.

[birbal]

Thank you very much for your replies. I guess I will respond to this letter pointing out their mistake...they had only one job that cost me £65 . It seems that I won't be eligible for naturalization anyway until 2020 and I'm not sure I will still be in UK at that time. Is true that I have no restriction moving in and out of UK but I just want to become a British citizen and put an end to all 'difficulties' I encounter from time to time because I'm Romanian.

[birbal]

Just a quick update to the case to see how competent are the personal who works on these PR cases.

I have sent straight away a letter pointing the mistake on 10th of September to HO. Today (15th of September) I have received a phone call (anonymously of course) and the person that worked on my case confirmed that I have been issued the right document and there is nothing to be worried about. She pointed out that the letter was a mistake and I have been granted permanent residency. 10 minutes later I have receive another phone call, from the same person telling me that what she said 10 minutes ago was a mistake and I have been granted permanent residency wrongly. So in the system I was appearing to have a permanent residency status...now I feel bad that I have pointed out. Anyway that's summarize what service you get for £65 and the permanent residence status can be based on how incompetent is the person working on your case.

[noajthan]

Just a quick update to the case to see how competent are the personal who works on these PR cases.

I have sent straight away a letter pointing the mistake on 10th of September to HO. Today (15th of September) I have received a phone call (anonymously of course) and the person that worked on my case confirmed that I have been issued the right document and there is nothing to be worried about. She pointed out that the letter was a mistake and I have been granted permanent residency. 10 minutes later I have receive another phone call, from the same person telling me that what she said 10 minutes ago was a mistake and I have been granted permanent residency wrongly. So in the system I was appearing to have a permanent residency status...now I feel bad that I have pointed out. Anyway that's summarize what service you get for £65 and the permanent residence status can be based on how incompetent is the person working on your case.

You could not really have acted on the incorrect status 'in the system' - that could have lead to all sorts of issues.
But you are surely entitled to a refund of your £65.

[rods]

Just a quick update to the case to see how competent are the personal who works on these PR cases.

I have sent straight away a letter pointing the mistake on 10th of September to HO. Today (15th of September) I have received a phone call (anonymously of course) and the person that worked on my case confirmed that I have been issued the right document and there is nothing to be worried about. She pointed out that the letter was a mistake and I have been granted permanent residency. 10 minutes later I have receive another phone call, from the same person telling me that what she said 10 minutes ago was a mistake and I have been granted permanent residency wrongly. So in the system I was appearing to have a permanent residency status...now I feel bad that I have pointed out. Anyway that's summarize what service you get for £65 and the permanent residence status can be based on how incompetent is the person working on your case.

Hi birbal...did you send the letter directly to the case worker? I sent mine on 28 August and havent heard from them since then.

I am non eea so this could be the case

[birbal]

Hi birbal...did you send the letter directly to the case worker? I sent mine on 28 August and havent heard from them since then.

I am non eea so this could be the case

When I received my documents back with the original letter, had the following heading address:
UK Visas and Immigration
Permanent Migration
PO Box 306
Liverpool
L2 0QN

I have replied to the above address and directed my letter to the same caseworker who signed the initial document. I send my letter to clarify if I have been issued this document in error on 09th of September, first class. I have received the phone call that I have mentioned in my previous post on 15th of September from the same caseworker. She called me 3 times within 30 minutes every time telling me something different. Yesterday, 17th of September I have received another letter from her apologizing for inconvenience and there were a pre-payed enveloped and I was asked to return my Permanent Residence document which was issued in error. (the pre-payed enveloped was addressed to the same address as above in her attention). It also it was stated that the right document will be issued in due course.

[rooibos]

This is a case of really appalling bureaucratic behaviour from the HO. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. They are making it difficult for EEA citizens while they will be allowing millions of extra-EU without even knowing who they are.

[rods]

Hi birbal...did you send the letter directly to the case worker? I sent mine on 28 August and havent heard from them since then.

I am non eea so this could be the case

When I received my documents back with the original letter, had the following heading address:
UK Visas and Immigration
Permanent Migration
PO Box 306
Liverpool
L2 0QN

I have replied to the above address and directed my letter to the same caseworker who signed the initial document. I send my letter to clarify if I have been issued this document in error on 09th of September, first class. I have received the phone call that I have mentioned in my previous post on 15th of September from the same caseworker. She called me 3 times within 30 minutes every time telling me something different. Yesterday, 17th of September I have received another letter from her apologizing for inconvenience and there were a pre-payed enveloped and I was asked to return my Permanent Residence document which was issued in error. (the pre-payed enveloped was addressed to the same address as above in her attention). It also it was stated that the right document will be issued in due course.

Hi birbal,

Have you received the correct document already?

[birbal]

Have you received the correct document already?

Hi Rods, yes I have received the right document last week. I have been issued now a "Registration Certificate". I have also received a letter of apologies and the case worker thank me for such a good cooperation.

[Anama]

Hi Birbal,

It is unfortunate to see how unprofessional some staff at the Home Office operate. Shame on them. However, by all indications I support that you've resided in the UK for 5 years exercising the treaty rights and I can't believe that they refused your application for PR.

Could you please brief me on how they think that you breached the employment restrictions that were detailed on this Registration Certificate at the time? Were you issued the Yellow or Purple cards as a student in 2010?

I know as Romanian and Bulgarian students in the UK they are allowed to work for 20 hours per week. Hope to hear from you.

Thanks.

Anama

[birbal]

Hi Birbal,

It is unfortunate to see how unprofessional some staff at the Home Office operate. Shame on them. However, by all indications I support that you've resided in the UK for 5 years exercising the treaty rights and I can't believe that they refused your application for PR.

Could you please brief me on how they think that you breached the employment restrictions that were detailed on this Registration Certificate at the time? Were you issued the Yellow or Purple cards as a student in 2010?

I know as Romanian and Bulgarian students in the UK they are allowed to work for 20 hours per week. Hope to hear from you.

Thanks.

Anama

Hi Anama,

Yes, it's a shame to see this un-professionalism at the Home Office and they made such big mistakes with some important documents. After I sent my letter asking for clarification, I have received 3 separate phone calls from a caseworker named Gillian Clarke (LNC22) every time telling me something different.

I have moved in UK in June 2010. I was a student in college and I have applied for Yellow Card which I have received after 6 months at the end of December 2010. This yellow card allowed me to work up to 20h per week. In 2011 I have been accepted at University to continue my bachelors degree and I have kept working part-time until October 2012. In January 2012, because I had one year working with a yellow card theoretically I was entitled to apply for purple card (or blue card) that will allow me to work with no restrictions. I have sent all my documents in original (including passport) and it took them one year and one month to reach a conclusion. I was refused for the blue card because they said it was not clear if I worked only 20h per week. I have sent them every single payslip where it need to make a simple calculation to deduct that I was working 20h per week. Is true that sometimes I worked more that that but that was unofficial, not in the records. So it took them more than 1 year to say we can't do a simple calculation and is unclear plus they kept my passport for 13 months . I don't think this is legal and is against of human rights. Anyway I got this letter in February 2013. At that time I was not working as my course was very demanding and I decided to focus on my studies (BEng Electronic Engineering with Foundation) and I knew that in 2014 the restriction will be lifted so there was no point arguing with them.

This year when I applied for PR card, I have send them the same payslips to prove that I worked that time but they didn't bother to read them again. They just found the letter that they have sent me in February 2013 ...I know this because this letter was quoted in the first phone called I have received from Gillian telling me that I'm not entitled to PR...only because of this letter. So that's the full pictures.

Gillian stated in her first letter I will be entitled to apply again for PR after 1st of January 2019, 5 years after the working restriction were lifted for Romanian and Bulgarian. But I don't understand why. Theoretically I should apply in October 2017 as will be 5 years after I stop working under 20h restrictions. I'm doing a course 2011 - 2016 where I took a year sandwich gap and worked as intern for 2014-2015.

Anyway this is the services we get and I don't think we can change anything. Personally I don't agree with this system and I will chose to leave the country next year at completion of my degree.