Good news

Today I came home from work and found the paper slip inviting us to the post office to pick a pocket special delivery. On it is the special delivery prepaid envolope which we posted on August 4. We will pick it tomorrow and I will update it. I am a little bit nervous, could they refuse? I entered on EEA Family permit and applied with my wife on EEC1. Tomorrow will let you know!

 

So cool!
I am 100% sure you got the visa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been already 11 weeks.
Although some people (like me too) get in 4 or 5 months, some people still get in 10 to 12 weeks!
I don´t know how they organize themselves inside Home Office.

All I know that the week 9 or 10 is crucial for an application with EEC1! Why do I tell that? Because most of people I know who applied with EEC1 (I know many of them because I keep always checkingall immigration foruns, talking to people, etc) got a decision with 9 weeks.

My visa too 18 weeks, but curiously it was approved in the week number 9, and the Home Office letter I got with visa states the date of April (9 weeks after I asked the visa).

Some of them got a letter from Home Office after 9 weeks too, asking more documents.
BUT in the cases they asked more documents, the Home Office sent a simple letter, not a recorded delivery.
So as you got through recorded delivery (that´s why you need to pick up from the post office, to sign) then I am quite sure you got the visa!!

I hope you can sleep well
Tomorrow share your story with us, ok?
Could I ask you something? Could you tell until when it´s valid? (so it´s possible to know when it was approved, which is exactly 5 years before the expire date).
Knowing when you applied, when it was approved and when you got, then we can make a rough timeline for others who are still waiting.
Thanks,
Glauco

 

Just something else:
In this same topic, Silvia&Rob just wrote a message telling they applied in the end of July and already got it last week, so it´s very likely you got it too, cause you applied one week after them, and get the visa now!!!

Good luck mate!

Glauco

 

UPDATE

Finally today I received our passports with my wife's blue residence permit and an endorsment in my passport valid for 5 years. The timeline of our application is:

Send documents on AUGUST 4 or 5 by special delivery
Received in Croydon next day.

Approval of our application on 20 September
Residence permit and endorsement on 13 OCtober
Received by special delivery 20 October

My wife is from Lithuania, and I am from Bulgaria. She is not working. I was working and she applied as a self-sufficient person through the income of her non eea husband. We came to the UK about 6 months ago. I came on an EEA Family Permit, as we were only visiting the UK. Once here, she liked it and decided to stay and exercise her right to do so. Ok, wish luck to all who are still waiting. Seems now they process those types of application a lot faster.

 

ygar, you don't need to wait for your residence permit before your family can join you here. They can apply for an EEA family permit at the British Consulate of their country and then they can come here to join you. Your whole family can apply for EEC1 residence permit together once they are in the UK.

Also why didn't you send your ID card to the Home Office instead? If you keep your passport you can travel to any place in the world, including countries where you normally need an ID card only.

 

ygar, sorry to hear the confusing information that you have been given. Anyway, since you have been waiting for five months already, hopefully you will get your residence permit soon.

Perhap you can send a fax to the IND and explain to them that you need to go to India to meet your family and request them to make a decision as soon as possible. Sometimes this may help. On the fax write down the reference number (if you have been given one) or the special delivery number/recorded delivery number. It that does not work, ask them if you could exchange your passport for your national ID. When my husband and I applied for our EEC1 residence permits, he submitted his ID only, and there was no problem.

Good luck.

 

Re: UPDATE

Thank you very much for this information! I am in the same situation and I would like to ask you: did you claim any benefits before you applied for visa??? Especially: child benefit and tax credits... and if - did it affect your visa application as 'self-sufficient'?
I will be truly gratefull for your answer!
Best Regards,
Mido

 

Reply

We have never claimed any benefits in the UK.

 

Re: UPDATE

Benifit? I don't think you are allowed to claim any benifit. If you do, that might be very difficult. They might say that you are not self-sufficient ,and disapprove your application. I don't think any one else applying for this VISA is actually claiming benifit? Is there? On my VISA, it's very clearly stated " No access to Public Fund" ie no benifit!

 

Ygar, You can request your passport back from the Home Office for travel or other purposes, and this does not withdraw your residency application, but may delay it (this applies only to European Applications, for other applications it would withdraw the application). So you could request your passport so you can travel to India. I don't see why you couldn't also request it back so you can make an application in India for the EEA family permit for your family members. I could be wrong, so I suggest you confirm this.

You should get your residency soon, but it is hard to say. My experience with getting the EEA family permit is that it is very quick (this was in America). The permit was sent back to us in 5 days after sending in the application!
Also, I requested passports back from Home Office for travel after applying for residency and this was not so quick. I got passports back it in maybe 10 days.

 

Some of you above say that your EEC1 application was approved, but then there was several weeks after before you got your permits/documents. Do you know why there is this lag time?

 

Have you called and asked for specific information on your application? If so, what have they said?

 

Since I know that everyone is interested in how long European Applications to the Home Office are taking these days and especially as I have found this site to be very helpful, I thought I'd add my own 2-cents as my husband (Spanish) and I (American) picked up our residence permit/document from the Post office today.

Application rcvd by Home office 2 Sept 2005
Granted 18 October
Stamped 8 November
Delivered 11 November

That makes for 10 weeks exactly. I did call to check on the status several times starting from the 6th week and sent a fax regarding upcoming travel (23 Nov) at the beginning of this month following instructions given on the phone...but that appears to have been after the actual decision was made.

I know that this process is very frustrating, especially when you can get no information other than "awaiting consideration" and "under consideration" as you wait...For us, this was our 2nd application after our previous one was mistakenly withdrawn by the home office after we had withdrawn our passports for work-related travel. And even after someone from the home office called us to tell us that we could have our passports back without withdrawing the application and that they would call us when our turn came up so that we could return the passports. This never happened.

Please, take my advice, do not blindly believe what you are told and just wait patiently. You must be pro-active and make sure that you know what is going on (of course, I wouldn't recommend calling or faxing every day). These people usually mean well, but it appears to be a very chaotic system with applications passing between many hands and not everything being well-documented. This is how our first application got screwed up.

But the good news is, things seem to be moving much better now than they were when we 1st applied in February...those of you who are still waiting for months and months, I offer my sympathy. Those who have submitted since 2 September, you can probably expect to hear 10 weeks from your submission if you included all the necessary materials (not sure if things take longer for accension countries or if the European national is a student, my husband has been working in the UK for 3 years). If you have been waiting for more than 8 weeks, I do recommend calling. And if no one helps you on line 1, try line 2. They seem much more willing to help in general.

Good luck to all!

Durochka

 

Hi Durochka,
thank you very much for your nice feedback. I am sure it´s going to help many people nad bring hope for others too!
Quite positive message from you, and congratulations on your visa.
10 weeks is quite good time actually. It´s somehow taking the same time than other non-EEA applications (ok, some takes 2 or 3 weeks), but according to the Home Office page it takes the same time.
I couldn´t believe much this:

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en ... ation.html?

They tell theyare processing applications from the September 5th. And actually it is quite true!

Enjoy the nice stick on your passport!

Glauco

 

I am non-EEA citizen married to an EEA citizen. I have been living in the UK for more than a year. My family member visa expired last August and my husband, then, applied for five-year residence. We still have not got the visa and I was offered a job now. The problem is that my visa had already expired for two days when we sent the application.

Does anyone know if I still have the right to work here while my visa hasn't been issued considering the visa had already expired when we sent the application to the Home Office? Other question: how can I prove to my future employer that I have the right to work here?

Thanks a lot.

 

asking for answers

http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l23010.htm

"The decision to grant or to refuse a first residence permit must be taken as soon as possible and in any event not later than six months from the date of application for the permit."

Complains about IND to:
EU Ombudsman
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

 

Efraga,
I am in a similar situation to you. My EEA family permit is expired; My spouse and I submitted EEC1 application before that but haven't received anything back yet, but now I have a job offer and have been struggling for several weeks now to prove my right to work to the employer. I will send you a PM about this.

 

EEA Family Permit

I had applied for an EEA family permit through a visa service in London at the end of August 2005. I recieved a phone call from them telling me that my spouses residence permit had been granted. She is from an A8 state but they had typed the wron date on my passport. Instead of the year ending 2010 (five years) they have mis type 2005. They have sent the passport back for correction. Does anyone know how long this would take to rectify. I really need my passport now. Its been about 3 months without any ID. I dont even have a Drivers Licence. Has anyone else had the same problem.

Many thanks

 

Hi,
I had the same problem. It took them 4 months and a half to get my residence permit given, and when I receive it i get a surprise: a spelling mistake in my name!!
And I needed my passport to travel to Spain for work, and actually I was quite afraid. I called the Home Office to ask them if I could travel with the spelling mistake in my visa and they told "we wouldn't recommend you to do that. If you do so then it's your responsability". They told some crap like this.
But do you know what I did? I got the visa and instead of sending it right away to the Home Office to correct it, first I opened bank account, then found a job, then applied for a National Insurance number, and went to register with the doctor, etc. I did everything before sending the passport back to the Home Office, and God I had no problem doing all these things, inclusively traveling abroad.
When I came back the immigration didn't even notice the mispelling in my visa. Then in the following week I traveled again and had no problem as well.

When I sent back to the Home Office, I waited 2 weeks. And when I called them they were always telling: "awaiting for consideration", and it's quite unfair cause this time was their mistake!! Then I sent a fax to them daily, and I sent a fax to the complaining Unit. And after 5 days I had the passport back in my hands! (I also had requested it back, I alleged that I needed it to a medical appointment). First I requested it back, then they took more than 10 working days, then I started to send fax everyday and a complaining letter, then after 5 days I got it with a correct stick in my passport.
Ah, and can you believe that they had mispelt it again? So now I have 3 sticks in my passport with this UK residence permit. 2 wrong and 1 correct one! At least they saw it in time before sending me back.

 

Hi, today we got back residency permit and document, and my name was also misspelled- one letter was dropped. I am the non-EEA family member so this is a concern. Also, our passports were not included with the documentation and I am worried that I will not have a stamp in my passport when they are sent back to us, because they crossed in the mail. I had to request my passport back for an employer which was ridiculous because they did not accept my EEA family permit as proof for working anyway and now I think they will not accept the residency document without a stamp in my passport.
I guess I should try very hard to get the stamp in my passport before it is sent back to me.
I recommend anyone sending stuff back to the home office to include a self-addressed SD envelope; otherwise they send stuff to you RD second class and it can take a week in the post.