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Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone could help? We returned to the UK from Ireland pre Brexit on a Family Permit (Non EU and BC). We do have a BRC but we now know it’s not valid. We applied for EUSS in December based on exceptional circumstances and did receive a COA. We’ve been speaking to UKVI, who initially said we don’t qualify as we have an EU BRC but after a number of calls with them, they asked us to explain further the exceptional circumstances. Thereafter, he informed us that he would escalate our application. He did inform us that we need to have a conversation about the Family Visa/Spousal Visa in the event it is rejected.

My question is, as we have been issued a COA and our application has been escalated, if rejected can we appeal? The guy we spoke to apologised for making us explain our circumstances and was empathetic.

I’d appreciate any feedback or advice anyone might have.

Been doing a bit more research in this and it seems that by granting us the COA, they have already validated our application so I’m not sure why they can say that our application isn’t valid. I’ve gone through the administrator and caseworker guideline on steps to validate COA Application and we can tick each in black and white. Essentially, the admin who checked it for reasonable cause may have made a mistake in our favour but by granting us the COA, I’m fairly sure that has changed the goalposts on timing as they are now allowing us to apply after the 9th August.

The means in which we exercised our FoM rights was done properly and within guidelines , so I’m sure they can only assess the application on that basis.

I don't have enough expertise to assess the merit of your case, but being issued a COA means the application is valid, not that it will be accepted.

Thank you so much for your response. Thankfully the new ruling came into effect in the 16th January so we are eligible under EU12 Family member joining a British Citizen.