Hello guys!
I would like to say that I made an application for a residence card (unmarried partner in a long term relationship with an EEA national) on the 27th December last year and I received the passports back this Monday, the 2nd of July.I was supposed to have received it on Friday, but the Royal Mail was on strike.They sent the passports back to me on the 28th of June. I just want to say thank you to all.Your posts helped me a lot in my long wait for the confirmation of my status."The name of the game is still patience".

 

Hi Everyone,

I have also applied for extension of my residence card. The timeline is like this:

08/01/07 - Sent my EEA2 application. Partner already has residence permit (EEA1).
09/07/07 - After 6 months and 1 day - I wrote a letter to the complaints unit (yes, Complaints Unit, and not to the European Directorate). In the complaint I advised them that they are in breach of the EU law regarding the 6 month's processing time delay
13/07/07 - Received a letter from the Complaints Unit department telling my query would be passed to the department who deals with it and I should hear back up 4 weeks.
20/07/07 - Received a letter from the European department telling that they are sorry for taking longer than 6 months according to the EU rules, but they are very busy, etc etc, and that they were dealing with my application that "very moment" - they wrote like this
23/07/07 Home Office sent my residence card. (According to the letter, it was processed on 19/07/07, same day than the letter they wrote to me). Processed on 19/07 but sent out on 23/07.

So now I GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Smile Valid for 5 years. A neighbour that I had never seem before picked up for me!

Curious: I called Home Office yesterday and they said that my application is "UNDER CONSIDERATION" - come on, they had even sent my documents to me!!!!!!!!!!

Today, after getting my passport in my hands I called them just to check, to test and they say that my application is under consideration! So crazy and unhelpful them!!

I just knew I was going to receive the package because of the special delivery pack I sent to them with my application.

I moved address during the processing time and gave them a new pre-paid special delivery pack with new address on it.
They used the OLD one with a sticker on it to amend the address and the NEW one they included inside the envelope. Why didn't they use the new envelope I provided???

That's it now. Next step will be permanent residence then!

Thanks for all the help and support. If anyone has any question feel free to ask me. I often check this forum!

 

Congrats!

Thats a standard reply.They never really look at the individual cases when asked.

 

We sent two special delivery envelopes with my wife's EEA2 application. One big one, with extra stamps on, for the complete set of documents to be returned. And a small one, immediately attached to my passport together with a sheet of paper asking that my EU passport be sent back immediately for travel purposes - written in *big* font (this was also mentioned in the cover letter, of course).

After 4 weeks (and my work-related travel fast approaching) I called them up and asked why my passport hadn't been returned yet. I was told to send a fax to the Home Office. A day after that, a case-worker called my wife, asking whether I really needed my passport back. (Unfortunately, my wife didn't have the nerve to say "Nah - we were just joking - keep it for the next six months!")
She was then told that my passport would be put in the mail that same day and we should receive it within 10 days. Yes, 10 days! While we were still wondering why this should be so, the phone rang again. It was the same woman and she said "No - of course I meant tomorrow." My wife replied that we had been surprised about the 10-day delivery time since we had included a special delivery envelope with the application. She then heard the case-worker shuffle some things around and then got the reply "Oh - now I see it. Thank you!". The passport did indeed arrive the following day - but I guess you know what's coming... Yes, she used the big one, addressed to my wife rather than the one that was attached to my passport. Duh!

If it wasn't so tragic, it would actually be funny! ;-)

 

Working while waiting

Hello people,

I want to congratulate all of you cause this is one of the best resources available on line to people that have doubts about everything related to Immigration.
I just want to understand one thing. I am a portuguese national and my wife, brazilian. We came to UK in October and she had that EEA Family Permit valid for 6 months. Before expiration of that visa, she applied for the EEA2 in March this year. Home Office are still "Awaiting further consideration".My wife now got a new job and her manager is telling her that she could not put her in the rota next week cause she doesn't have a Visa. Is there anything wrong here or this is really the right procedure? Can we do something about that?

Thank you all in advance,

Eryck

 

Re: Working while waiting

Based on what I have read in the past few weeks:
Your wife doesn't need a visa, nor does she need a work permit. You are exercising treaty rights (presuming that you are a qualified person) and she has the right to live and work in the UK from the day *you* enter the country. In fact, her parents have the same right.
You should have received a certificate of application soon after you sent in your application, and this explicitly states her right to work in the UK even before she is issued a residence card. On this confirmation, there's also a section for "Prospective employers" which lists a phone number her manager can call - it's 0845 010 6677.
Good luck!

 

Working while waiting

Hello sebhoff,

Thank you for the quick response.
Yes, she did receive this certificate of application. I know that she has the right and this is the problem. What I see is that her manager doesn't have any understanding about working in UK.
She said that the manager called Home Office and they will send some application for her, she will complete it with my wife, and they will send back to Home Office. After that, Home Office will send some kind of proof that she is waiting for her visa, or something like that.
I think that the right thing for her (manager) to do, it would be granting my wife's work till this document arrive but, I really don't know what to do to resolve this issue.
Any help?

Thanks again,

Eryck

 

Re: Working while waiting

No - sorry, I have no experience with this kind of situation. It sounds odd that your wife would have to fill in an application for something that she has the right to do anyway - but nothing surprises me anymore.
The confirmation you received states that "IND anticipates that in the majority of cases this acknowledgment will be sufficient to satisfy a prospective employer" - but they don't say anything about the minority of cases. ;-)
One option is of course that you show your wife's employer the relevant regulations and the copies of the original certificates and documents that you were forced to part with for 6 months. The other option is probably Solvit (http://ec.europa.eu/solvit/site/index_en.htm) - but I suspect that won't solve things in the short run as they have a target of finding solutions to problems within 10 weeks.
Again, good luck! <sarcasm alert on>And just remember, all of this is in the interest of "Building a safe, just and tolerant society"!<sarcasm alert off>

 

Working while waiting

Hello sebhoff,

Thanks for your help, anyway, at least I know that I am not a crazy one thinking that she has the right to work here and she doesn't need any working permit but, like you said, the are just "building a safe, just and a tolerant society" but you have to wait, at least, 6 months to start building it hehehe

Thanks again for your help,

Eryck

 

Just a note to tell you that I got my passport back with the 5-year Residence Card.

My total waiting time is a few days over 5 months.

They are slow, but they will come. But it helps if you include a prepaid Special Delivery envelope.

Good luck to all of you.

 

EEA2 Waiting Time

Hello winterbird,

I saw on the HO site that they are processing the March 2007.
My wife's documents were received by the HO in 06th, March, 2007, it will 5 months in 5 days.
Maybe we will receive our documents soon
I will update the thread as soon as we receive it.

Cheers,

Eryck

 

Visa Arrived

Hello people,

Just to let you know that my wife's visa has arrived, 5 years valid.
Total time: 5 months and 5 days.
Good luck to all of you.

Cheers,

Eryck

 

Here's a nice joke for everybody else who is waiting:

Source: http://www.yourrights.org.uk/your-rights/chapters/rights-of-immigrants/...

Does anybody know how long it takes to get a British passport?

 

Today is my 6th month for EEA2...no reply

Hi, I'm an American citizen married to a German. Have submitted my EEA 2 application 12 Feb. The receipt of application is dated 20 Feb.

I called today and told them that they are now in breach of EU law. They said that the law has been changed (what??) and that the results will take 'slightly longer'. Asked how they define 'slightly longer' and reply was 'can't really say'. Why say it then...he gave me a fax number to write and ask. Don't know if this is the Complaints department but will fax anyways.

My employment contract is due to be extended, granted I submit eligibility to work in the UK.

Does anyone know if the law has indeed been changed just because the poor Home Office personnels can't cope?

Thanks!!

 

Re: Today is my 6th month for EEA2...no reply

Huh??? That sounds very odd indeed.
For me, Directive 2004/38/EU still reads as follows and I'm not aware of any changes to this.

Have you called a second time to get a confirmation on this?

Incidentally, can you sue Britain for their breach of the directive? In Brussels?
Since I'm tired of waiting and having a wife who's stuck stuck in this country, I'm currently thinking about writing up a petition to the European Parliament: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/parliament/public/staticDisplay.do?id=49
Not that it would really change anything, but at least it gives me the impression that I'm doing something. And the mis-information and non-information of the HO is definitely content that qualifies for a valid petition. Would you be game to cooperate on this?

 

Hi, thanks for your reply. On your suggestion, I did call again and this time, they tell me that the 6 months is a 'guideline' and no matter how many times I said, ' no, it is the EU law', the replies were 'I cannot comment on that, madam, but it is a guideline.'

I'm totally game on the petitioning. I'm sorry for your wife. Who wants to by choice stay in England when the summer is miserable and your passport is held hostage by very inefficient administration!

 

I've sent you a PM with my e-mail address...
Sebastian

 

Hi Kazzmoro,
Now that your application completed 6 months, you have the right to complain!
To complain I suggest that you sent a letter to the COMPLAINTS UNIT.
Don't complain directly to the European Directorate as they will ignore it.

Send a letter to the complaints unit. Yes, send a letter in a recorded mail. It's better to send special delivery. They will receive next day and you also have proof of posting.

When writing the letter, give the recorded mail delivery that you used when you submitted your application, so they can find your file easily, etc.

After complaining, I am sure that in about 2 weeks time you receive your passport back!! That's what happened to me!
Because the thing is: they see you are right and they are in breach of the law, and as they see you wrote a recorded mail, they must answer, and as they are in breach they cannot give a proper answer, so they simply process the application and give an answer like: "sorry, but we have been busy, but please find enclosed your residence card". Something like that.

Better writing a special delivery letter to them. Better than faxing!

 

Complaints Unit

Hi Sebhof, Hi Glauco,

Thank you for your support and encouragement! I've received a call from the HO complaints unit lady yesterday who's put a case worker on it. Mind you, they have 4 weeks to look into the case... amazing.

Taking Seb's suggstion, I've sent in a query to Signpost service. Let's see what legal experts say on HO's dubious claim about EU law being 'changed' or interpreted as a 'guideline'!

I'll keep you posted. Hope it works out and that it does come back to me in 2 weeks! That'd be so so nice.

 

right of free movement

I've just got off the phone with somebody called Nick at the Home office - I asked him a few questions about procedures for EEA2 applications. And I got an interesting reply... ;-)

I asked:
"I see that applications are taking a long time. Can the applicant get their passport back to travel to a different EU Member state while the application is being processed?"

He said that we could in principle ask for the passport to be returned and that we would have to check with the British Embassy of the country to which we are travelling whether they would be ready to issue a second Family Permit - if it has already expired. Some embassies apparently only issue them once, he said. He would only recommend this in urgent cases.
I then said "what if we just want to go on holiday and it's not urgent", to which he replied that they normally advise people not to travel while their applications are being processed. I then said: "So in effect, you are restricting the applicant's right of free movement inside the EU" - to which he replied "Yes, that's correct"!!!

So a HO-worker openly admits that the UK authorities are not correctly implementing the EU directive 2004/38 - or am I completely off here? ;-)
sebhoff