QP Application: Including Documents

[kovacsma]

A QP application query:

I arrived in the UK on a tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa in my Canadian passport. I started work shortly thereafter, and only received my EEA-passport several months later. I did not get a stamp in that EU passport until even later (~6-8 months after initially arriving and starting work).

The QP application is only interested in receiving my relevant EEA passport, presumably from which they will review my entry/departure dates. Obviously, this would raise a flag because of the odd timeline. My employer's statement at least clearly states that I arrived and started working under my Tier 5 qualification, and it also states when I switched to employment under my EEA qualification. However, I don't expect the Home Office to be that clever...

Should I be sending my Canadian passport and my BRP from the Tier 5 visa to the Home Office? I also worry that the Home Office will take this as an opportunity to get rid of one more EU national by declining my application if they review my Tier 5 application, because that application only listed my Canadian nationality. I did not actually hold Hungarian citizenship when I applied for the Tier 5, and did not know if I qualified for Hungarian citizenship until a short time later.

Thoughts on what to do?

[GMB]

I did not get a stamp in that EU passport until even later (~6-8 months after initially arriving and starting work).

First question: What kind of stamp and who put it in there? If it's an entry/exit stamp by the UK Border Force, then that's illegal under both UK and EU law.

[kovacsma]

Ah, in fact I think you're correct. So there isn't even a stamp in the passport im submitting... It just has an Issue date that is several months after I arrived and started working.

Again, I have provided an explanation to why this is the case, but they won't have my Canadian passport to check.

Since first posting, I've added my BRP info from that Tier 5 visa I held in the Canadian passport, and I am now thinking I'll use the passport return service to ALSO send my Canadian passport details as part of this application.

Thoughts?

[GMB]

In general, the UK''s EEA immigration rules and the UK's domestic immigration rules are completely separate, which among other things means you can have status in both, e.g., holding a valid Tier 5 visa at the same time as an EEA Residence Card. On the domestic side, they only care about the Canadian kovacsma, and the EEA side is solely concerned with the Hungarian kovacsma. So the EEA side won't care about any odd timelines because how or under what status you arrived in the UK is irrelevant under the EEA rules. For the EEA rules, all that matters is that you're an EEA citizen exercising treaty rights in the UK.

On top of that, a good general policy for dealing with EEA applications is; be very careful about providing things they didn't specifically ask for. At best it confuses them, at worst they might find something in there they can use to deny your application. So I'd recommend staying strictly to what's asked for. You are a Hungarian citizen applying for an EEA residence card as a QP. The Canadian version of you isn't involved.