EEA Residence Card Refused Passport Retained - please help

[nick001]

Me and my EEA wife applied for a residence card, we received a letter today stating its been refused and my passport has been retained, and HO has asked me to make arrangements to leave.
The reason for refusal was that we have failed to provide enough evidence to demonstrate that my EEA wife is currently a qualified person.
My EEA wife is from Republic of Ireland and I am from India, we got married in Ireland 4 years ago and we are living together in Northern Ireland(UK), She had a business in Republic of Ireland and also we together formed a business (Ltd Company) in the UK early last year for the sole intention to do some business in the UK. We had serious difficulties opening a bank account in the UK, the banks require National Insurance number and we were told that to receive an NI we will have to produce a Residence Card.
Don't know where we made the mistake in the Residence Card application, we went for the options that She is Self sufficient and Self employed.
As supporting documents for Self Sufficient we provided Business bank statement from her company in Republic of Ireland which had around 20k in it at that time, along with the Irish company registration details.
As supporting document for Self employed we provided the UK company name, address and VAT number.
Along with Marriage cert, Landlord letter to say we live in the UK and pay our bills along with landlords house rates bill.

The Home Office says that for self employed we provided a bank statement from a bank in Republic of Ireland and therefor it is deemed that we provided insufficient evidence. and we have failed to submit invoices, evidence or work, statements, audited accounts etc.
And for Self Sufficient we require sufficient resources so they do not become a burden on the social assistance of UK, and the Business bank statement provided is from Republic of Ireland. And also no comprehensive sickness insurance cover in UK provided.

Currently our situation is , we closed the company in the Republic of Ireland, because we are now settled in the Northern Ireland (UK) and its getting difficult for her to manage, the money she got from that company helped to pay our rent and shopping.
We finally managed to open a personal account with a bank in UK in December.
We started trading under our UK business in Feb 16, this month, but we only have a few of transactions less than 500pounds in total to date. The company returns, Taxes and every thing is up to date.
She has also began looking for Job last week, she applied a few.
I do websites for living and I am still receiving cash jobs from different countries, and also she sell few stuffs online and we both get a bit of money to pay our bills, but again we use our Irish bank account to receive money.
My Brother who lives in Ireland said he can sponsor us if that helps.

Can some one advice what is the next appropriate step to take? I received an appeal form along with the Refusal letter, should i appeal or should i send in a new application stating my EEA wife is self employed and also a job seeker? If we appeal we have to show evidence that she is self sufficient which at present we will not be able to ....all we have is a sickness insurance and a new UK bank statement with very little transactions.
We are very upset over this, we thought we will post it here so somebody can guide us in the correct way. We contacted a lawyer and they wanted 2000 pounds to file an appeal for hearing, we seriously do not have that kind of money to pay these hungry lawyers.
Thank you for reading my post and much appreciated if you could help.

[noajthan]

You have clearly failed to convince HO (cw) of your wife's status as a qualified person.

It's rather unclear why your Irish citizen wife couldn't open a UK bank account.
My non-EEA wife opened a UK bank account without a NINO.

The requirements are well-publicised & very clear. Lack of CSI is an instant fail for the 'self-sufficient' category of qualified person.

HO play hard ball so simply having a bit of money in a bank account doesn't prove much.

Your economic activity is largely immaterial (in immigration terms) & the fact it (I.T.) can be done from almost anywhere does not help your case to stay in UK.

Selling small stuff online doesn't help & does not make a qualified person.

Brother in law cannot really help your claim & case to be in UK.
You could go to Ireland and be sponsored as an extended family member there but that is a more difficult and convoluted route with its own challenges, (compared to being someone's direct family member).

Here is HO guidance to help you get in the mind of a caseworker & understand what they look for & how they assess any such application:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf

Here is the process you are being subjected to;
this HO guidance may help you understand what is being done to you
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... A_v8_3.pdf
- it may give insights on your options, based on any remaining rights you have.

One of the best things your spouse/sponsor can do is get a rock-solid job so that her status is indisputable.
In the circumstances you will need unimpeachable documentary supporting evidence to back up your case.

[nick001]

You have clearly failed to convince HO (cw) of your wife's status as a qualified person.

It's rather unclear why your Irish citizen wife couldn't open a UK bank account.
My non-EEA wife opened a UK bank account without a NINO.

The requirements are well-publicised & very clear. Lack of CSI is an instant fail for the 'self-sufficient' category of qualified person.

HO play hard ball so simply having a bit of money in a bank account doesn't prove much.

Your economic activity is largely immaterial (in immigration terms) & the fact it (I.T.) can be done from almost anywhere does not help your case to stay in UK.

Selling small stuff online doesn't help & does not make a qualified person.

Brother in law cannot really help your claim & case to be in UK.
You could go to Ireland and be sponsored as an extended family member there but that is a more difficult and convoluted route with its own challenges, (compared to being someone's direct family member).

Here is HO guidance to help you get in the mind of a caseworker & understand what they look for & how they assess any such application:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf

Here is the process you are being subjected to;
this HO guidance may help you understand what is being done to you
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... A_v8_3.pdf
- it may give insights on your options, based on any remaining rights you have.

One of the best things your spouse/sponsor can do is get a rock-solid job so that her status is indisputable.
In the circumstances you will need unimpeachable documentary supporting evidence to back up your case.

Appreciate your help, I completely agree with you, We messed it up due to lack of knowledge of what we were doing, should have gone for some expert advice at the start, lesson learned. I don't see any other chance but to leave UK for now and wait till my EEA wife secures a Job and then reapply with solid documentation. Can you confirm if I can reapply for a new EEA family permit / Residence card or will me and my EEA wife be blacklisted or something...? We are also going to try the Irish route which we believe we have more good chance.

Once again thank you so much for taking your time to post your opinion, you support is invaluable. I will keep my progress updated here so at least somebody will find it useful.

[abrantes]

Hello, does any one have a model of a covering letter so I can attach it with my new application, that I'm re-applying with the current documents and the passport is still with UKBA? thanks!

[noajthan]

Appreciate your help, I completely agree with you, We messed it up due to lack of knowledge of what we were doing, should have gone for some expert advice at the start, lesson learned. I don't see any other chance but to leave UK for now and wait till my EEA wife secures a Job and then reapply with solid documentation. Can you confirm if I can reapply for a new EEA family permit / Residence card or will me and my EEA wife be blacklisted or something...? We are also going to try the Irish route which we believe we have more good chance.

Once again thank you so much for taking your time to post your opinion, you support is invaluable. I will keep my progress updated here so at least somebody will find it useful.

My understanding is your application (made under EU rules) cannot be refused if you meet the requirements next time.
That is except on the most serious grounds of public health or security - which, hopefully, does not apply here.

There will obviously be a growing & continuing papertrail on you, I cannot say if that amounts to being on some sort of blacklist.

If you want to take a look at what is on file (& can be released to you) just request a SAR from UKVI.

Good luck.

[nick001]

Appreciate your help, I completely agree with you, We messed it up due to lack of knowledge of what we were doing, should have gone for some expert advice at the start, lesson learned. I don't see any other chance but to leave UK for now and wait till my EEA wife secures a Job and then reapply with solid documentation. Can you confirm if I can reapply for a new EEA family permit / Residence card or will me and my EEA wife be blacklisted or something...? We are also going to try the Irish route which we believe we have more good chance.

Once again thank you so much for taking your time to post your opinion, you support is invaluable. I will keep my progress updated here so at least somebody will find it useful.

My understanding is your application (made under EU rules) cannot be refused if you meet the requirements next time.
That is except on the most serious grounds of public health or security - which, hopefully, does not apply here.

There will obviously be a growing & continuing papertrail on you, I cannot say if that amounts to being on some sort of blacklist.

If you want to take a look at what is on file (& can be released to you) just request a SAR from UKVI.

Good luck.

Thank you everybody for your help, i know its a bit late but at least i understand why my application was refused. I voluntarily left UK last month, the authorities handed over my passport at the airport and I came back to India, I am currently in process of applying visa to join my wife in Ireland.
I am glad that i posted my issue here, at least this will help someone experiencing similar problem. Once again I thank everybody who offered help and support here. Anybody with similar issues can post here and i will also contribute to help you as much as i can.

[rkid]

You mentioned that you are married to you wife for 4 years. You should have the Irish visa already to travel to Ireland, then why do you need to apply for the Irish visa from India again? Instead of leaving voluntarily to India you should have gone back to Ireland.

[kalexmg]

How long did you have to leave the country. I am in a similar situation. I have the right to appeal thou but they still want me out while i wait. How long did they give you? Did you have to pay for your tickets? Thank you.

[tropianhs]

How long did you have to leave the country. I am in a similar situation. I have the right to appeal thou but they still want me out while i wait. How long did they give you? Did you have to pay for your tickets? Thank you.

this sounds wrong.
You should not lose your rights of residence in UK while waiting for Appeal.