Honouring Residence Cards from EEA states en lieu of an entry visa
Dear Home Office,
On 26 April 2012 the European Commission gave the UK two months in which to comply with European rules on the free movement of EEA citizens (directive 2004/38/EC). With regards to residence cards I quote the following from
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesActi...
"The Free Movement Directive guarantees that non-EU family members of EU citizens who hold a valid residence card issued by one EU country can travel together with EU citizens within the European Union without an entry visa. The UK laws do not grant this important right which lies at the heart of free movement."
What steps, if any, is this Office taking to incorporate this into the Immigration (EEA) Rules, or are we to expect the disregard for family members to continue, with the consequent referral of the UK to the European Court of Justice, a needless waste of the taxpayer's money?
The UK, of all EU states, EEA states and Switzerland, is the only county which still refuses to honour this, placing an unreasonable burden on all EEA citizens who wish to travel to the UK accompanied by their family members.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Willmer
Dear Home Office,
It has come to my attention that my request for information concerning the above has received no reply whatsoever. By law, you should have answered by 21 June 2012 and we are now on 22 June 2012.
It would be a pleasure to know the Home Office's views on the subject and I look forward to receiving your prompt reply.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Willmer
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Reference : T8755/12
Thank you for your email enquiry of 22 June.
A reply is attached.
Dear B McGuire,
Thank you for your reply dated 27 June 2012.
You refer to letters I sent to Dame Anne Begg MP and Lord Hunt of Kingsheath on the same subject, albeit emphasising different points. On the same date I also wrote to the Home Office, but I believe my letter did not reach you. I attach bellow a copy for your convenience.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Willmer
From: Richard Willmer
22 May 2012
Dear Home Office,
On 26 April 2012 the European Commission gave the UK two months in
which to comply with European rules on the free movement of EEA
citizens (directive 2004/38/EC). With regards to residence cards I
quote the following from
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesActi...
"The Free Movement Directive guarantees that non-EU family members
of EU citizens who hold a valid residence card issued by one EU
country can travel together with EU citizens within the European
Union without an entry visa. The UK laws do not grant this
important right which lies at the heart of free movement."
What steps, if any, is this Office taking to incorporate this into
the Immigration (EEA) Rules, or are we to expect the disregard for
family members to continue, with the consequent referral of the UK
to the European Court of Justice, a needless waste of the
taxpayer's money?
The UK, of all EU states, EEA states and Switzerland, is the only
county which still refuses to honour this, placing an unreasonable
burden on all EEA citizens who wish to travel to the UK accompanied
by their family members.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Willmer
Dear Home Office,
I am still awaiting for the reply to my querry of 22 June 2012. Will it be coming soon?
Yours faithfully,
Richard Willmer
Dear Sir/Madam,
Could you please forward this message to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Home Office's handling of my FOI request 'Honouring Residence Cards from EEA states en lieu of an entry visa'.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ho...
Yours sincerely,
Richard Willmer
Thank you for contacting the FOI Requests mailbox.
Your message has been logged and will be dealt with shortly.
We aim to provide a response to all FOI requests within 20 working days.
If your message is with regard to an existing FOI case or is a general
query please ensure you have left any file references and contact details.
Thank you.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.
Reference : T13804/12
Thank you for your e-mail enquiry of 02/10/2012 14:15:52
A reply is attached.
Dear Lee Sheen,
I made a request to the Home Office under the Freedom of Information act. Why do you tell me this was not so?
As you mention, I have been in contact with both peers and both of them sent me their replies, attaching Mr. Green's reply to them. None of these deal with the issue of this request, which concerns the systematic disregard for Community Law on the part of the UK when it comes to honouring Residence Cards from EEA states en lieu of an entry visa, and even if they did, I wrote to the Home Office, requesting information that should either be released or denied, provided this denial is justified and see no reason to settle for less.
Am I to understand that you are in a roundabout way and with no basis in law refusing to give this information?
Yours Sincerely,
Richard Willmer
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Robert Simpson left an annotation ()
I always explicitly say "this is an FOI request".
But I think you are not required to do so if I remember correctly. Plus the email Subject line I think says "FOI Request" if I am not mistaken.