EEA2 - 20 months and Still Nothing

[cecilpickard]

20 months later - nothing. I don't even know where to start.

Have written to:

- MP, Queen, Prime Minister, Home Office, Home Secretary

- made over 300 calls

- have a lawyer (cannot get any replies from the home office)

I have had no passport for 20 months. Unable to travel or do business. Cannot drive (have no ID), and license has expired.

Exhausted all options and the home office are no closer to completing my application.

I have tons of money and am happy to sue whom ever I can.

Someone please advise how I can stick it to these criminals at the home office that have imprisoned me on this island without a passport for almost 2 years.

[86ti]

I have had no passport for 20 months. Unable to travel or do business. Cannot drive (have no ID), and license has expired.

Have you tried to ask for your passport to be returned?

- have a lawyer (cannot get any replies from the home office)

Are you sure this lawyer is worth his/her money?

Exhausted all options and the home office are no closer to completing my application.

I wanted to send you to this thread but you seem to have pulled all strings by now...

[cecilpickard]

I have asked for it to be returned, however the passport is worthless.

Without an actual visa to return to my country of residence (the UK), I have been refused tourist visas and told to take the matter up with the British Home Office.

I am on a South African passport. I cannot even travel into Europe.

I've detailed all the issues I have had almost a year ago, warning the home office and my MP of consequential damages. All that fell on deaf ears.

[86ti]

You wouldn't apply for a visitor visa but rather for an EEA family permit.

How is the EEA national exercising his/her treaty rights? What is your relationship? Is there anything in your immigration history that could explain the long time? There are a few reports here for waiting times longer than a year but 20 months must be a new record!

[cecilpickard]

I am married to a Belgian citizen.

There is nothing strange about our application. We've been together for 5 almost 6 years. Married 3 years.

[Obie]

Firstly you should serve them a pre-action protocol, and notify them of the illegal action and the fact that you will seek judicial review, if the breech is not brought to an end. If the refuse, then proceed with JR if they continue to ignore. After that you can proceed to civil courts to claim damages

[cecilpickard]

You said:
You wouldn't apply for a visitor visa but rather for an EEA family permit.

I tried to apply for a Belgian EEA Permit so I could leave the UK and renew my entry clearance for 6 months so that I could get some business done and renew my drivers license. It's a vicious cycle, because I do not have a visa to return to the UK.

Home Office letter confirming right to live and work in the UK are meaningless. Every civilized nation in the world wants to see the visa in the passport.

[cecilpickard]

And...

When I requested my passport back, the home office tried instantly requested it back

- without contacting me
- without sending a letter

It was explained to me that this is a technique they use to try and decline applications for non-compliance. In any event I caught wind of their tactics and the passport was returned.

The home office claimed that they requested my passport back on the 24th of December 2009. I had received the passport on the 16th of December 2009.

I made my application in the 11th of January 2009.

Letters from MP apologies and give no time frame for being sorted. I have apologies from the office of the Queen, office of the prime minister, both promising to write the home secretary. Home secretary has never replied, ever.

This is just a shocking case. I am even surprised that with all the evidence I have, nothing gets done.

[cecilpickard]

Firstly you should serve them a pre-action protocol, and notify them of the illegal action and the fact that you will seek judicial review, if the breech is not brought to an end. If the refuse, then proceed with JR if they continue to ignore. After that you can proceed to civil courts to claim damages

I've had a long discussion with my lawyer. I believe this is the plan of action.

[86ti]

I am married to a Belgian citizen.

There is nothing strange about our application. We've been together for 5 almost 6 years. Married 3 years.

I suppose your spouse is working or self-employed? When you made your application you were married for about 1.5 years. Have you included proof of your relationship prior to marriage? Sorry, for pulling all these answers out of you but I am trying to understand why an application that looks so straight forward would be delayed for so long.

When I requested my passport back, the home office tried instantly requested it back

- without contacting me
- without sending a letter

It was explained to me that this is a technique they use to try and decline applications for non-compliance.

I am not quite sure that I understand this. Where exactly would be the non-compliance on your side if you asked for your passport back.

[cecilpickard]

When you made your application you were married for about 1.5 years. Have you included proof of your relationship prior to marriage?

>> What would quantify proof?


I am not quite sure that I understand this. Where exactly would be the non-compliance on your side if you asked for your passport back

>> Non compliance if I did not return my passport to them quickly when requested

[86ti]

When you made your application you were married for about 1.5 years. Have you included proof of your relationship prior to marriage?

>> What would quantify proof?

For example that you have been living together by way of utility bills, council tax bills, tenancy agreements, etc.

[noble72uk]

When you made your application you were married for about 1.5 years. Have you included proof of your relationship prior to marriage?

>> What would quantify proof?


I am not quite sure that I understand this. Where exactly would be the non-compliance on your side if you asked for your passport back

>> Non compliance if I did not return my passport to them quickly when requested

Hi could you please specify and provide more details

Date of relationship or marriage with the EEA
Date of application of the EEA2
Date when you requested your passport back to you if applicable? And if returned to the HO when?

When the EEA start working or any treaty right.

Because they should act under EU LAW

European Casework Instructions
CHAPTER 5 - RESIDENCE CARD APPLICATIONS

5.8 Six-month rule
Community law requires us to decide applications for a Residence Card within 6 months from the date of receipt of the application. Every effort should be made to do so, particularly where an applicant draws our attention to an alleged breach of this requirement. Failure to comply with this requirement could leave the Home Office open to a claim for damages.

[cecilpickard]

Date of relationship or marriage with the EEA
>> 10 March 2007
Date of application of the EEA2
>> 11 January 2009
Date when you requested your passport back to you if applicable? And if returned to the HO when?
>> 6th December 2009, received 16th December 2009, HO never requested the passport back, but claim they requested 24th December 2009. Passport posted back January 2010.

When the EEA start working or any treaty right.
>> 10 January 2009

Because they should act under EU LAW
>> This has been known to every single person I have ever spoken to, or written to. But it is not true. Nothing gets done. After I wrote my MP a year ago, it took 4 months to get the first apology.

[cecilpickard]

When you made your application you were married for about 1.5 years. Have you included proof of your relationship prior to marriage?

>> What would quantify proof?

For example that you have been living together by way of utility bills, council tax bills, tenancy agreements, etc.

South Africa doesn't work like that. I owned my houses in South Africa. Businessmen don't intentionally structure complex paperwork trails with the foreknowledge that another nation may one day need them for inspection:-)

[cecilpickard]

When you made your application you were married for about 1.5 years. Have you included proof of your relationship prior to marriage?

>> What would quantify proof?

For example that you have been living together by way of utility bills, council tax bills, tenancy agreements, etc.

The oldest documentation would have to be our prenup, which was registered almost a year before we were married. It's an agreement that protects both parties in the event of insolvency as well, breaking the community of property law. This was never asked for.

In any event, after almost 2 years, someone could have phoned or written asking for more documentation if it was needed. That is not a valid defense when we sue.

[Kitty]

cecilpickard, the time the HO is taking is indeed outrageous.

Do I understand you correctly when you say that even with your passport, non-UK countries will not issue you with a visa because you have no proof you can return to the UK? Is this the case even if you want to travel within Europe with your Belgian wife?

As far as taking things forward, I agree with Obie that a proper threat of legal action is required.

Have you also contacted SOLVIT about the HO's breach of EU law?

[cecilpickard]

cecilpickard, the time the HO is taking is indeed outrageous.

Do I understand you correctly when you say that even with your passport, non-UK countries will not issue you with a visa because you have no proof you can return to the UK? Is this the case even if you want to travel within Europe with your Belgian wife?

As far as taking things forward, I agree with Obie that a proper threat of legal action is required.

Have you also contacted SOLVIT about the HO's breach of EU law?

That is correct. Belgium refused my visa as I have no return visa to the UK. I have not pursued Solvit yet. As far as I understand: the UK system has to be exhausted before Solvit can "solve it". That is what I have been told.

[Kitty]

That is correct. Belgium refused my visa as I have no return visa to the UK. I have not pursued Solvit yet. As far as I understand: the UK system has to be exhausted before Solvit can "solve it". That is what I have been told.

I can't comment with any knowledge on Belgian visa laws of course, but it strikes me as ridiculous that they would refuse a visa on grounds of non-returnability to the UK: even if you are not normally resident in SA, I would have thought that in extremis the Belgian authorities could have popped you on a plane to Joburg or something. Oh well.

I would start the SOLVIT process in any event: it's free, and if they feel they can't handle your complaint for whatever reason, you haven't lost anything. When they say "exhausted the local system", they don't mean you actually have to have been through a Judicial Review. It should be enough that the HO has failed to decide your application within 6 months.

You can call UK SOLVIT to check the proper order of procedure, but I recall that as the EEA citizen, your Belgian wife should make the complaint about your treatment through the Belgian SOLVIT office.

ETA: Have you or your solicitor made a Subject Access Requestfor a copy of your UKBA file? IN my experience these are taking about a gazillion years to process (instead of the required 40 days: I have just had a letter form UKBA apologising on the one hand for failing to meet the 40-day deadline, but on the other moaning that basically there wouldn't be a backlog if people didn't keep, y'know asking for copies of their files ). Nevertheless, it's another prong to the attack and might reveal more of what's going on.

[cecilpickard]

That is correct. Belgium refused my visa as I have no return visa to the UK. I have not pursued Solvit yet. As far as I understand: the UK system has to be exhausted before Solvit can "solve it". That is what I have been told.

I can't comment with any knowledge on Belgian visa laws of course, but it strikes me as ridiculous that they would refuse a visa on grounds of non-returnability to the UK: even if you are not normally resident in SA, I would have thought that in extremis the Belgian authorities could have popped you on a plane to Joburg or something. Oh well.

I would start the SOLVIT process in any event: it's free, and if they feel they can't handle your complaint for whatever reason, you haven't lost anything. When they say "exhausted the local system", they don't mean you actually have to have been through a Judicial Review. It should be enough that the HO has failed to decide your application within 6 months.

You can call UK SOLVIT to check the proper order of procedure, but I recall that as the EEA citizen, your Belgian wife should make the complaint about your treatment through the Belgian SOLVIT office.

ETA: Have you or your solicitor made a Subject Access Requestfor a copy of your UKBA file? IN my experience these are taking about a gazillion years to process (instead of the required 40 days: I have just had a letter form UKBA apologising on the one hand for failing to meet the 40-day deadline, but on the other moaning that basically there wouldn't be a backlog if people didn't keep, y'know asking for copies of their files ). Nevertheless, it's another prong to the attack and might reveal more of what's going on.

Yes the papers were requested months ago. Not even an apology letter from the home office for that was received:-)

[Kitty]

Date of application of the EEA2
>> 11 January 2009

...

When the EEA start working or any treaty right.
>> 10 January 2009

Just noticed this: is it the case that you applied for the RC the day after your wife started exercising her Treaty rights in the UK? If that's the case, what evidence did you send that she was exercising her rights?

When did you both first come to the UK?

I wonder if that explains part of the delay: continually putting the application to the bottom of the old in-tray and never getting round to asking for further information from you.

[cecilpickard]

The lawyer says everything is above board.

There is nothing more I can provide. They have it. This is open and shut.

[86ti]

If it was really for missing documents the UKBA could have simply denied the application by now.

[Kitty]

If it was really for missing documents the UKBA could have simply denied the application by now.

They could also have simply asked for them, or simply approved it: I think the problem is that they appear simply to have dropped the whole file down the back of the sofa and forgotten about it

cecilpickard, I was not suggesting that there was anything wrong with your application: I don't know if that's the case or not. As well as trying to think of extra ways to help you, this thread is also a bit of an exercise in general head-scratching over why some files get dealt with and others seem to fall through some kind of wormhole in the fabric of space-time.

[cecilpickard]

If it was really for missing documents the UKBA could have simply denied the application by now.

They could also have simply asked for them, or simply approved it: I think the problem is that they appear simply to have dropped the whole file down the back of the sofa and forgotten about it

cecilpickard, I was not suggesting that there was anything wrong with your application: I don't know if that's the case or not. As well as trying to think of extra ways to help you, this thread is also a bit of an exercise in general head-scratching over why some files get dealt with and others seem to fall through some kind of wormhole in the fabric of space-time.

Since yesterday I started to feel like a human being again.

For 2 years I have been raped of my rights, ignored, pushed aside and forgotten. This kind of treatment usually only happens at the hands of 3rd world tyrants and should not allowed to thrive in the developed world. It reduces everyone back to savages.

I want this resolved and I want to move forward with my life. The lack of action by the HO is criminal, illegal and breaks many EU and international laws.

What is even more sad is that the HO knew this a year ago and didn't act. 4 months ago they know that an attorney is working the matter and they drag their feet even more.

I would not be surprised if this dragged on for several more years. I have no faith in the system or anyone except hard justice from the EU.