EEA unmarried partner - passport return

[emmafrances123]

Hi,
I am a New Zealand teacher currently working on a Tier 5 YM Visa (expires in March 2018) and I am wanting to stay living in the UK. My partner has a Danish passport and we have enough evidence to prove our relationship and living together for the past 4 years.
The problems we have are that we do not want to send our passports away for so long as people are saying it could take up to 6 months. My questions are:
1. Is there a better way to do this?
2. Would I be eligible for the 'Passport return service' if my partner is a permanent resident?
3. Is there anyway to make this application faster?
4. If we went ahead with this and it was rejected, would I then have to leave the country and my Tier 5 be cancelled?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks so much

[lunallena]

Hi there,

I would recommend you to apply to the EEA (EFM) residence card while your Tier 5 is still valid, in that way you can request your passport back and travel without any problem. I applied to get the EEA (EFM) RC while my Tier2 was still valid and asked for my passport and BPR using the "passport return service" after I received the CoA and enrolled the biometrics without any problem (arrive in 5 days but it may take longer). My application took 5 months and few days and I haven't seen any cases where it takes less than that. If your application is rejected and your Tier 5 is still valid, the latter won't be cancelled as they are from separate regulations.

I hope this helps,