O&B vs Netherlands

Waiting for an internal review by Home Office of their handling of this request.

Dear Home Office

On 12 March 2014, CJEU ruled that "Article 21(1) TFEU must be interpreted as meaning that where a Union citizen has created or strengthened a family life with a third‑country national during genuine residence, pursuant to and in conformity with the conditions set out in Article 7(1) and (2) and Article 16(1) and (2) of Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States amending Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 and repealing Directives 64/221/EEC, 68/360/EEC, 72/194/EEC, 73/148/EEC, 75/34/EEC, 75/35/EEC, 90/364/EEC, 90/365/EEC and 93/96/EEC, in a Member State other than that of which he is a national, the provisions of that directive apply by analogy where that Union citizen returns, with the family member in question, to his Member State of origin. Therefore, the conditions for granting a derived right of residence to a third‑country national who is a family member of that Union citizen, in the latter’s Member State of origin, should not, in principle, be more strict than those provided for by that directive for the grant of a derived right of residence to a third‑country national who is a family member of a Union citizen who has exercised his right of freedom of movement by becoming established in a Member State other than the Member State of which he is a national. "

That is:
1. A residence period of at least three months is required
2. Weekend visits and holidays do not count as residence for this purpose
3. Any citizen of the Union can potentially benefit from this right, not just workers and the self employed
4. During the period of residence family life must have been “created or strengthened” (

The full judgment can be found at: http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/do...

Please provide, as a request being made under the FOI Act:
a) guidance issued to UKVI caseworkers and border staff in relation to this judgment
b) timescales for when UK regulations will be amended to incorporate this court ruling

Regards

BritCits

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Dear Home Office,

Please pass this on 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 'O&B vs Netherlands'.

- no acknowledgement received
- time delay

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...

Yours faithfully,

BritCits

FOI Requests, Home Office

Thank you for contacting the Home Office FOI Requests mailbox.

The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 provides public access to
recorded information held by the department.

If you have submitted a valid FoI request, we will acknowledge your
request within 48 hours, and aim to provide the information requested
within 20 working days as specified under the FoI Act

PLEASE NOTE

If you have a general immigration enquiry, or require an update on a
specific case, you should contact UKVI directly, contact information can
be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... and
[1]https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration

General enquiries should be directed to
[2][email address]  

 

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FOI Responses, Home Office

1 Attachment

Please find attached, a response to your Freedom of Information request.

Information Access Team

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Dear FOI Responses

Thank you for your reply dated 1 April 2015.

I am surprised that no guidance has been issued to caseworkers and border staff on O&B given it's been over a year since the ruling.

However, from your response to the second part of my original FOI request and my own experience of some individual cases which were granted UK Family Permits and Residence Cards on the basis of O&B, particularly further to their contacting Linda Bateman, it appears there has been discussion about O&B within the Home Office.

Please therefore as a request under the FOI Act, release the internal communications made within the Home Office on O&B vs Netherlands, Home Office's reaction to the judgment and thoughts on the implementation.

Yours sincerely,

BritCits

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PLEASE NOTE

If you have a general immigration enquiry, or require an update on a specific case, you should contact UKVI directly, contact information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... and https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration

General enquiries should be directed to [email address]<mailto:[email address]>

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FOI Responses, Home Office

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BritCits left an annotation ()

Because of the error messages here, the second request continues here: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...

FOI Requests, Home Office

BritCits

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This has been assigned to a caseworker (new case ref 34947) who will respond to you in due course.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you

FOI Requests

Home Office

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Sukwant Singh left an annotation ()

Don't be suprised if they refuse under one of the following exemptions: vexatious, data protection, ministerial (note that ho use ministerial for civil servants to for some unlawful reason)

FOI Responses, Home Office

1 Attachment

Dear BritCits

 

 

Please find enclosed response to your FOI request.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Information Access Team

 

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
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Dear Home Office,

Please pass this on 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 'O&B vs Netherlands'.

I question the claim that responding to my request would entail over 24 man hours to collate the information. This should be readily available in a folder or drive, and whilst I would expect it to take a few hours, over 24 qould elad to questioning HO competency!

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...

Yours faithfully,

BritCits

FOI Requests, Home Office

Thank you for contacting the Home Office FOI Requests mailbox.

The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 provides public access to
recorded information held by the department.

If you have submitted a valid FoI request, we will acknowledge your
request within 48 hours, and aim to provide the information requested
within 20 working days as specified under the FoI Act

PLEASE NOTE

If you have a general immigration enquiry, or require an update on a
specific case, you should contact UKVI directly, contact information can
be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... and
[1]https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration

General enquiries should be directed to
[2][email address]  

 

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

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1. https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration
2. mailto:[email address]

FOI Requests, Home Office

1 Attachment

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Please find response to your Internal Review attached.

 

Kind regards

 

Home Office

 

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
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Dear FOI Requests,

As requested, an amended request:

Your response to ym request with reference 34947 indicates that the Home Office has been considering how to amend the legislation in light of the O&B judgment. As I have indicated I am aware that Linda Bateman has been involved in such considerations.

Please therefore as a request under the FOI Act, release internal communications relating to this judgment in period 12 March 2014 to 31 December 2014. Rather than limit it to items such as Home Office's reaction to the judgement and thoughts on implementation, I will keep my request broad so you do not have to spend time filtering out communications. I trust this will limit it to 24 man hours as the work should be done on a computer as opposed to sifting through hundreds of paper files.

Yours sincerely,

BritCits

FOI Requests, Home Office

Thank you for contacting the Home Office FOI Requests mailbox.

The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 provides public access to
recorded information held by the department.

If you have submitted a valid FoI request, we will acknowledge your
request within 48 hours, and aim to provide the information requested
within 20 working days as specified under the FoI Act

PLEASE NOTE

If you have a general immigration enquiry, or require an update on a
specific case, you should contact UKVI directly, contact information can
be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... and
[1]https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration

General enquiries should be directed to
[2][email address]  

 

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

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1. https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration
2. mailto:[email address]

FOI Requests, Home Office

BritCits

Thank you for contacting the Home Office

This will be handled as an Time Complaint of your Freedom of Information request (case ref 34947) and has been assigned to a caseworker to investigate and respond to you in due course.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you

FOI Requests
Home Office

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Dear FOI Requests,

I'm not sure why this is being handled as a Time Complaint - it's not a Time Complaint, in fact I amended the scope of my request as per your suggestion!

Yours sincerely

BritCits

FOI Requests, Home Office

Dear Britcits,

This is being handled as an Internal Review, the "Time complaint" is an error.

Yours sincerly

FOI Team

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Dear FOI Requests,

Thank you for the correction, however I'm not sure why it's being classed as an Internal Review either - I amended the request as per your suggestion. I would have thought this would now be treated as a brand new request?

Yours sincerely,

BritCits

FOI Requests, Home Office

Thank you for contacting the Home Office FOI Requests mailbox.

The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 provides public access to
recorded information held by the department.

If you have submitted a valid FoI request, we will acknowledge your
request within 48 hours, and aim to provide the information requested
within 20 working days as specified under the FoI Act

PLEASE NOTE

If you have a general immigration enquiry, or require an update on a
specific case, you should contact UKVI directly, contact information can
be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... and
[1]https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration

General enquiries should be directed to
[2][email address]  

 

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration
2. mailto:[email address]

FOI Requests, Home Office

BritCits

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This has been assigned to a caseworker (new case ref 35833) who will respond to you in due course.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you

FOI Requests
Home Office

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FOI Requests, Home Office

1 Attachment

Dear Britcits,

 

Please find the attached internal review response.

 

Regards

 

Home Office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Dear Home Office,

Please pass this on 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 'O&B vs Netherlands'.

There is no reason why this work would take over 24 hours man work to carry out. Please respond or note I will take this to the ICO, both in relation to the non-disclosure of information and the time delay.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...

Yours faithfully,

BritCits

Kevin Armstrong left an annotation ()

So, nearly 3 months since the last communication from the HO and considerably longer since the initial request, the information required is still not being made available.
One must ask the simple question, why?

I placed my own FOI recently on a related matter and the response was that to use Surinder Singh, the applicant needed to be employed or self-employed in the third party EU country. That is clearly at odds with the judgement in the case here as study and self-sufficiency are ways to complete the route.

The procrastinations are shameful and an insult to the many BRITISH citizens who need clarity on this matter.