Surinder Singh Settled Status Paper Application:

[mikefruk]

Dear All,

Further to my previous post, I would like to say that my BRP card has arrived this afternoon. The online system still doesn't show any of my details yet.

Keep safe you all.

Matheus.

[Boo47]

Hi everyone,
As it's been 5 months now since I submitted my biometric so yesterday I called the eu resolution center asking if there is any update, they said it still in progress and we can't give you time for completion as caseworkers are working from home.
Thank you Mike for sharing your experience.

[A Canadian]

Congratulations, Mike!

Boo47 - can you contact your MP?
More and more 'coincidences' where the outcome is suddenly available only days after MPs contact the HO...

[Boo47]

Thank you Canadian for your suggestion, to be honest I wasn't sure if contacting MP will be helpful, but definitely I will ASAP.

[mikefruk]

Congratulations, Mike!

Boo47 - can you contact your MP?
More and more 'coincidences' where the outcome is suddenly available only days after MPs contact the HO...

Thank you Canadian!

Yes, contacting the MP is a great option which will cause no harm to the application. Deep down I think that what really happened on my situation is that the HO received my MP's email, they rushed to finalised my application and then replied to my MP "communicating" that a decision has been made to "show" that they have done the job regardless being "reminded" by my MP.

Hi Boo, if you contact your MP I will not be surprised if you have your application finalised soon after.

[robsters]

Hello

Been a while since i been on these forums, recently i rang to get the paper application for the eu settled status as my wife eu uk residence card expires in dec this year. just got the 60 page paper application form....feel like i probably left it a bit last minute.... :/ (5 months left) i was under some impression she had to apply another way in December ....anyway this form looks very complex...is there anyone who can help or any online guides?

we originally lived in Dublin due to struggling to get her into UK after we married. i am half irish so moving there was bit easier as i knew the place well.... in 2015 but moved back to the uk when she got pregnant to my folks and applied to stay with the 5 year residence card under the Surinder Singh route i was told.

on the form it asks
if your applying as an EEA or Swiss citizen or if your NOT eea citizen....assuming that refers to my wife who is Indonesia and would come under NOT EEA citizen....myself being a British passport holder

also supporting documents will I need to have all the documentation from the time of Ireland all over again? for this paper form? also is there risks of being rejected on this eu settled status from using the Surinder Singh route back then?

she has a son who british in the uk now who 4 yrs old so not sure if this will make it easier for her application to be approved. what do you get under the eu settled status?

hope someone can help as this forum was very helpful back in 2015

Many thanks

[Boo47]

Thank you Mike for your suggestion and support

[lizexpat]

Please can someone help me with these questions??
We are about to apply for an eu family permit from Spain, meeting all the requirements. We also meet the requirements under UK immigration law for a Partner/ Spouse visa but we were advised the Surinder Singh route would be quicker and cheaper. Having stumbled across this board I am now seeing that once in the UK people are waiting in excess of 6 months for their pre-settled status which is shocking and never mentioned to us by the immigration lawyer.

If we apply for pre-settled status as soon as we arrive in the UK will my husband still be able to travel outside of the UK (once his passport is returned) using the family permit while he awaits a decision on his status, or will he be stuck in the UK? He plans on relocating to the UK office and is required to travel a lot for work.

Does anyone have experience of getting a job using the family permit and then the COA as evidence they are permitted to work? I can imagine the short term nature of the visas makes it very difficult!
Thank you in advance!

[lizexpat]

Do you have to give up your family permit when you make a pre settled status application under surinder singh?

[Boo47]

Hi lizexpat,
Of course he can travel with the EEA family permit after applying to the EU settlement, but as you see now that the time process of applications under corona circumstances is taking longer, which his EEA family permit might expire, so he will only hold the COA which will make it hard to cross the UK border.
On the other hand, directly you can't work in the UK with the COA if you are non Eu family member until your employer send a request to the HO, he will receive positive permission of work or negative permission of work, employers in the UK are penalized by more than 10 thousand pounds if they recruit someone without legal status.
Good luck

[lizexpat]

Thanks Boo47! Do you know what determines whether he will get a positive or negative response from the HO with regards to work? Or is it potluck? I spoke to the EU resolution center this morning and they assured me that he will be able to work with a COA - however I'm not sure they have all the information. I know with the family permit he can work and it seems strange that permission would be withdrawn whilst his application is pending.
If he remains outside of the UK when the family permit expires (after applying for settlement in the UK) do you know whether that would affect his pre-settlement application? Or could he just re-enter once the residence card is issued? We don't want to jeopardise his current job. Being unemployed without a visa is a nightmare - we've been there before!

[Boo47]

Hi lize,
On the back side of my COA it says if a non eu family member of EEA citizen or Swiss, does not have a biometric residence card, you can request informations to check his right of work by using:
Immigrationstatuscheck/service/employers. Gov. Uk.

It's not a potluck but it depends on his application and all the documents sent to the HO.
Also, if your husband leave the UK after applying to EU settlement, he will be fine but if his family permit expires that will be a risk for him because the caseworker has the right to call the applicant to attend an interview while processing his application.

For the processing time, my neighbour is French, not married,no kids, she works part-time, she applied in June, she received her settled status in July, because this process 100% is political, they prioritise EU citizen, in my view to get a commercial deal with Europe.
But non eu family member of British citizen with british kids has to wait for months. It's sad.
I hope this nightmare end soon for everyone.
Good luck.

[robsters]

one part this form asks if you want to apply with passport or residence card is there any difference ...filling out with the residence card would make more sense? is there any difference which one to choose?

[robsters]

where the residence doc ref number of the residence card? that the unique number in the corner?

[mikefruk]

Hi lize,
On the back side of my COA it says if a non eu family member of EEA citizen or Swiss, does not have a biometric residence card, you can request informations to check his right of work by using:
Immigrationstatuscheck/service/employers. Gov. Uk.

It's not a potluck but it depends on his application and all the documents sent to the HO.
Also, if your husband leave the UK after applying to EU settlement, he will be fine but if his family permit expires that will be a risk for him because the caseworker has the right to call the applicant to attend an interview while processing his application.

For the processing time, my neighbour is French, not married,no kids, she works part-time, she applied in June, she received her settled status in July, because this process 100% is political, they prioritise EU citizen, in my view to get a commercial deal with Europe.
But non eu family member of British citizen with british kids has to wait for months. It's sad.
I hope this nightmare end soon for everyone.
Good luck.

Hi Boo,

I think there is a confusion here in relation to leaving the UK whilst an application is pending. Applicants are allowed to leave the UK of course as they will have their passports returned as soon as possible, but leaving the Commom Travel area is not recommended and it is very dangerous because leaving the UK will be treat a pending application as withdrawn as set out at paragraph 34K of the Immigration Rules, which states as follows:

34K. Where proof of identity provided under paragraph 34(5) has been returned to the applicant pending a decision on their application for leave to remain and the applicant travels outside the common travel area their application for leave to remain shall, provided that it has not been determined, be treated as withdrawn on the date that the applicant left the common travel area. I pasted the rules link here but not sure if the post will allow/remove it. However, it can be googled.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... 1withdrawn

I know the this is not a specific rule under the UK Settlement Scheme but it will apply. Unless something has changed recently and I am not aware.

Also the section 3C of the same rules which states that the conditions surrounding the current visa automaticcaly will extend until a decision is reached on a pending application will also be voided. In other words, the EAA Family Permit rights (stay, work, access to NHS...) will be extended until a decision is made on the valid application. That's why the permit holder is allowed to carry on working, but the employer may request evidence that the application has been submitted and the COA is used on this case. If the applicant leaves the UK, he can come back until the expire date of his visa, but he would need to reapply for the Settlement Scheme. How precise the Home Office systems can be, I doubt, but I would not leave the country with a pending in country application.

I hope this clarifies.

Keep safe,

Mike

[Boo47]

Hi Mike,
I agree it's not a good idea for lize husband to leave the UK after applying to the eu settlement, it's a big risk, when he try to renter the UK again I'm sure at the border they will ask him why did you leave because by law the British citizen and his partner both of them are supposed to live in the UK definitely after they excised free movement in another eu country, so travelling back and forth especially if his family permit expires with long stay abroad which make it more difficult to convince the officer at the border that they are genuinely resident in the UK.
Thank you for the clarification.
Stay safe

[Elochka63]

Hi everyone, I would like to ask for your experience of the documents you provide for Family Permit and SS routes. Rules clearly state that you need to translate all documents in English.
- Has anyone translated docs by themselves (I guess it should be enough to write at each paper when, where and by who it was translated) ?
- Did you translate all-all documents ? For example, rental contract that is usually 4-5 pages, utilities bills, or any EU country local analogue of P60, that is mainly numbers ?

I have applied within Italian TLS twice for a tourist visa and once my husband requested a non impediment certificate from UK embassy in Italy, in all situations we were providing such documents as residency, bills and salary payslips without any translation.
(I am one step behind for SS route as I still need to apply for EEA Family Permit to go back to UK with my husband.)

[CR001]

Hi everyone, I would like to ask for your experience of the documents you provide for Family Permit and Surinder Singh route routes. Rules clearly state that you need to translate all documents in English.
- Has anyone translated docs by themselves (I guess it should be enough to write at each paper when, where and by who it was translated) ?
- Did you translate all-all documents ? For example, rental contract that is usually 4-5 pages, utilities bills, or any EU country local analogue of P60, that is mainly numbers ?

I have applied within Italian TLS twice for a tourist visa and once my husband requested a non impediment certificate from UK embassy in Italy, in all situations we were providing such documents as residency, bills and salary payslips without any translation.
(I am one step behind for Surinder Singh route route as I still need to apply for EEA Family Permit to go back to UK with my husband.)

Any non English documents must be officially translated by a verifiable translator or embassy. You cannot do the translation yourself.

[Elochka63]

Hi everyone, I would like to ask for your experience of the documents you provide for Family Permit and Surinder Singh route routes. Rules clearly state that you need to translate all documents in English.
- Has anyone translated docs by themselves (I guess it should be enough to write at each paper when, where and by who it was translated) ?
- Did you translate all-all documents ? For example, rental contract that is usually 4-5 pages, utilities bills, or any EU country local analogue of P60, that is mainly numbers ?

I have applied within Italian TLS twice for a tourist visa and once my husband requested a non impediment certificate from UK embassy in Italy, in all situations we were providing such documents as residency, bills and salary payslips without any translation.
(I am one step behind for Surinder Singh route route as I still need to apply for EEA Family Permit to go back to UK with my husband.)

Any non English documents must be officially translated by a verifiable translator or embassy. You cannot do the translation yourself.

I guess I wouldn’t ask to share people experience if I didn’t have another information. I know what is written in the rules. I was trying to ask what other people did and if anyone has ever experienced something like this.

Just three examples, I have recently collected:
Example 1. I have a friend that has translated all docs by herself for Family Permit visa. However It was 5 years ago, maybe sth was different that time
Example 2. In another forum, girl said she has recently applied for SS route within UK. She has called to the Home Office support to ask about documents translation from Italian, and they answered her that they are going to do it by themselves (Home Office).
Example 3. Another person has translated only main documents like marriage, study certificates, other governmental papers, but didn’t translate bills, payslips.. as they are supporting and optional documents

All three examples had a positive experience in obtaining Visa / SS

[A Canadian]

@Elochka63 I had main documents translated and other supporting ones (like utility bills) I left as they are. You can't translate dozens of documents, but if you have the main ones officially translated they won't have a good reason to reject your application. Good luck!

[eke123]

Hi Islandson,

My partner is in a similar situation, COA was issued on 06 Jan 2020, no news so far.

I hope it comes soon.

All the best.

Mike

Thanks Mike. I'm concerned that the COA have an 'expiry' after 6 months of being issued. If you follow the progress on this, you'll see they ask if the COA is less than 6 months. https://www.immigrationstatuscheck.service.gov.uk. so what now when the 6 months is up, will they issue another letter? Or my wife will lose her job on the account of the home office lackadaisical methods of working

@Islandson I had the same thought and wrote a strongly worded email to the EU Settlement Scheme (I am a journalist and would love to do a story on my experience... it's been just under 6 months since application for me so am waiting for the actual 6 months to write about it). This is the reply I got, in case it is helpful to you:

Thank you for contacting the EU Settlement Resolution Centre about your application.

We understand that you are enquiring about the progress of your application.

Having checked out records, we can confirm that your application has been submitted successfully. This was acknowledged via an email sent to you on 30th January 2020.

Your case is currently under consideration. You will be notified if any additional information is required. When a decision has been made you will also be notified

The processing times on the gov.uk website are only guidelines and are not service standards. Processing times can vary, for example, when additional information is required, and all applications are considered on a case by case basis.

Due to their complexity, applications made under the ‘Surinder Singh’ route are considered by our ‘Specialised Applications’ team and do not fall under the standard processing times. We would, therefore, appreciate your continued patience as the relevant team is allowed the necessary time to progress your application accordingly.

Please be aware that the processing of applications is taking longer due to coronavirus (Covid-19).

We will note your comments on your application for the relevant department.

Please ensure you check your email inbox, as well as your junk or spam folders regularly.
Should you require further information about the EU Settlement Scheme, please go to https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families or alternatively, contact the EU Settlement Resolution Centre by phone on 0300 123 7379 (from inside the UK), 0203 080 0010 (from outside the UK) or by submitting a further question using the online enquiry form https://eu-settled-status-enquiries.ser ... v.uk/start

UKVI is keen to continually review and improve its service to our customers. To help us to do so, we would be grateful if you could complete our customer survey

https://homeoffice.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe ... DBhhKZnDW5


Please note we cannot deal with any enquiries/replies sent directly to this mailbox.

Yours sincerely,

Thanks @Canadian. Your wording is slightly different but the gist is the same. Basically 'be patient and let us work'. There's an email they provided to us if we were not satisfied with their response, complaintsreview@homeoffice.gov.uk. We've sent this off recently (2nd complaint) also mentioning that we have contacted our MP. I am not EU nor British born and I have been dealing with the home office now for 20 years in visa matters. This is by far the worse I have experienced.

Hello @ Islandson,
I know it must have taken a while
Please what was the outcome of the second complaint sent to complaint review cos I'm thinking of doing same cos my first complaint wasn't upheld.

[Islandson]

Thanks Mike. I'm concerned that the COA have an 'expiry' after 6 months of being issued. If you follow the progress on this, you'll see they ask if the COA is less than 6 months. https://www.immigrationstatuscheck.service.gov.uk. so what now when the 6 months is up, will they issue another letter? Or my wife will lose her job on the account of the home office lackadaisical methods of working

@Islandson I had the same thought and wrote a strongly worded email to the EU Settlement Scheme (I am a journalist and would love to do a story on my experience... it's been just under 6 months since application for me so am waiting for the actual 6 months to write about it). This is the reply I got, in case it is helpful to you:

Thank you for contacting the EU Settlement Resolution Centre about your application.

We understand that you are enquiring about the progress of your application.

Having checked out records, we can confirm that your application has been submitted successfully. This was acknowledged via an email sent to you on 30th January 2020.

Your case is currently under consideration. You will be notified if any additional information is required. When a decision has been made you will also be notified

The processing times on the gov.uk website are only guidelines and are not service standards. Processing times can vary, for example, when additional information is required, and all applications are considered on a case by case basis.

Due to their complexity, applications made under the ‘Surinder Singh’ route are considered by our ‘Specialised Applications’ team and do not fall under the standard processing times. We would, therefore, appreciate your continued patience as the relevant team is allowed the necessary time to progress your application accordingly.

Please be aware that the processing of applications is taking longer due to coronavirus (Covid-19).

We will note your comments on your application for the relevant department.

Please ensure you check your email inbox, as well as your junk or spam folders regularly.
Should you require further information about the EU Settlement Scheme, please go to https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families or alternatively, contact the EU Settlement Resolution Centre by phone on 0300 123 7379 (from inside the UK), 0203 080 0010 (from outside the UK) or by submitting a further question using the online enquiry form https://eu-settled-status-enquiries.ser ... v.uk/start

UKVI is keen to continually review and improve its service to our customers. To help us to do so, we would be grateful if you could complete our customer survey

https://homeoffice.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe ... DBhhKZnDW5


Please note we cannot deal with any enquiries/replies sent directly to this mailbox.

Yours sincerely,

Thanks @Canadian. Your wording is slightly different but the gist is the same. Basically 'be patient and let us work'. There's an email they provided to us if we were not satisfied with their response, complaintsreview@homeoffice.gov.uk. We've sent this off recently (2nd complaint) also mentioning that we have contacted our MP. I am not EU nor British born and I have been dealing with the home office now for 20 years in visa matters. This is by far the worse I have experienced.

Hello @ Islandson,
I know it must have taken a while
Please what was the outcome of the second complaint sent to complaint review cos I'm thinking of doing same cos my first complaint wasn't upheld.

Hey @eke123, when we submitted a follow up complaint, we got a response 2 weeks later. The details were basically the same, only difference is that it said an approval would be given by the end of the month. We received that response on June 22nd.

Unknown to us, a decision was given on June 23rd; it wasnt showing online and we got our documents and the decision letter on July 1st.

I'd say its worth sending a follow up complaint, it makes a difference as they're probably fed up of dealing with these complaints now.

[eke123]

@Islandson I had the same thought and wrote a strongly worded email to the EU Settlement Scheme (I am a journalist and would love to do a story on my experience... it's been just under 6 months since application for me so am waiting for the actual 6 months to write about it). This is the reply I got, in case it is helpful to you:

Thank you for contacting the EU Settlement Resolution Centre about your application.

We understand that you are enquiring about the progress of your application.

Having checked out records, we can confirm that your application has been submitted successfully. This was acknowledged via an email sent to you on 30th January 2020.

Your case is currently under consideration. You will be notified if any additional information is required. When a decision has been made you will also be notified

The processing times on the gov.uk website are only guidelines and are not service standards. Processing times can vary, for example, when additional information is required, and all applications are considered on a case by case basis.

Due to their complexity, applications made under the ‘Surinder Singh’ route are considered by our ‘Specialised Applications’ team and do not fall under the standard processing times. We would, therefore, appreciate your continued patience as the relevant team is allowed the necessary time to progress your application accordingly.

Please be aware that the processing of applications is taking longer due to coronavirus (Covid-19).

We will note your comments on your application for the relevant department.

Please ensure you check your email inbox, as well as your junk or spam folders regularly.
Should you require further information about the EU Settlement Scheme, please go to https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families or alternatively, contact the EU Settlement Resolution Centre by phone on 0300 123 7379 (from inside the UK), 0203 080 0010 (from outside the UK) or by submitting a further question using the online enquiry form https://eu-settled-status-enquiries.ser ... v.uk/start

UKVI is keen to continually review and improve its service to our customers. To help us to do so, we would be grateful if you could complete our customer survey

https://homeoffice.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe ... DBhhKZnDW5


Please note we cannot deal with any enquiries/replies sent directly to this mailbox.

Yours sincerely,

Thanks @Canadian. Your wording is slightly different but the gist is the same. Basically 'be patient and let us work'. There's an email they provided to us if we were not satisfied with their response, complaintsreview@homeoffice.gov.uk. We've sent this off recently (2nd complaint) also mentioning that we have contacted our MP. I am not EU nor British born and I have been dealing with the home office now for 20 years in visa matters. This is by far the worse I have experienced.

Hello @ Islandson,
I know it must have taken a while
Please what was the outcome of the second complaint sent to complaint review cos I'm thinking of doing same cos my first complaint wasn't upheld.

Hey @eke123, when we submitted a follow up complaint, we got a response 2 weeks later. The details were basically the same, only difference is that it said an approval would be given by the end of the month. We received that response on June 22nd.

Unknown to us, a decision was given on June 23rd; it wasnt showing online and we got our documents and the decision letter on July 1st.

I'd say its worth sending a follow up complaint, it makes a difference as they're probably fed up of dealing with these complaints now.

Hi @Islandson,
Thank you so much for your quick response
Really really appreciate it
I'll surely send a follow up complaint hopefully I'll be lucky this time around.
Thanks a lot

[LiyanaLiyana]

Hi everyone, I would like to ask for your experience of the documents you provide for Family Permit and Surinder Singh route routes. Rules clearly state that you need to translate all documents in English.
- Has anyone translated docs by themselves (I guess it should be enough to write at each paper when, where and by who it was translated) ?
- Did you translate all-all documents ? For example, rental contract that is usually 4-5 pages, utilities bills, or any EU country local analogue of P60, that is mainly numbers ?

I have applied within Italian TLS twice for a tourist visa and once my husband requested a non impediment certificate from UK embassy in Italy, in all situations we were providing such documents as residency, bills and salary payslips without any translation.
(I am one step behind for Surinder Singh route route as I still need to apply for EEA Family Permit to go back to UK with my husband.)

Hey!
We translated marriage certificate, couple of school attendance certificates, our official address paper (empadronamiento in Spain - maybe you have something similar in Italy) and my "Working Life" document (list of all jobs I had held with start and stop dates - again not sure if this is something that you can get in Italy).
The rest of he docs we didn't translate at all. We didn't translate utility bills, my work contracts, my rental contracts, bank statements... That would be crazy.
Just translate the most important docs.
It's really worth spending 50-100 EUR to have a consultation with a lawyer to have your questions answered by a professional and to feel reassured.

[Elochka63]

Hi everyone, I would like to ask for your experience of the documents you provide for Family Permit and Surinder Singh route routes. Rules clearly state that you need to translate all documents in English.
- Has anyone translated docs by themselves (I guess it should be enough to write at each paper when, where and by who it was translated) ?
- Did you translate all-all documents ? For example, rental contract that is usually 4-5 pages, utilities bills, or any EU country local analogue of P60, that is mainly numbers ?

I have applied within Italian TLS twice for a tourist visa and once my husband requested a non impediment certificate from UK embassy in Italy, in all situations we were providing such documents as residency, bills and salary payslips without any translation.
(I am one step behind for Surinder Singh route route as I still need to apply for EEA Family Permit to go back to UK with my husband.)

Hey!
We translated marriage certificate, couple of school attendance certificates, our official address paper (empadronamiento in Spain - maybe you have something similar in Italy) and my "Working Life" document (list of all jobs I had held with start and stop dates - again not sure if this is something that you can get in Italy).
The rest of he docs we didn't translate at all. We didn't translate utility bills, my work contracts, my rental contracts, bank statements... That would be crazy.
Just translate the most important docs.
It's really worth spending 50-100 EUR to have a consultation with a lawyer to have your questions answered by a professional and to feel reassured.

Hi LiyanaLiyana!
Thank you for sharing your experience!! That was my feeling as well, to translate all official certificates that were ever issued by Italian authorities, for example the residency paper, or Italian University Diploma - I am definitely going to translate it:)
I think we do not have a similar paper for "Working Life", even though my husband was always working at the same company (also present in UK) and I believe HR can write a paper directly in English, that would be easier .

Thank you:)