PR refused due to poor evidence. Now divorced & visa expired

[Lookingforinfo]

Good evening,

I'm new here so hope I'm posting in the right place. A friend of mine has had a bit of a stressful year and has just had her PR application refused pretty much on the same day her decree absolute came through the post. She was married for 5 years but there were issues getting original copies from her sponsor at the time of application. I have read a few posts but I can't seem to find anything that answers all her questions. I've tried to document all the details below (I did try and keep it as short as possible!!)

Civil Partnership - Nov 2012
Divorced - Sep 2016
Visa expired - April 2016

Application made for both retained rights of residence and permanent residence in March 2016.

Sponsor would not provide original copies of payslips/ bank statements etc until divorce paperwork signed.

The retained rights application was refused as there was no evidence the marriage was terminated and therefore the department could not verify that treaty rights had been exercised since the date of divorce. Therefore there was a failure to meet the requirements of regulation 10 (5) and 10 (6).

The permanent residence application was also considered as, because the divorce was in progress but not finalised at that time, she was still a family member of a EEA national. Unfortunately, at the time of application, the sponsor only provided very poor photocopies of payslips, some of which were illegible, and they could not be appropriately verified. As a result there was not enough evidence to demonstrate that the EEA family member was exercising their Treaty rights in the United Kingdom as defined under Regulation 6.

As the applicant's visa has now expired her passport has been retained by the Home Office and the refusal letter states that as she has no alternative basis of stay in the United Kingdom she should now make arrangements to leave. The letter also states she is entitled to appeal against the decision within 14 days. The letter further states that, if she considers that she has a right to reside in the United Kingdom as a matter of European Union law, and is in the position to submit the necessary information to support an application for a residence card as recognition of that right, she may alternatively wish to submit a further application.

Here are the questions she would like answering:

- The applicant was married to an EEA national for over 5 years but, as of last week, is now divorced. Does this now mean that an application for Permanent Residence cannot be made?

- Now the applicant is divorced and she has original copies of the EEA national's payslips and can therefore prove they were both exercising Treaty rights for the duration of the marriage would if be best to submit a further application for retained rights of residence?

- The applicant is very concerned that her visa has expired, she is now divorced and the refusal letter states she needs to make arrangements to leave. I've read that this is standard refusal letter text but she is after some reassurance that she has time to complete and submit a new application

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

[noajthan]

Good evening,

...

Here are the questions she would like answering:

- The applicant was married to an EEA national for over 5 years but, as of last week, is now divorced. Does this now mean that an application for Permanent Residence cannot be made?

- Now the applicant is divorced and she has original copies of the EEA national's payslips and can therefore prove they were both exercising Treaty rights for the duration of the marriage would if be best to submit a further application for retained rights of residence?

- The applicant is very concerned that her visa has expired, she is now divorced and the refusal letter states she needs to make arrangements to leave. I've read that this is standard refusal letter text but she is after some reassurance that she has time to complete and submit a new application

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

1) No.
Shoot for confirmation of PR asap.

2) No, see #1

3) Standard boilerplate text. If the friend has acquired PR already then she still has it - so no need to leave.
However, if she still cannot prove it on a second attempt it may well be curtains.

[Lookingforinfo]

Thank you for your reply Noajthan.

So even though she is now divorced the fact she was married for over 5 years means she would still be entitled to apply for PR if she can provide the necessary evidence to support her application. She now has the original documents from the EEA national, the refusal seemed to be based upon the fact the payslip photocopies were very poor quality and mostly illegible so we're hopeful a second attempt with the originals would be successful.

The PR route is obviously preferable over the retained rights so this is a very positive answer, thank you. We were just concerned about the effect the divorce would have had.

[noajthan]

Thank you for your reply Noajthan.

So even though she is now divorced the fact she was married for over 5 years means she would still be entitled to apply for PR if she can provide the necessary evidence to support her application. She now has the original documents from the EEA national, the refusal seemed to be based upon the fact the payslip photocopies were very poor quality and mostly illegible so we're hopeful a second attempt with the originals would be successful.

The PR route is obviously preferable over the retained rights so this is a very positive answer, thank you. We were just concerned about the effect the divorce would have had.

PR is not a visa, its a status.
Once acquired PR can only be lost by 2 year continuous absence from UK so a subsequent divorce is irrelevant.

So yes, your understanding is correct.
However rock-solid evidence required as HO plays hardball.