Reconsideration of decisions to refuse British citizenship

[Aneta123]

Hello, I recently had my British citizenship application refused on the following ground (I am citing the letter I received): “ As we can not be satisfied from the evidence provided that you have been exercising your treaty rights correctly for a continuous period of 5 years you do not meet the requirement which are set out on our website at www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-citizen and you application has been refused”

I am very confused with this letter and I am struggling to understand what was missing from my application as I used the Nationality Checking Service. Could somebody explain what actually went wrong?

In short, I came to UK for the first time in February 2006, started working and registered with WRS and stayed till October 2006. Then I came to UK for the second time back in September 2008 and have been living in UK since then.

I am a Polish national (A8 country) which would normally mean the need to register under WRS, but I was a full time student at UK university, so I thought I was exempt from that and did not registered with WRS for the second time.

Did I need to register with WRS scheme for the second time when I started working in 2009 after completing 1 year of studies?

The letter also mentions the opportunity to fill the form NR - Reconsideration of decisions to refuse British citizenship. Does anybody have experience with this form and/or might be willing to help me with this?

[Casa]

Hello, I recently had my British citizenship application refused on the following ground (I am citing the letter I received): “ As we can not be satisfied from the evidence provided that you have been exercising your treaty rights correctly for a continuous period of 5 years you do not meet the requirement which are set out on our website at http://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-citizen and you application has been refused”

I am very confused with this letter and I am struggling to understand what was missing from my application as I used the Nationality Checking Service. Could somebody explain what actually went wrong?

In short, I came to UK for the first time in February 2006, started working and registered with WRS and stayed till October 2006. Then I came to UK for the second time back in September 2008 and have been living in UK since then.

I am a Polish national (A8 country) which would normally mean the need to register under WRS, but I was a full time student at UK university, so I thought I was exempt from that and did not registered with WRS for the second time.

Did I need to register with WRS scheme for the second time when I started working in 2009 after completing 1 year of studies?

The letter also mentions the opportunity to fill the form NR - Reconsideration of decisions to refuse British citizenship. Does anybody have experience with this form and/or might be willing to help me with this?

Did you pay Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) during the period where you were here as a student and not working?

[noajthan]

Hello, I recently had my British citizenship application refused on the following ground (I am citing the letter I received): “ As we can not be satisfied from the evidence provided that you have been exercising your treaty rights correctly for a continuous period of 5 years you do not meet the requirement which are set out on our website at http://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-citizen and you application has been refused”

I am very confused with this letter and I am struggling to understand what was missing from my application as I used the Nationality Checking Service. Could somebody explain what actually went wrong?

In short, I came to UK for the first time in February 2006, started working and registered with WRS and stayed till October 2006. Then I came to UK for the second time back in September 2008 and have been living in UK since then.

I am a Polish national (A8 country) which would normally mean the need to register under WRS, but I was a full time student at UK university, so I thought I was exempt from that and did not registered with WRS for the second time.

Did I need to register with WRS scheme for the second time when I started working in 2009 after completing 1 year of studies?

The letter also mentions the opportunity to fill the form NR - Reconsideration of decisions to refuse British citizenship. Does anybody have experience with this form and/or might be willing to help me with this?

As an A8 national you will need to have been registered under WRS for 12 months.
No more than 30 days gaps permitted between jobs if changing jobs within first 12 months.

By leaving the UK the 1st time, for over 6 months, you will have broken your continuity of residence. Your PR clock will have reset to zero.

So yes, after arriving the second time you will have been required to register under WRS as a worker (if working).
In your case looks like you should have registered sometime in 2009.

If a student you will be expected to have had CSI (or else a foreign-issued EHIC) to cover your student years.

If one or other of these requirements was not met then your PR clock will have stopped running.

That means you may not have demonstrated to HO's satisfaction that you have been exercising treaty rights as a qualified person continuously for 5 years.

If there were glaring holes in your application then, yes, NCS probably should have picked these up.

Unless you can find procedural errors in the way HO have handled your case then, unfortunately, three may not be grounds for reconsideration.

[Ishjon]

Anet123, first of sorry about your refusal. Can I please ask you when you did you apply?
Thanks

[Aneta123]

Hello Casa, Noajthan and Ishjon,
Thank you very much for your swift response.

With regard to your first remark, I have a translated certificate which replaces my Polish EHIC issued by the Polish Health Service which covers me up to May 2010.

After I finished my University studies, I started working in the UK:
At first, I was on a student placement which was organised in conjunction with a Post-graduate degree. I have a certificate issued by that university which certifies that I was a student during that time.
After this placement, I started another graduate placement whilst receiving financial support from the organising college. I consider that during both placements I maintained a student status, as it was organised and/or supported by educational institutions which would mean that I didn’t have to register under WRS scheme during that time. After a year in May 2011, the second graduate placement resulted in the full time employment. I have a letter from my employer stating this. As far as I am aware after that time (May 11) A8 nationals were no longer required to register under WRS scheme. I am still currently employed at this place.

I applied in July 2015.

I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this.

[noajthan]

Hello Casa, Noajthan and Ishjon,
Thank you very much for your swift response.

With regard to your first remark, I have a translated certificate which replaces my Polish EHIC issued by the Polish Health Service which covers me up to May 2010.

After I finished my University studies, I started working in the UK:
At first, I was on a student placement which was organised in conjunction with a Post-graduate degree. I have a certificate issued by that university which certifies that I was a student during that time.
After this placement, I started another graduate placement whilst receiving financial support from the organising college. I consider that during both placements I maintained a student status, as it was organised and/or supported by educational institutions which would mean that I didn’t have to register under WRS scheme during that time. After a year in May 2011, the second graduate placement resulted in the full time employment. I have a letter from my employer stating this. As far as I am aware after that time (May 11) A8 nationals were no longer required to register under WRS scheme. I am still currently employed at this place.

I applied in July 2015.

I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this.

So did you have EHIC (or CSI) to cover all the time you had the student status (as certified by your university, work-placement & etc)?
What about such cover from 2010-2011?

If so you may be able to make a case that that time should count towards PR as a student qualified person.

Did you make that clear in your initial application?

HO may be discounting that period due to seeing you as a worker at that time, with a lack of registration under WRS.

Yes, WRS ended in April 2011.

If HO only accepts your status as a worker from that time onwards then your 5 years to acquire PR will complete in mid-2016.

It appears you need to persuade them you were a student with valid EHIC to obtain your confirmation of PR any earlier.

[Petaltop]

Hello, I recently had my British citizenship application refused on the following ground (I am citing the letter I received): “ As we can not be satisfied from the evidence provided that you have been exercising your treaty rights correctly for a continuous period of 5 years you do not meet the requirement which are set out on our website at http://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-citizen and you application has been refused”

How recently was it refused? It might be that from November 2015 the rules changed and a permanent resiedence card must be included in the BC application. From that link you gave it says

had indefinite leave to stay in the UK for the last 12 months (or permanent residence if you’re an EEA national with a permanent residence card or document that shows you have permanent residence)

[noajthan]

How recently was it refused? It might be that from November 2015 the rules changed and a permanent resiedence card must be included in the BC application. From that link you gave it says

had indefinite leave to stay in the UK for the last 12 months (or permanent residence if you’re an EEA national with a permanent residence card or document that shows you have permanent residence)

Good point.

However if OP applied before November 2015 (& I assume she did as the application would surely not have been turned around so quickly if submitted after November) then there was no requirement to submit a 'PR card';
that would not be a valid reason for a refusal of a pre-November application.

[Aneta123]

It is exactly how Noajthan expected. I submitted application in July 2015 and received refusal letter last week.

Regarding my student insurance, I do not have non UK EHIC card for the period May 2010- May 2011.
I guess that British EHIC is not what is needed, as I am trying to prove that I didn't want to take the advantage of the British NHS.

Is missing insurance cover something that Home Secretary could exercise her discretion to disregard?

[CR001]

I guess that British EHIC is not what is needed, as I am trying to prove that I didn't want to take the advantage of the British NHS.

Is missing insurance cover something that Home Secretary could exercise her discretion to disregard?

It is not about using the NHS. To be a 'qualified person' you needed to have the comprehensive insurance. If you have a period where you did not have it, you cannot use that time towards your 5 years qualifying residence period. There is no discretion on this.

[noajthan]

...

Regarding my student insurance, I do not have non UK EHIC card for the period May 2010- May 2011.
...

Is missing insurance cover something that Home Secretary could exercise her discretion to disregard?

The gap in EHIC/CSI between 2010-2011 may be what HO has picked up on.
There is no discretion to overlook this.

And you can't rely on worker status even if working fully or partime during this period due to non-registration for WRS.

At least you may have acquired PR sometime in mid-2016 even if your PR clock only really started when the WRS ended.

[Aneta123]

Hi Noajthan,

I am not sure that they have picked that up, because they would probably send me a request to complete the paperwork.

I actually got the request right before the letter with refusal. Home Office was asking for documentation to prove that my first job in UK when I registered under WRS lasted for 12 months.

[Aneta123]

Hello everyone,

I am still considering to appeal against the decision made by Home Office whom refused my application. However, I would appreciate your thoughts on this first.

I would like to base my case on the fact that the law should always be disambigious and uniform, that meaning that whatever legal route somebody chooses to take, it should always give him the same result.

At the time of applying for citizenship, it appears that I could have followed a different route (by first applying for permanent residency card prior naturalisation as British citizen) which could have led to a different outcome.

When I applied for my British Citizenship, at that time, it was not obligatory to apply for a Permanent Residency Card (this obligation only came in Nov 15) prior to applying for citizenship status. In the previous version of the application form for British Citizenship you were allowed to skip all the questions related the Worker Registration Scheme, ONLY if you have a valid Permanent Residency Card, as that was proving that you were exercising your EU treaty rights. Looking back through the old version of the application form for residency card there was no mention of the worker registration scheme in that application. So what I am effectively saying is that if at the time I would have applied for the residency card first, then applied for a citizenship status, my application should have been successful, as I would have avoided having to provide details about the Worker Registration Scheme.

I was actually recommended by somebody from Nationality Checking Service to follow this particular route , but I did not see the need for it, as I thought the outcome should be the same.

Do you think this could give enough ground for writing my NR letter?

[Aneta123]

(The gap in EHIC/CSI between 2010-2011 may be what HO has picked up on.
There is no discretion to overlook this.

And you can't rely on worker status even if working fully or partime during this period due to non-registration for WRS.)

Dear noajthan/ everyone

Thank you for looking into my case. I think that so far we established that I was missing 2010-2011 year with EHIC card as student or under Worker Registration Scheme as worker.

I just happen to come across this article:

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/7776/

This legal cases says "Government will no longer be able to refuse EU workers the right to reside on the ground of not having complied with the WRS requirements in the period 1 May 2009 and 30 April 2011"

Do you think that this would give me enough ground to cover my missing year 2010?

I will be very thankful for any comments.

[noajthan]

(The gap in EHIC/CSI between 2010-2011 may be what HO has picked up on.
There is no discretion to overlook this.

And you can't rely on worker status even if working fully or partime during this period due to non-registration for WRS.)

Dear noajthan/ everyone

Thank you for looking into my case. I think that so far we established that I was missing 2010-2011 year with EHIC card as student or under Worker Registration Scheme as worker.

I just happen to come across this article:

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/7776/

This legal cases says "Government will no longer be able to refuse EU workers the right to reside on the ground of not having complied with the WRS requirements in the period 1 May 2009 and 30 April 2011"

Do you think that this would give me enough ground to cover my missing year 2010?

I will be very thankful for any comments.

Aneta,
That was a significant case that gave a lot of people in a similar situation to yours a beacon of hope.

Yet, as discussed in another thread in the board, the UK govt has (as I understand it) so far refused & failed to change any UK legislation as a consequence of the judgement that was handed down.

So at the moment they claim the old rules regarding WRS still stand.

You may have a case if you were to fight it but it'd be advisable to seek legal advice before taking such action.

[Aneta123]

Hi Noajthan,

Do you recon anybody here on the forum can help me with that?

[noajthan]

Hi Noajthan,

Do you recon anybody here on the forum can help me with that?

Quite likely, just have to wait & see.

[luk4sz]

Hello, I recently had my British citizenship application refused on the following ground (I am citing the letter I received):

Aneta is there any chance you could PM, me?

[noajthan]

Members are able to enjoy the Board PM feature after making 30 posts.

(Kindly note: nonsense/padding posts will not be tolerated)

[ohara]

You aren't allowed to use the PM function yet.

[noajthan]

@Lukasz, see british-citizenship/british-citizenship ... 03512.html