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Naturalisation as an EU citizen - returning EEA2 Residence Card to Home Office

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2018 9:06 pm
by chaoclive
hi all

my civil partner has recently naturalized as an irish citizen and now has an irish passport. he was in the UK under the EEA regs and had (/still has) a UK residence card issued under the EEA rules.

i understand that a person who has EU/EEA citizenship cannot hold this residence card. so, i have a question about what to do next? do we send the residence card back to the Home Office (just to keep things right)? i think this is the right course of action but i'm unsure as to where we would send it?

i guess i can return it to the address for lost/stolen residence cards: 
Freepost RRYX-GLYU-GXHZ 
Returns Unit 
PO Box 163 
Bristol 
BS20 1AB

do you think this would suit?

any other useful addresses/info would be greatly appreciated. 

thanks
​​​​​​​cc

Re: Naturalisation as an EU citizen - returning EEA2 Residence Card to Home Office

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:47 am
by alterhase58
UK issued EU residence cards don't need to be returned after naturalisation, for British citizenship.

Re: Naturalisation as an EU citizen - returning EEA2 Residence Card to Home Office

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:18 pm
by chaoclive
alterhase58 wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:47 am
UK issued EU residence cards don't need to be returned after naturalisation, for British citizenship.
He isn't British. He is Irish. An EEA citizen can't hold an EEA residence card though. I've read it stated somewhere but can't find it now.

Re: Naturalisation as an EU citizen - returning EEA2 Residence Card to Home Office

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:25 pm
by chaoclive
alterhase58 wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:47 am
UK issued EU residence cards don't need to be returned after naturalisation, for British citizenship.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/cy/reque ... dence_card

See above.

Re: Naturalisation as an EU citizen - returning EEA2 Residence Card to Home Office

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2018 6:36 pm
by Richard W
chaoclive wrote:
Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:25 pm
alterhase58 wrote:
Thu Aug 09, 2018 9:47 am
UK issued EU residence cards don't need to be returned after naturalisation, for British citizenship.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/cy/reque ... dence_card

See above.
As the reply states
Please note that as their nationality has now changed they need to be exercising their Treaty Rights as a Qualified Person, whereas before their permission was based on their spouse exercising their Treaty Rights.
, which is clearly wrong, I wouldn't place much faith in it. The residence card states that your partner is the family member of an EEA national. That remains true, and he had no privileges as the non-EEA family member of an EEA national that he would not have as the EEA family member of an EEA national. You can also point out that continuing to use his old residence card instead of upgrading to a residence certificate has saved UKVI a few pounds - the cost of processing an application is double the fee charged.