EEA4 PR Reapplying rather than appealing timeline

[greensummer]

Hello everyone,
i was refused a DCPR (non -EEA) on the grounds that i did not provide evidence of my sponsor exercising her treaty rights in the UK. I was granted right of appeal. I requested for re-consideration but the caseworker refused and requested me to appeal or re-apply and then submitting those new documents. The fact is that the documents that are evidence of my sponsor exercising her treaty rights were within the same Euro dept. of the UKVI at the time my application was posted as they were included in another family member's application which was sent a month earlier and we requested the caseworker to link our application with that particular application for evidence of treaty rights been exercised. The request to link our application to that application was ignored. Sent a re-consideration request, and that also was refused even though the caseworker acknowledged I was right, refused to admit the evidence to reconsider as they were not included in the original application. I was asked to either APPEAL or RE-APPLY. We decided to re-apply rather than appealing. Sent new application 20th may and within the 28 days deadline from refusal notice date. I haven't heard from the HO yet as today regarding my fresh application. So, moderators and experienced gurus my questions are as foolows;
Was my decision to re-apply a good one?
I applied using the 03/2016 EEA4 PR Form (87 Pages) through my solicitor.
Would I be required to do Biometrics again as I did one just Nov last yr for my previous application?
Would my fresh application be granted priority?
We both currently out of work now due to old CoA expired and no new CoA yet,
Does anyone knows a contact or email address I could write to explain this distress and request priority to the euro dept. of UKVI?
Should I still expect a new CoA?
I'll be so greatful for all your advises,replies and contributions.

regards
UG from Luton

[noajthan]

So, moderators and experienced gurus my questions are as foolows;
Was my decision to re-apply a good one?
I applied using the 03/2016 EEA4 PR Form (87 Pages) through my solicitor.
Would I be required to do Biometrics again as I did one just Nov last yr for my previous application?
Would my fresh application be granted priority?
We both currently out of work now due to old CoA expired and no new CoA yet,
Does anyone knows a contact or email address I could write to explain this distress and request priority to the euro dept. of UKVI?
Should I still expect a new CoA?
I'll be so greatful for all your advises,replies and contributions.

regards
UG from Luton

Was my decision to re-apply a good one?
- Yes because appeals take a loooong time.

Would I be required to do Biometrics again as I did one just Nov last yr for my previous application?
- Yes (as a non-EEA national), because its a fresh application.

Would my fresh application be granted priority?
- No.

Does anyone knows a contact or email address I could write to explain this distress and request priority to the euro dept. of UKVI?
- Its unlikely to help; there's no 'fast-track'.

Should I still expect a new CoA?
- Yes, because its a new application.

[greensummer]

Thanks for your prompt reply. what do you think about this link:
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/expedit ... plication/
it suggests there are grounds for requesting a fast-track processing.
and also this link
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v3_0.pdf
I think they keep changing policies every now and then so fast is hard to keep up.
However, I think there's a way to request fast track I just need to figure it out or get an email of one of the nweuro depts.

thnx

[noajthan]

Thanks for your prompt reply. what do you think about this link:
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/expedit ... plication/
it suggests there are grounds for requesting a fast-track processing.
and also this link
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v3_0.pdf
I think they keep changing policies every now and then so fast is hard to keep up.
However, I think there's a way to request fast track I just need to figure it out or get an email of one of the nweuro depts.

thnx

Yes those are familiar blogposts and documents.

You can track the timeline threads in forum to see how other members' applications are currently progressing.

Noone is reporting on any such fasttrack here - and, as the blog makes clear, HO training/guidance for caseworkers doesn't cover it.
Your mileage may vary ofcourse.

[greensummer]

Well I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed and exercise patience God willing I shouldn't wait another 6 months again.

[Carling40]

this is certainly interesting, the fact they acknowledged the information was actually in there possession at the time and they refused the reconsideration request is shocking to me as I'm in a similar situation to you difference being that they haven't even responded to me yet. I think since you've reapplied you're best of waiting to see what happens. I don't know if you can still lodge your appeal despite it being past the 14 day deadline, I believe it's at the discretion of the court to accept your explanation why the appeal is late and send their HO admittance to having the information to the judge.
There have been people who have reapplied and got the right decision and others who were refused on entirely new reasons on a fresh application, so it's a catch 22 whichever way you look at it.
Can I ask which address did you send the reconsideration request to?

[noajthan]

Well I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed and exercise patience God willing I shouldn't wait another 6 months again.

The point is the caseworkers appear to operate blissfully unaware of any such requirements as stipulated in the EU Directive.
In the main, those at the coalface do not appear to be lawyers or even legally trained.
They appear to operate from internal guidance, instruction briefs, crib sheets and other such documents rather than the letter (let alone the spiriit) of the law.

If they are light on the fundamentals then not much chance, in practice, of hitting the nice-to-haves.
As is borne witness by the forum's timeline threads.

Anyway good luck.

[greensummer]

In all honesty I think I'm more at peace cos I managed to understand clearly what had transpired. The caseworker purposely ignored the instruction by my solicitor to link our application to another application held with them at the time. She did it purposely to punish me for not making efforts to include them in my application rather than requesting her to link my application to another for those evidence. The caseworker never wrote to explain this to me. But her boss did wrote to my local MP explaining this to him (cos I involved him and he wrote the HO). The catchword he used i recall is "The onus is on the applicant to ensure all requirements are met and submitted in the application".
Secondly, there's a caseworker guideline for eea applications and i did came across it. This is the previous one (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... 035544.pdf). The current one is dated 09/2015 and I think it runs out 06/2016. It states that in cases such as mine, even though it was obvious and i have presented the missing documents as evidence, it states the caseworker should refuse reconsideration and advise appeal or reapply and this is simply because the evidence though were with the HO at the time, they weren't actually included in my own application hence they are considered as new evidence. Will post the link to the current one when I find it.
cheers

[noajthan]

The caseworker never wrote to explain this to me. But her boss did wrote to my local MP explaining this to him (cos I involved him and he wrote the HO). The catchword he used i recall is "The onus is on the applicant to ensure all requirements are met and submitted in the application"

Yes the ball is in your court. Its evident from numerous members' reports that a caseworker will not join the dots or do the running around for you.

[greensummer]

I think it's also down to the individual caseworker as well. Some might be kind enough to sort the docs out and link it up as requested cos the factor itself is a scenario the UKVI has considered hence allowing that applications can be linked to another. Humans should work like humans they are and not like computers or robots...anyways I'm sure the discomfort they causing me and the fees they taking for a second time should make someone there in nweuro to be happy..lolz!

[greensummer]

this is certainly interesting, the fact they acknowledged the information was actually in there possession at the time and they refused the reconsideration request is shocking to me as I'm in a similar situation to you difference being that they haven't even responded to me yet. I think since you've reapplied you're best of waiting to see what happens. I don't know if you can still lodge your appeal despite it being past the 14 day deadline, I believe it's at the discretion of the court to accept your explanation why the appeal is late and send their HO admittance to having the information to the judge.
There have been people who have reapplied and got the right decision and others who were refused on entirely new reasons on a fresh application, so it's a catch 22 whichever way you look at it.
Can I ask which address did you send the reconsideration request to?

I sent the reconsideration request directly to the same caseworker who processed my application and sent me the refusal notice. the name and address was on the notice of refusal.

[greensummer]

this is certainly interesting, the fact they acknowledged the information was actually in there possession at the time and they refused the reconsideration request is shocking to me as I'm in a similar situation to you difference being that they haven't even responded to me yet. I think since you've reapplied you're best of waiting to see what happens. I don't know if you can still lodge your appeal despite it being past the 14 day deadline, I believe it's at the discretion of the court to accept your explanation why the appeal is late and send their HO admittance to having the information to the judge.
There have been people who have reapplied and got the right decision and others who were refused on entirely new reasons on a fresh application, so it's a catch 22 whichever way you look at it.
Can I ask which address did you send the reconsideration request to?

I sent the reconsideration request directly to the same caseworker who processed my application and sent me the refusal notice. the name and address was on the notice of refusal.

You said they haven't responded to you yet. What do you mean by that? They haven't responded to your reconsideration request yet or what? If you request for a reconsideration they would usually reply within 20 working days.

[Carling40]

Without hijacking your thread I mean they haven't responded to the reconsideration request, it was addressed to the caseworker and the name of the team at the Liverpool address at the top right of the letter, just not sure if that's where I should have sent it to. I haven't seen any published guidelines on how long reconsideration request take, just that they tend to reply in most cases in a week.

[greensummer]

Moderator edit: I have replaced the link (to a 3rd party site) with the relevant extracted content.
Here it is:

Can my EU Residence card application be prioritized

The Home Office introduced a new policy in late 2014 titled Process Instruction Notice 92/2014 Handling of Requests for Priority Treatment of EU Residence card or European Applications. The summary of this policy was simply that Home Office had scrapped its old policy on requesting that EU free movement applications be given priority treatment and speeded up. Instead it now provided that other than where a Minister intervenes, the criteria for prioritising are said to be:

refusal of the priority request is likely to create more work (i.e. in justifying the refusal) than would make the refusal worthwhile
there is evidence that the case has been mishandled or overlooked. (If the case is more than 6 months old but the delay is justifiable priority should not be given)
the applicant is unable to make journeys necessary for compassionate or business reasons on existing documents
the applicant has already been significantly inconvenienced as a result of inefficiency on the part of the Home Office. (In such cases priority should be given when the fact comes to light, regardless of whether it is requested)
the applicant has secured the agreement of a minister or senior official to priority consideration
the applicant has been invited to make a fresh application (where the decision to refuse a previous application might have been made sooner but for an oversight in UKVI, and the new application has been received within a reasonable time after our refusal letter

[greensummer]

Without hijacking your thread I mean they haven't responded to the reconsideration request, it was addressed to the caseworker and the name of the team at the Liverpool address at the top right of the letter, just not sure if that's where I should have sent it to. I haven't seen any published guidelines on how long reconsideration request take, just that they tend to reply in most cases in a week.

No new is good news..fingers crossed I guess its looking good for you. If your reconsideration request is successful they'll overturn their earlier decision and you get granted your PR card. If you look through the link i posted above you can tell in which category you fall in and predict the outcome of your reconsideration request. all the best mate!