Assuming you are a family member (spouse) of an EEA national, you can work, although not all employers are aware of it (unmarried partners do not have the right to work until the application is dealt with). You cannot really blame the employers - the official guide to determine whether you may be employable is 40 pages long, hard to read, and still extremely incomplete.

But you will need the certificate of application. If you have not received it, you should complain. First, you should write to the customer service team NWCSU@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk , which usually respond by letter within a few days. If that does not work, you can either ask you Member of Parliament to contact the UKBA, or you can get SOLVIT involved (you need to contact the SOLVIT office responsible for your EEA partner, not the UK office).

 

Re: Thanks thsths

Give them a reasonable time before complaining - and the definition is up to you. I would expect a response 3 working days after the letter has been received, but I guess you could also argue a week or two. More than that would be too long.

And the document is the first link at http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... alworking/ . Your option is probably the Certificate of Application together with your passport.

 

I was in the same situasion as you for a bit. I had just sent my passport off to the home office, and had to get a new job the very next week. Luckily I did receive my Certificate of Application but it took a while trying to explain to my employer that it was enough to allow me to work (although its illegal for them to do so, my guess is that a lot of employers won't hire on this basis, as they don't know the rules)

You should definately have the application certificate already, if not give the home office a call!