Forum Immigration UK

[caroleng2]

I am new to the forum. I am an european national and I married my husband who is Moroccan. We applied for a residence card back in February 2009 and we receive the COA 4 weeks afterwards. It helped us to prove the status of my husband to find work which was a good thing but nothing more. I have started to enquire about the status of this application in august. I have sent 2 letters to the Home Office and they replied that it was still under consideration. When I made an allusion to the legal delay of 6 months by the European Law they clearly do not want to enter that kind of details. I have tried to contact two famous newspapers and they were not interested. I I have also contacted the European Parliament to ask how we could complain and they send me a form to fill in.I then started to contact my local MP who sent letters on her side. They replied to her 2 months afterwards and said the delay is due to "extenuating circumstances" which made me laugh. I also contacted SOLVIT who give them 70 days to issue the card, delay that they will soon passed. I have called them last week to have information telling them that I was in the right now to know the status of this application as it was more than 6 months. Surprisingly enough instead of calling them at 8.40pm on a friday night I called them at 5pm and they picked up the phone straight away... They retrieved my application and said it was in the queue, how helpful and surprising! Last thursday we received a letter from the Home Office asking for my husband's passport and my recent payslips. Can somebody tell me if it's the end of the tunnel? does it mean that they are actually looking at the application?

[kkk]

I am new to the forum. I am an european national and I married my husband who is Moroccan. We applied for a residence card back in February 2009 and we receive the COA 4 weeks afterwards. It helped us to prove the status of my husband to find work which was a good thing but nothing more. I have started to enquire about the status of this application in august. I have sent 2 letters to the Home Office and they replied that it was still under consideration. When I made an allusion to the legal delay of 6 months by the European Law they clearly do not want to enter that kind of details. I have tried to contact two famous newspapers and they were not interested. I I have also contacted the European Parliament to ask how we could complain and they send me a form to fill in.I then started to contact my local MP who sent letters on her side. They replied to her 2 months afterwards and said the delay is due to "extenuating circumstances" which made me laugh. I also contacted SOLVIT who give them 70 days to issue the card, delay that they will soon passed. I have called them last week to have information telling them that I was in the right now to know the status of this application as it was more than 6 months. Surprisingly enough instead of calling them at 8.40pm on a friday night I called them at 5pm and they picked up the phone straight away... They retrieved my application and said it was in the queue, how helpful and surprising! Last thursday we received a letter from the Home Office asking for my husband's passport and my recent payslips. Can somebody tell me if it's the end of the tunnel? does it mean that they are actually looking at the application?

To answer your question and in all honesty, I would say Yes and No.
Yes its likely that they are looking at your application but its also
possible that it might not come sooner than expected.
In fact, In August 09, I was asked to send in my wife's recent payslips cum worker's
scheme certificate, which I did. However 2 months later, Am still waiting.
Hope is all we have now.
Good Luck!

[libicca]

Hi,

after my 1st msg, i received a letter from the HO.
Just as a reminder:
-Application in oct 2008
-trip to SA in dec 08 jan 09 --> EEA 6 months family permit to re enter the UK
-march 09: additionnal doc sent to the HO
-sept 09: letter to the HO to tell change of address + updating us

so the letter that we received, at our new address, says: to enable our application to be considered, we should sent both our passports + any HO ref number, under 21 days.

The pb now:
- i'm leaving to SA for Xmas at the end of november: there is no way i'm sending my passport right? As i reaaly dont think they'll be able to complete application and send everything back withing a month. so What do i do now??? What if i dont send the passports within 21 days?? Do i send a letter to explain??

- so i'm leaving, and i was planning to apply for another EEA short term family permit from SA to re enter the country, can i re apply twice for the same short term EEA family permit???

- in the COA received a month after the original application, we dont get any reference as after "your reference", it says "your ref". Anyone had the same pb??

- another question: in that letter received a HO guy signed, should i address my next letter to him?

THANKS FOR READING...AND REPLYING!!

[caroleng2]

Hello
The home office as well as solvit told me to say that a decision had been taken and that the papers will be sent back in a couple of weeks, we are in the second week and nothing still. Do we have to wait months again. We applied on the 27th February.Has anyone had the same experience, how long til we receive everything back?
Thanks a lot

[kkk]

Hello
The home office as well as solvit told me to say that a decision had been taken and that the papers will be sent back in a couple of weeks, we are in the second week and nothing still. Do we have to wait months again. We applied on the 27th February.Has anyone had the same experience, how long til we receive everything back?
Thanks a lot

I was told the same thing by SOLVIT some 2 weeks ago, However up till now I have received nothing.
Nonetheless I think it won't be long before we receive our RCs as the HO has
Promised to return to their normal cum EU stipulated application consideration timeline from December.
Lets keep the Hopes alive still.

[caroleng2]

Hello

We have received our card yesterday finally.......it has been almost 9 months...so patience guys..... what a relief. Keep on writing to your local MP and solvit and keep contacting the Home Office after 6 months you have the right to know the status of teh application.
Good luck...

[kkk]

Hello

We have received our card yesterday finally.......it has been almost 9 months...so patience guys..... what a relief. Keep on writing to your local MP and solvit and keep contacting the Home Office after 6 months you have the right to know the status of teh application.
Good luck...

Wow! That's amazing. Another success story and Am very happy for you.

Hope mine comes soon as well.

All the best, Mate!

[chavdar]

Bonjour,
Je veux vous aider. Vous pouvez voir ce site, ou tout est trie par regions et themes.
http://www.compas-fr.com

Votre Chavdar

[libicca]

Hi all,

I am so happy this morning, my partner and I went to the post office fetch her passport, and the residence card was inside!
Huge feeling of relief! we first applied in oct 2008.

We never made an official complain on SOLVIT but wrote a letter mentionng the way we were being treated. A Manchester guy called us, and 2 weeks later, we had ALL our documents sent back, and again 2 weeks later, my partner's passport!.

Thanks to all of you for your support, this forum has been really helpful to us and made us feel better.
Good luck to those who are still waiting: don't hesitate to add evidence, pictures, bills, show you have money, lease, everything you can think about, and to write to know what's going on.

Last question, does my partner need a shengen visa to travel, as she now has a visa for beeing the family member of an EEA....??

thanks!

[kkk]

Hi all,

I am so happy this morning, my partner and I went to the post office fetch her passport, and the residence card was inside!
Huge feeling of relief! we first applied in oct 2008.

We never made an official complain on SOLVIT but wrote a letter mentionng the way we were being treated. A Manchester guy called us, and 2 weeks later, we had ALL our documents sent back, and again 2 weeks later, my partner's passport!.

Thanks to all of you for your support, this forum has been really helpful to us and made us feel better.
Good luck to those who are still waiting: don't hesitate to add evidence, pictures, bills, show you have money, lease, everything you can think about, and to write to know what's going on.

Last question, does my partner need a shengen visa to travel, as she now has a visa for beeing the family member of an EEA....??

thanks!

Wow, alas!

After all the waits and its finally here. What a sigh of relief you guys must have now.

Congrats!!

Last question, does my partner need a shengen visa to travel, as she now has a visa for beeing the family member of an EEA....??

Well, Your Partner doesn't need a shengen visa IF She's accompanying or joining you there in which case She has to carry her passport (with RC of course) and prove of relationship/marriage (Marriage Cert.) to an EEA.

Hope this help!

[libicca]

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Huge relief yes!
The wait is crazy and knowing we were kind of stuck in the Uk was tough to bear. All good now.

I've read that civil partners of EEA citizens had to get a schengen, because the civil partnership is not recognised in france for example.

Where do you get your info from? Any number you advise me to call to put my mind at ease??

[kkk]

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Huge relief yes!
The wait is crazy and knowing we were kind of stuck in the Uk was tough to bear. All good now.

I've read that civil partners of EEA citizens had to get a schengen, because the civil partnership is not recognised in france for example.

Where do you get your info from? Any number you advise me to call to put my mind at ease??

Yea, I'd agree with you that some EU Member states do not recognized civil partnership, albeit EU Directive conferred same rights to both married and unmarried partners.

To me the Directive is very clear. While a married couple need to show prove/evidence of marriage (i.e Marriage Cert.), an Unmarried partners would need to show/prove they're in a "durable relationship".

Unfortunately, this is not practical when dealing with some Member States.

However, Your partner may wish to apply for a short stay visa (which is free anyways), at least to avoid long delays/arguments with the IOs at the port.

Good Luck, Mate!

[jerseycrow]

Hello. My name is charles, am in a similar situation, i am new to this forum, i have made an application on the eea2, and currently been waitng for 11months, i was wondering if u would be so kind to share your complaint letter with me, as i wish to start pressing the home office to process my application faster, ur help wuld be very much appreciated
many thanks

[kkk]

Hello. My name is charles, am in a similar situation, i am new to this forum, i have made an application on the eea2, and currently been waitng for 11months, i was wondering if u would be so kind to share your complaint letter with me, as i wish to start pressing the home office to process my application faster, ur help wuld be very much appreciated
many thanks

Hiya Jersey,

Just sent you a copy of the complaint letter via your e-mail/PM. Pls edit as suitable and appropriately.

Best Of Luck!!

[jerseycrow]

Thanks a lot kkk, really appreciate that. Will edit appropraitly and send asap, thanks a million

[kkk]

Thanks a lot kkk, really appreciate that. Will edit appropraitly and send asap, thanks a million

Great! Keep it simple and on point.

Again, All the best Mate!

[chico]

New member to the forum and in the same situation as y'all.. Applied for a eea2 but nothing wot so ever since 10months now... Not even a coa so now want to file a complaint if anyone would like to share a complaint letter i will really appreciate it... Thanks

[chico]

hi all,

i went through the worrying time of waiting for eea2 visa myself, and reading the related threads on this forum and other similar forums helped me to understand the situation better - so i thought i would share the timeline of my application with you all. I think that was the primary objective of this thread as well.

- sent out the application in a large box (i included as many supporting documents as possible) on 20th september 08
- ukba in liverpool returned most of the supporting documents on 24 september 08
- received certificate of application on 25th september 08
- heard nothing for 7 months
- registered a complaint with north west customer service unit on 27th april 09, both via email and post
- sent an email to the local mp to ask for help on 27th april 09
- received a letter from ukba that expressed their apologies for the delay and notified me that my application is allocated to a caseworker with the case id on 28th april 09
- my local mp sent a letter of enquiry to liverpool on 7th may 09
- received my passport with the residence card on 14th may 09 (the cover letter says the decision on my application was made on 30th april 09)

in total it took 7 months and 10 days for my case to be approved. The pa of my local mp said that, when she talked to ukba in liverpool, they said the processing time for eea2 has become 10 to 12 months, because ukba is strengthening its function of removing foreign national prisoners, which eventually slowed down european casework substantially (this information was also in the letter from ukba with regard to my complaint). Therefore i was prepared to wait 5 or 6 more months, but then, my passport arrived yesterday with the residence card... I have some friends who made eea2 applications much earlier than me, and they still haven't heard anything, so i think there were some factors in my application that prompted the process.

1. I cannot really say whether registering a complaint with north west customer service unit has definitely prompted the process of my application or not from my timeline, but from the facts that ukba sent a letter regarding my complaint on the next day of my complaint, and that the decision was made 2 days later, i would say registering a complaint can help.

2. I tried to make my complaint very polite, but persuasive and diplomatic. I emphasised that it is unfair that our professional and personal lives are constrained by the delay (with clear examples) and we are not given any other option to take than registering a complaint. If any of you want to see the content of my letter, i am very happy to share it with you if you contact me by email.

3. It seems that the decision on my case was already made before my local mp took his action, but it was still great to feel supported by the mp. My local mp was really supportive - his pa even rang my mobile for advice. So i definitely recommend contacting your local mps.

I hope that my experience can be of help for you. Until yesterday i was feeling lonely and worried and stressed and scared without my passport and not knowing when, and if my visa application will be approved. If i can be of any help, i would be happy to.

Oh, one last thing - i didn't use a solicitor for my application.

Kind regards

hi u221
would you kindly share your complaint letter with me as i have been waiting for 10 months no coa, no update need to file a complaint now.

Thanks