geeb33 wrote:Hi everyone,
Been stalking this forum for a long time thanks to everyone who posts, so helpful.
I applied for EEA EFM on March 3rd so nearly at the six month mark but haven't heard back yet. I've got a holiday booked to leave on September 7th and am getting nervous I won't have my passport back in time (pushing it I know, it's with my partners family and I didn't choose the dates). I phoned up the HO and they said I can request my docs back online but judging by what I've read here it takes ages.
Do you think I should apply to have my docs back now, will this maybe hurry them up with my application or will doing that make it take longer do you think?
Any advice appreciated, quite stressed now!
Hey @geeb33 - you should definitely apply for your documents back asap. TBH I'm not sure you'll get it back in time now - its supposed to take 10 working days, but mine took about 20 days after re-requesting it. There is someone on this forum who mentioned they were able to request it back for emergency reasons, so ended up getting theirs back relatively quickly. But I couldn't work out how they did it - the people on the helpline aren't super helpful, unless you get lucky and find someone with a some sort of empathy, who then tells you what you need to know. If you get anyone rude or unhelpful, just ring back and try and speak to someone else.
In terms of how it affects your application - i cant comment personally, as I'm still waiting (my timeline further below). This forum and the advisors on that helpline say that it shouldn't affect it, but as you click confirm on the online document request form, a disclaimer does appear saying that "your application may take longer to process".
Everyone seems to have had a different experience - but the one constant theme is the inconsistency and the state of anxiety they seem to like everyone to experience.
I actually finally received something at my old address (a missed royal mail delivery note), over the weekend. But was only told today by my ex-flatmate. So it seems that my online change of address was not noted, despite receiving an email confirmation. Probably in the same pile of junk as all my letters to the home office. So I'm in proper panic mode now, as my old flatmates have all moved out and the old property is vacant now. I rang the helpline to today to lodge a formal request - cos its now officially overdue and now i need to wait 3-5 days for a call. I was advised that if no-one called me, then i should call back and that they would try 3-4 more times, before tying something different. Quote unquote.
My timeline:
EEA_EFM Application sent: 20/02/16
Payment deducted: 26/02/16
Biometric letter received: 03/04/16
Biometric enrolment completed: 05/04/16
Requested passport & ID back: 05/04/16
Received passport & ID back: 25/04/16
Requested COA: 01/06/16
COA received: 03/06/16 (but dated 18/03/16 with no right to work
Submitted online change of address: 18/08/16 (moved house on 15/08/16)
Called to lodge formal request for overdue application: 26/08/16 (advised to call back as it was still technically within date)
Called again to lodge formal request for overdue application: 30/08/16
Ex-Flatmate advised missed royal mail delivery note arrived over the weekend : 30/08/16 (note dated 27/08/16)
Residence card: ???
