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Hi,

I want to ask which documents shall I sent to confirm my 5 years residence in Uk as a family member of an EEA national?

As our gas/electricity bills are covered in the rent, they are on landlord's name and we don't receive them.

We only have tenancy agreement and council tax on both our names. In addition, we have bank statements separately. Are they enough for EEA4 application?

I have read somewhere, I guess indefinite to leave applications to see the example of these documents, it was written to send 6 PROOF OF ADDRESS documents! We don't have this apparently.

If you have council tax bills for the 5 years (the annual bill letter is enough) that should be just fine.
No need for a pile of documents such as every bank statement you had in the 5 years. The HO has better things to do (like approve other applications) than going through a big pile of paperwork. make it simple and easy.

Thanks for your reply. So just to confirm, as opposed to IDL applications that is asking 6 different types of documents, in eea4 just 5 years council tax bill is enough?

Don't know what is an IDL application but yes, there is no requirement to have 6 different types of proof. What you need is to provide proof of residence for the 5 years. so if you have one tenancy agreement for the whole 5 years, then a single piece of evidence is enough.

5 annual council bills to cover the 5 years are good enough.

Jambo wrote: What you need is to provide proof of residence for the 5 years. so if you have one tenancy agreement for the whole 5 years, then a single piece of evidence is enough.

5 annual council bills to cover the 5 years are good enough.

I sent bank statements, month by month for the last 5 years for both my EU spouse and myself, joint accounts included as well as the first and last council bill... Got COA yestrday so I guess its ok. Better to be safe than sorry.

Did not have original tenancy agreements (they do not accept copies) and my name was off the council tax bill for three years due to being a full time student. Only MY name is on Gas bill, we have an electricity meter and water is included in the rent. I guess, bank statements were the only choice. I though about sending bank statements for every three or six months but they migh make problems so I just sent them month by month... Too much stuff I think but like I said, better safe than sorry. Good luck meir14!!!

I sent bank statements, month by month for the last 5 years for both my EU spouse and myself, joint accounts included as well as the first and last council bill... Got COA yestrday so I guess its ok. Better to be safe than sorry.

Did not have original tenancy agreements (they do not accept copies) and my name was off the council tax bill for three years due to being a full time student. Only MY name is on Gas bill, we have an electricity meter and water is included in the rent. I guess, bank statements were the only choice. I though about sending bank statements for every three or six months but they migh make problems so I just sent them month by month... Too much stuff I think but like I said, better safe than sorry. Good luck meir14!!!

And then you complained that a free application costs you £45 for the post as it weighted over 2kg...

I know of a case in which a single note from the NHS clinic confirming regular visits was good enough (although this was two/three years ago). You are allowed to be outside the UK up to six months in a year, so no need to send monthly statements and no need to send different documents to cover the same period.

Make it simple. No need to complicate it.

Jambo, I hear what you're saying but in defense of andrej, you have the tough choice of balancing it between 'making it simple' - yet running the risk of having them delay your application because they want more documentation, or 'giving them more than adequate info' so that they don't do that - yet then they probably take longer to process it...

They should be a lot more explicit about what documents are required and which ones aren't. But they don't do that - no need to wonder why.

It's all crap no matter how you look at it. How people get a positive speedy (6 weeks) response from UKBA only when using a solicitor is underhanded too.

I'm not trying to criticise and I'm sorry if this sounded like that.

I agree that the UKBA can improve the guides but I guess, as there is no legal description what evidence is needed to prove residency, they left it a bit vague.

I just wanted to point out you don't need to provide evidence of residence for everyday in the UK. You can prove exercising treaty rights by 5 P60 or a single letter from employer. Proving residence should also be simple (in fact, if non-EU is working, probably his 5 P60 would be enough to show residence).

seputus wrote: They should be a lot more explicit about what documents are required and which ones aren't. But they don't do that - no need to wonder why.

It's all crap no matter how you look at it. How people get a positive speedy (6 weeks) response from UKBA only when using a solicitor is underhanded too.

I agree with seputus. The whole process isn't clear at all. The whole EEA immigration law hangs somewhere in the shadows in the UK. Not even the employees of UK border force know it and I am sure there are 'intentional' irregularities in the whole process to drag it out and discourage people.

Like I mentioned in the EEA4 processing times column - My COA letter arrived with all the UKBA contact information left out, missing and blank - Intentional??? - yet they state: If I am in some kind of urgency or emergancy to contact them on a number provided!!???!!! - what number??? Is this normal practice or they just don't want ME contacting them about the process of the application?

Yet the COA encourages the potential employer to call UKBA 'special line' (that number IS provided) and 'double' check the validity of the COA and my status in the UK. They really make you feel small... and it makes me embarassed when geeks at HR at work see this stuff. Feel like a criminal.

Well, they ain't gonna discourage me... I am pushing this baby to the finish and if they take longer than 6 months I AM gonna get a lawer and have planned to save money each month for that purpose and that purpose alone!!!

Thank you very much for your answers.

meir14 wrote:Thank you very much for your answers.

No problem meir14, I am sorry about my little rant but I find the process rather stressfull. I wish you all the best with your application... I hope you got your info.

Jambo wrote:I'm not trying to criticise and I'm sorry if this sounded like that.

I agree that the UKBA can improve the guides but I guess, as there is no legal description what evidence is needed to prove residency, they left it a bit vague.

I just wanted to point out you don't need to provide evidence of residence for everyday in the UK. You can prove exercising treaty rights by 5 P60 or a single letter from employer. Proving residence should also be simple (in fact, if non-EU is working, probably his 5 P60 would be enough to show residence).

No need to apologize Jambo, but sure it'd be great if you could just send 5 P60s for the EEA and for the non-EEA and be done with it. But then people have been refused PR because of a 3 week gap in employment within the year, as they didn't have CSI!

What I'd love to see is not only timelines, but explain what documentation people sent when they had their application approved - or what additional docs the UKBA wanted to see. That would help a lot.

andrej wrote:Well, they ain't gonna discourage me... I am pushing this baby to the finish and if they take longer than 6 months I AM gonna get a lawer and have planned to save money each month for that purpose and that purpose alone!!!

Right on brother!!!

Question.....so we do not have any bills in both our names in the past 5 years.

2008 - 2010: bed sid; all inclusive. I only had the bt line in my name. - So I thought perhaps NHS registration for both myself and him are on the same address. And some bank statements (again not joint - but seperate banks with same address?!)...
2011-2013 - husband (non eu) had all the bills in his name; even the counsil tax
2013 june - counsil tax in boht our names and we decided to open a joint account..but that's it.

not liking this...and here I thought a straight fwd process...