General EEA(FM) queries

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Dear Home Office

The following general queries pertain to the submission of an EEA(FM) residence card as the (non-EEA) spouse of an EEA national. Please would you be kind enough to answer these at your earliest convenience.

1. Do the EEA 2006 regulations preclude a new EEA(FM) application from being submitted whilst an appeal at the immigration tribunal is underway for a previously lodged, yet declined, EEA/UK residence card?

2. Do the EEA 2006 regulations preclude an EEA(FM) application from being considered should the applicant fail to surrender a previously issued EEA/UK residence card with the new application? If such documentation needs to be assessed with the new EEA(FM) application for validation purposes, is a certified photocopy of the previously issued (and still valid) EEA/UK residence card considered acceptable?

3. If the applicant chooses not to use the template form EEA(FM) in applying for a EEA/UK residence card, what essential information and documentation is required as a minimum standard for the Home Office to assess the application?

4. In the case of a second/third/etc application of a EEA/UK resident card by means of an EEA(FM) application, whereby residence documentation was previously issued to the same individual in an unchanged relationship with the same EEA spouse, is a photocopy of the EU national’s passport sufficient for the application to be processed? This is based on the assumption that the still-valid EEA national’s passport has already been verified when the initial residence documentation was granted and is presumably still on file. The case of Barnett and others (2012) UKUT 142 (IAC) would seem to support this.

5. Can the applicant assert that the EEA national is exercising more than one qualification status in his/her treaty rights during the period of application e.g. both in the capacity of self sufficient and a jobseeker, or student and worker. As a six month period is mandated for consideration, rather than a specific day, such transitions may naturally occur, which is catered for in the EEA 2006 regulations. If this is the case, would all assertions (qualification statuses) be tested for validity? Would the application then be approved if at least one of those assertions was found to be in existence on the date of consideration?

6. In the case of a “worker” pursuing multiple contractual temporary positions through an employment agency, is it sufficient to include details of the employment agency, rather than any specific organisation where the “worker” is temporarily based.

7. If the answer to point 6 is no, how should the applicant, in reality, keep the Home Office abreast of upcoming work assignments when he/she might only know about these assignments (through the employment agency) a day or two in advance? What if the application were to be assessed when the applicant is taking a short break between jobs? Are any safeguards in place to cater for such eventualities? Or is this down to sheer luck?

8. Please would you clarify the minimum requirements for ‘Comprehensive Sickness Insurance’ in the case of a EEA national asserting self sufficient qualification status.

9. In the case of a jobseeker seeking to assert that he/she stands a genuine chance of engagement, what form of evidence would the Home Office expect the applicant to provide? What time horizon would the Home Office typically consider, prior to EEA(FM) application submission, to assess relevant job applications, interview invitations etc.

Thank you.

[name removed]

FOI Requests, Home Office

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FOI Requests, Home Office

[name removed],

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 38117). We will aim to send you a full response by 11/02/2016 which is twenty working days from the date we received your request.

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

Thank you,

P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
Home Office

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Dear FOI Requests

Kindly note that this response is overdue.

Please expedite the reply as it is now past 20 working days.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

[name removed]

FOI Requests, Home Office

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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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Dear Home Office,

Kindly action a response to this FOI urgently - this is now 5 days overdue and I am sending the second reminder.

As required by law, this should have been received on/before 11th February, 20 working days after the FOI request was received.

Thank you.

[name removed]

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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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Dear FOI Requests

This response is incredibly late. Almost four weeks overdue, in fact.

I remind you that the Home Office is bound by the Freedom of Information Act and a 20 working day turnaround time. This has been far exceeded. Kindly respond immediately.

Yours sincerely,

[name removed]

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The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 provides public access to
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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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Dear FOI Requests,

This is totally unacceptable. This response is now a month overdue, despite numerous reminders being sent to the Home Office.

The only logical conclusion I can deduce is that the Home Office is deliberately avoiding replying to this FOI request, which is not all permissible in terms of the FOI Act.

I request that the Home Office clarify its position immediately so that I can take the necessary action to ensure that the FOI Act is indeed complied with.

Yours sincerely,

[name removed]

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The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 provides public access to
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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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Home Office

Due to your non response and, hence non compliance with the FOI Act, a complaint has been lodged with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

A reference number has been assigned to this case (FS50617206) and a letter written to yourselves demanding a response by 29 March 2016 at the latest.

I ask that you attend to this urgently and by the above mentioned date at the very latest.

Yours sincerely,

[name removed]

FOI Requests, Home Office

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

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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

Dear [name removed]

 

Please find enclosed a reply to your correspondence of 15 February about
the issue of Residence Cards to the non EEA spouse of an EEA national.  I
apologise for the delay in replying.

 

Regards

 

Central Correspondence Team

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Dear Central Correspondence Team

Thank you for your response today. The information provided is indeed helpful.

However, kindly note that question 5 has not been answered. This states:

"Can the applicant assert that the EEA national is exercising more than one qualification status in his/her treaty rights during the period of application e.g. both in the capacity of self sufficient and a jobseeker, or student and worker. As a six month period is mandated for consideration, rather than a specific day, such transitions may naturally occur, which is catered for in the EEA 2006 regulations. If this is the case, would all assertions (qualification statuses) be tested for validity? Would the application then be approved if at least one of those assertions was found to be in existence on the date of consideration?"

Merely pointing to regulation 6 in the EEA regulations in no way addresses this. The question is whether an applicant can *simultaneously* hold two or more qualification statuses e.g. self sufficient *and* worker

Please also note that the ICO has set a deadline of 29th March to receive a full response. I would therefore appreciate receiving this information in the next week to bring this matter to a close.

Yours sincerely,

[name removed]

FOI Requests, Home Office

1 Attachment

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

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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 Requests, Home Office

[name removed],

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This Internal Review has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 38117). We will aim to send you a full response by 25/04/2016 which is twenty working days from the date we received your request.

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

Thank you,

P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
Home Office

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DMC (Croydon), Home Office

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your email correspondence of 14th January.

Sorry for the delay in replying to your email.

1. You cannot have more than one application outstanding at the same time.

2. As the application form and guidance states you must submit:

Any biometric residence permits or residence cards (biometric format) previously issued to you and/or your family members

If you can’t submit the above documents, you must explain why and submit any relevant supporting evidence (e.g. police lost property report or crime reference number).a previous biometric residence permit or residence card should be submitted

3. The application form should be used to make an application and provide all the documentation that is requested on the application form and guidance notes.

4. please see page 3 of the Guidance notes " Proof of identity and nationality" for information on documents that need to be provided with the application.

5. the applicant must show how and what treaty rights are being used and to provide the relevant documents that are asked for, it is then up to the caseworkers to make a decision.

6. Please see page 87 of the application form and page 10 onwards of the guidance notes for details of acceptable documentation required to show how the sponsor is qualified as a worker.

7. You do not need to keep the Home office informed going forward but you must prove what treaty rights are being exercised when an application is being made and the application will be decided based on the documents sent in at the time of application.

8. See section 15 of the Guidance notes for proof of comprehensive sickness insurance for self-sufficient persons.

9. Section 17 of the Guidance notes and page 87 of the application form states what proof you need to submit if the EEA national is a jobseeker.

I have included the link to our website for the application form and Guidance notes below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...


I hope this information is helpful.


Yours Faithfully,

M. Smyth
UK Visas and Immigration

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FOI Responses, Home Office

1 Attachment

Dear [name removed],

 

Please see the attached outcome of the internal review into FOI request
38117.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

L. Picton

 

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