Post
by jumpingzombie » Thu Apr 09, 2015 12:19 am
Hello.
I will just tell you my experiences.
I'm a no-visa national to the UK.
I have requested my passport return twice to UKBA.
1st time
It may be not up-to-date information, as this story is from 2010.
I applied for the RC in the middle of February in 2010, and requested my passport back in March/April for a travel purpose.
There was no online application form to request any documents back at that time, as long as I knew, so I contacted UKBA by phone to request it without withdrawing my application for the RC(EEA2), got my passport back and traveled abroad in April 2010. I had the EEA family permit valid for 6 months(expired in June 2010) at that time.
Eventually, I received the RC in August 2010, exactly after 6 months waiting, as a freestanding document (sticker on a A4 paper).
2nd time
This is a recent story.
I applied for the PR(previous EEA4 form) at 21/01/15, and I requested my passport return at 10/03/15 by online form. As I remember, there was a question if I wanted to withdraw the application for the PR, or wanted to request my passport(or any documents that have submitted) return without withdrawing. I certainly chose "without withdrawing my application". I received my passport around 20/03/15, traveled abroad 01-05/04/15(last week).
I remember there were some declarations I had to tick, as "if I ask for documents back, the application may take longer to process" etc etc on the online document return application. But, I wasn't really afraid of them, because of my experience in 2010.
Actually, a letter from UKBA was attached when I received my passport returned, writing as " you need to apply for the EEA FP returning to the UK etc etc", but I regarded those wordings as something like "auto-response that doesn't apply for each individual case", so, I traveled to abroad carrying the marriage certificate, my husband's passport and the tenancy contract. My current visa, the RC hasn't expired yet(going to be expired sometime in July this year), so my immigration status in the UK is legal. Anyways, I am legal since I am a direct family member of an EEA citizen residing in the UK, though.
So, I've just been waiting for the PR.