EEA4 application and right to work

[Paolo]

Hello All,

I am from Brazil and my exwife is an EEA national. I had lived in the UK on the basis of a retained right after divorce for over years and a while ago I submitted my EEA4 application for permanent residency.

I was in a full time employment. Ideally I should have made the application early enough to receive the Certificate of Application(COA) before my previous leave to stay ended and presented it to my employer to continue my work, but due to un expected circumstances I could not apply until a day before my previous authorized stay ended, and the COA was not produced by the UKBA after 4 weeks. As a result I was dismissed.

I heard that under the EEA regulation as long as an application, no matter it is EEA2 or EEA4, is made, the non EEA national is entitled to work. Even if the COA is not available, copy of the application and evidence of the retained rights as well as confirmation of royal mail delivery for special delivery are adequate evidence, so I explained to my employer and presented the above documents, however they did not accept it. I was wondering if there is any legal document proving that the above documents are adequate to continue to work before the COA is obtained.

I look forward to having your thoughts.

Thank you
Paolo

[theuniverse]

0300 123 4699 this is employers helpline, call them, explain your situation, maybe pretend you are still at this job and your employer is about to dismiss you or just say you were already dismissed(it's up to you) and ask if the employer could still keep you at this job legally, because if they could and still dismissed you, I feel that's unfair dismissal.
I was in the same situation, but I'm still married to EU citizen. I called the employer helpline myself and they asked me to ask my employer to give them a call and they would confirm I was legal to continue my employment.
See this thread http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... cbb0839e0c

[Paolo]

Thank you. Unfortunately it is too late to do it because my employer dismissed me and I have made an unfair dismissal claim to the tribunal.

My employer's solicitor responded to my claim contesting I did not provide evidence proving my right to work. In fact I did, I presented my application copy, special delivery confirmation of royal mail confirming my application was received by the UKBA.

If there any legal document I can cite to prove that the above documents are valid evidence proving right to work before the COA is produced.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you

[Jambo]

I don't think there is a legal statement that would say that evidence is enough but the employer should have checked your claim with the HO before dismissing you.

Read also Sponsors, paranoia and unfair dismissal.

[theuniverse]

It's hard to prove sth, because employers get booklets from UKBA threatening to fine them £10.000 and even imprison them if they knew they were employing someone illegally and UKBA fail to mention that you are legal to continue your employment whilst waiting for COA.
Dismissal requires that the employer can demonstrate that the employee has no right to work and as it was mentioned your employer needed to make necessary checks before firing you. You can make a printout from the link provided by Jambo.
I would still call employers helpline just to consult and if they went positive saying I could have continued my employment I would ask which document I can use to confirm that.