EEA Family member

[manayawson]

Hi,
I am a Ghanaian citizen with an Italian permanent resident card. I am 20 years and my father is Italian. He moved to UK last month for work reasons. I applied 2 times for the EEA Family permit and was denied for the fact that my birth certificate was registered 6 years after my birth. The problem is that in ghana normally they don't register the child right after birth.They required extra historical evidence. What additional documents could I get to add to my birth certificate? At the moment I have my vaccination card from ghana and my weighing card at early birth

I have heard that I could use the EEA treaty rights at the border. Do you suggest to do so? I am a little bit worried because I have a permanent residence rather than an expiring one for an EEA family member

Please any suggestion?

[kamoe]

I applied 2 times for the EEA Family permit and was denied for the fact that my birth certificate was registered 6 years after my birth.

Can you share a copy of the refusal letter(s) you received, with any personal info blurred out? This is because you might be misinterpreting the reason for the refusal. It is likely that it's not that you were registered 6 years "late", but because for some reason this document does not establish your identify of that of your father (but this is me speculating, best if you can share the exact wording of the letter(s).

I have heard that I could use the EEA treaty rights at the border. Do you suggest to do so?

For this, you would need to show your birth certificate to prove your relationship to your father, and then you would likely have the same problem.

[manayawson]

This was the decision part.
I am not able to put the pdf on this forum because I am new to it.
The Decision
• You state that your father [....]is a Spanish national. You have provided
evidence that your sponsor holds a Spanish passport.
• You have provided your birth certificate that was registered on [....] 2003 confirming that
your date of birth is [...]1997, this registration took place 06 years after your birth. Due to
the length of time between birth event and registration this certificate cannot be accepted as
reliable evidence in the absence of other historic birth documentation evidencing the event and
your parentage. It is noted that further documents have been submitted these being a letter from
an Italian solicitor and one from a Ghanaian solicitor and a Baptism certificate as additional
evidence for the birth certificate however these have been produced on information given by
you and not historical and factual evidence.
• Given the above, I am led to question the credibility of your claim to be a family member of an
EEA national. I am therefore not satisfied that you are a family member in accordance with
Regulation 7 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016.

I therefore refuse your EEA Family Permit application because I am not satisfied that you meet
all of the requirements of regulation 12 (see ECGs EUN2.23)of the Immigration (European
Economic Area) Regulations 2016.

[kamoe]

• You state that your father [....]is a Spanish national.

Make sure you are consistent in your application! You earlier said your father was Italian, which I am assuming was a mistake when you were typing?

• You have provided your birth certificate that was registered on [....] 2003 confirming that
your date of birth is [...]1997, this registration took place 06 years after your birth. Due to
the length of time between birth event and registration this certificate cannot be accepted as
reliable evidence in the absence of other historic birth documentation evidencing the event and
your parentage. It is noted that further documents have been submitted these being a letter from
an Italian solicitor and one from a Ghanaian solicitor and a Baptism certificate as additional
evidence for the birth certificate however these have been produced on information given by
you and not historical and factual evidence.

It does look that the difference in dates is indeed the problem.

I'm not an expert, and please consider this informal advice, but from the top of my head, I remember seeing other posts on this forum where refusal letters described that it looked like the father was not in the applicant's country of birth around 9 months before the birth, making it difficult to satisfy the claim that he was with the mother at the time of conception. Your birth weighing card and/or vaccination card might help to prove your actual date of birth if they have it, but unless they mention your father (do they?) you will need more evidence to prove your parentage. Do you have proof that your father was in Ghana 9 months before your birth, around in 1996/1997, e.g. (his old passports, documents proving residency there, work contracts from back then, etc.)

• Given the above, I am led to question the credibility of your claim to be a family member of an
EEA national. I am therefore not satisfied that you are a family member in accordance with
Regulation 7 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016.

I therefore refuse your EEA Family Permit application because I am not satisfied that you meet
all of the requirements of regulation 12 (see ECGs EUN2.23)of the Immigration (European
Economic Area) Regulations 2016.

My other question would be if this was not a problem at all in Italy when you got your residence card (I'm assuming so), and what documents you supplied on that occasion.

[manayawson]

I was consistent in the application. It was stated that my dad is Italian an I provided every document to support it but the reply from the UKVI stated that he was Spanish.
My father came to Europe in 2001 so he was in Ghana at my birth. My weighing card and vaccination card mention my father's name.

In Italy my birth certificate wasn't a problem because they know that in Ghana it is not yet usual to register the child right after birth.
I even asked a Ghanaian Lawyer and Italian Lawyer to write a letter stating this fact but they weren't yet satisfied.

[kamoe]

My father came to Europe in 2001 so he was in Ghana at my birth.

This is not a logical argument. Your father is Italian, the fact that we came to Europe in 2001 does not immediately prove he was in Ghana in 1996/1997.

Was he born in Ghana, or when did he move there, can you prove this? Again, you need specifics of his whereabouts in the year 1996/1997.

[manayawson]

Yes, he was born in Ghana and moved to Italy in 2001

[kamoe]

Yes, he was born in Ghana and moved to Italy in 2001

Yet this does not prove he remained in Ghana throughout his life until 2001. Again, you need specifics for 1996/1997.

[secret.simon]

As I see it, you have two problems. You need to prove both your relationship with your father and your age, which given your birth certificate is now on record with the Home Office, will be questioned even from other documentation.

A DNA test from an authorised Home Office centre may go to prove the paternal relationship. However, you can also be refused on the basis of age as you need to prove that you are under the age of 21 OR are dependent on your father. Can you prove financial dependency on your father, ideally by way of bank statements and transfers and not Western Union or cash-in-hand transactions?

[kamoe]

You need to prove that you are under the age of 21

Would his passport not be enough, if it displays Date of Birth?

[kamoe]

A DNA test from an authorised Home Office centre may go to prove the paternal relationship.

Good point. Surprised this was not suggested in the refusal letter.

[secret.simon]

Would his passport not be enough, if it displays Date of Birth?

Not if the passport itself is based on the birth certificate. As the birth certificate is suspect, any further documentation based on it (at least as regards the date of birth) is suspect.

In a sense, at least for immigration purposes, effectively the OP is ageless, because there is a reasonably good chance that any documentation would be based on his birth certificate, which itself is tainted by it being well out-of-date.

As an aside, I was researching on another query on these forums and it seems that a father is only recognised as such for the purposes of British nationality law if he is named on a birth certificate issued within a year of birth of the child (Section 2(a) of The British Nationality (Proof of Paternity) Regulations 2006). I would presume that the caseworker applied that principle by analogy to this case.