Hi everybody,

I am a non-EEA national living since March, 2009 in the UK with my husband, who is an EEA national. Before coming to the UK to settle I applied for a Family Permit, and once I was here I applied for the Residence Card, which amazingly was processed within less than a month.

Since my passport was due to expire last July I had it renewed in March then applied to the UK Border Agency to have my Residence Card transferred from the old passport to the new one. I assumed this should be fairly quick since it had taken them less than a month to grant me the Residence Card in the first place. However, after five months I had still not received my documents back. Since I'm traveling to see my family at the end of September, I asked for my passports (both the old and the new) back. They sent me my passports back along with a letter saying that if I left the UK then wished to return I would have to apply again for a Family Permit in my country, for which I would need to provide all the supporting evidence that is still being held by the UK BA.

My question is, if my Residence Card is still valid, wouldn't it be enough to show both the old passport containing said RC and the new one at passport control? I think it makes absolutely no sense for me to need to apply for another Family Permit, since I do have a valid Residence Card, and I am fully settled in the UK, with a part-time job, National Insurance number, etc. Also, as I mentioned before, all the supporting evidence I would need to provide is still with the BA, and I'm only traveling for a couple of weeks, which means there would probably not even be enough time for me to apply, and for them to process my application, for a Family Permit.

Has anybody else been in a similar situation? Can anyone give me advice on this?