Certified copies and affidavits before sending to HO

[Daniboy]

Hi

If you send any application along with its supporting documentary evidence to Border Agency, you always risk that your original documents will get lost either by the Border Agency itself or by Royal Mail. If it happens, nobody will probably be held accountable for it, and you will be left alone with all consequences of the loss. The document you will ask for (eg Permanent Residence card) will not be issued, and your original supporting documents (passport, P60s, P45s, pay slips, various letters of confirmation from your employers or educational establishments - many of them irreplaceable because of the disappearance of their originators or their unwillingness to issue any duplicates) will be missing when you need them in your further communication with Border Agency or with any other institution in the future.

Of course, there are some obvious things that you can do to reduce a risk of such sort of hazard. If the Home Office allow it to you, you can prefer the personal appointment to sending your documents by post. If you must use the post (like in the case of EEA3 Permanent Residence card applications), you can make photocopies of your original documents before sending them, you can use Special Delivery rather than only Recorded Delivery, you can keep safe the confirmation of sending of your postal item to Border Agency, and of course, you can also pray.

However, what about seeking yet even more additional security? Has anyone got any experience with benefits of getting certified copies of their supporting documents from solicitor or notary public before sending the originals to Border Agency? And/or any experience with benefits of receiving affidavits or statutory declarations for sending those particular supporting documents to Border Agency? If things go wrong and either Border Agency or Royal Mail lose your originals, can such certified copies and affidavits be really useful for you in your further communication with Border Agency or in taking effective legal actions against them? Or is it more likely that Border Agency will simply deny any responsibility for the loss and refuse processing any your applications without having the originals, and nobody at all will help you? At the bottom line, would you pay money to solicitors or notaries public for the certifications and affidavits, or would it be better to give up any such attempts for any additional security, and instead to brace for collecting documentary evidence (eg of exercising EEA rights) for further qualifying periods (eg 5 years) all over and over again, until the random occasion, when your original documents do not get lost and your application is successfully processed by Border Agency, so that you can get to a further stage (eg waiting and collecting documentary evidence for the naturalisation application with the same institution)?

Thanks anyone in advance for any assessment of my dilemma and for any accounts of real problems involving the loss of suporting documents in Border Agency of elswhere in Home Office and of the ways such problems were (not) resolved.

[batleykhan]

The requirement is that you have to send the originals docs. If you dont do that, they simply will not accept your application. So what do you do then?.

The HO needs the original docs to satisfy themselves, butI accept your comments that if they loose a document it could be very difficult if not impossible to get a replacement.

Can you not get an appointment with HO and let them photocopy your docs, so they can asssure themself that the copies indeed are truly the original ones.

This is a difficult one. Wait for other responses

[Daniboy]

Hi batleykhan

Thanks for your comment.

As regards the possibility to seek a personal appointment with Border Agency over EEA3 application, it's not realistic (unless some statute that they would like people to not know about orders it to them). Border Agency allow personal appointments in case of some other kinds of applications, but in the case of EEA3 they categorically demand using solely the post for submitting the application.

And of course, they also categorically demand original supporting documents, no copies, not even the certified ones.

But what I consider is to get certified copies for myself, and then send originals to Border Agency via Special Delivery with the pre-paid Special Delivery envelope for the return delivery of my documents from Border Agency to my address.

Now I am considering a scenario, in which Border Agency lose my originals during their processing (which is, by the way, likely to take a few quarters, even though the EU law requires maximally 6 months), but I still hold my certified copies, and maybe also the confirmation of sending the originals to Border Agency in the form of some affidavit or similar document from a solicitor or notary public).

How hopeful will be my position in a such scenario? Will Border Agency be likely to accept my certified copies in such circumstances? Or will they rather say that they have never received any originals from me in the first place, and that they will do nothing for me given I cannot submit those originals? And if they turn up to be so unserious and uncooperative, will I have good chances for success in taking legal action agains them? Or will the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (or any courts) be likely to fail in delivering me reasonably expeditious and affordable justice, or any justice at all?

Such considerations are important for me, as I would like to make informed decissions as to:

whether to only make normal copies and use Special Delivery while sending EEA3 and supporting documents, and resign on any other, additional precautions;

whether to turn to a solicitor and ask for certified copies before sending the originals to Border Agency;

whether to turn to a notary public raher than to a solicitor for getting the certified copies;

whether to ask any of the both kinds of chosen lawyer also for a special confirmation (affidavit?, statutory declaration?) of sending a particular enumerated list of original documents to Border Agency.

What would you do in my place, if you had circa £400 - £600 budget for investing into preventive measures of any sort before submitting EEA3 and all supporting documents? What of the above stated measures, if any, would you invest into? And would you maybe take also any other precautions that I have not thought abot up to now?

Thanks anybody in advance for any useful suggestions.

[batleykhan]

If I was you , I would get certified copies from a soiicitor and keep those yourself.

Send the originals to the HO by secure service, however make sure all documents are all secured in one folder(like a portfolio) or staple them together.

Normally docs get misplaced or lost if theyare loose.So if all docs were together without being seperated,but can be easily inspected, I think it should be ok.

I know there might be the odd incompetent worker at teh HO , but the rest are ok. You could therefore be worrying unneccesaeily .

If I was in your shoes, i would do above and keep me fingers crossed that it works out

[Daniboy]

Dear batleykhan

Thank you very much for your advice. It sounds reasonable and I will probably do it as you have said, refraining from any further costly steps.