EEA4 refused. Appeal and Reconsideration letter sent

[Samelamin]

Hi Folks,

I applied for EEA 4 on November 15th 2015, yesterday I received a refusal based on my wife not being employed prior to August 2011. See the refusal wording below

“The period covered by your wife’s employment is from 5th August 2011 to 30th of October 2015. This evidence covers 4 years and 2 months employment. To qualify for permanent residence you must submit evidence of exercising treaty rights to cover a continuous period of 5 years.”

What is frustrating is we provided a degree certificate awarded on July 2011, we also indicated on the application form that my wife was a student up till July 2011

The home office returned our documents including the degree and it seems that they didnt even look at it!

I am appealing the decision but I also sent the case worker a letter urging them to reconsider since its a straight forward appeal

I know if they decide to reconsider I will have to withdraw my appeal but we have no idea if and when the case worker might reply to my letter and we did not think its worth the risk to lose the appeal (since it must be made 14 days after the refusal letter is received)

My question is does anyone have any recent experience with reconsideration letters? the latest I could find on this form is from May 2014

[Obie]

Did your wife hold a CSI , or had a registration certificate.

Sending a degree alone does not appear sufficient.

You need to demonstrate admission letter from institution and show that you had medical insurance , and that she held sufficient resource during the period in question.

[Samelamin]

Thanks for your reply Obie

Yes she had a WRS scheme registration certificate from 2010

I was under the impression that prior to June 2011 we do not need to prove CSI as a student

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... .pdf.htmlt

Also we sent the transcripts showing start date and end date of the degree course

It should be fairly straight forward, do you not agree?

[Obie]

It will depend on whether she was issued registration certificate prior to 20-06-2011. If she was not, then transitional provision will not seem to apply. Did she have European health insurance card?

[Samelamin]

No she did not have a health card as it wasn't needed at the time. She was registered with the WRS scheme, as she was actually working as a student. Even during those months in question but we don't have pay slips dating back till then and we assumed as a student it wasn't important.

We have requested tax sleeps dating back till then and will attach them to the appeal. Maybe even send a copy to the case worker when they arrive.

IT just seems that the case worker did not take into account our intentions to claim those months as her doing studies.

So do you have any idea on average time scales for reconsideration?

Seems like the appeal takes a minimum of 8 months and sometimes 12

We appealed out eea 2 decision 5 years ago in less than a month. It's amazing how times have changed!

[noajthan]

No she did not have a health card as it wasn't needed at the time. She was registered with the WRS scheme, as she was actually working as a student. Even during those months in question but we don't have pay slips dating back till then and we assumed as a student it wasn't important.

We have requested tax sleeps dating back till then and will attach them to the appeal. Maybe even send a copy to the case worker when they arrive.

IT just seems that the case worker did not take into account our intentions to claim those months as her doing studies.

It is a misunderstanding that health insurance was not required by student qualified persons before 2011.
What changed during 2011 seems to be that the requirement started being enforced.
So with no CSI/EHIC or student RC (or any residual health cover or dual healthcare type of arrangement from home country) the student period (until 2011 in this case) will be discounted.

It appears your only avenue is to demonstrate the applicant was in fact a worker qualified person during this period.
You will need to show the work was genuine and effective rather than marginal and supplementary (to, for example, being a student)..

[Samelamin]

Strange we do not recall a need for health insurance prior to that.

We sent the reconsideration letter, but when the proof of employment is received by us (in 2 weeks according to tax and revenue) we will forward copies over to the case worker and the appeal

What worries me is this evidence was not part of the original application, so will that stop the case worker reconsidering it? I do not want to reapply and wait a further 6 months for a simple misunderstanding

[Obie]

It is not a simple misunderstanding. You simply did not meet the requirements, as the necessary documentations were not provided, in any event it is questionable whether employment prior to April 2011, will be acceptable in circumstances where there was no WRS certificate.

[Samelamin]

It is not a simple misunderstanding. You simply did not meet the requirements, as the necessary documentations were not provided, in any event it is questionable whether employment prior to April 2011, will be acceptable in circumstances where there was no WRS certificate.

But there was a WRS certificate, we submitted along with the rest of the documentation

[Obie]

If there was a WRS certificate and you provided P60's and payslips attesting to compliance under the scheme, then the refusal was wrong, otherwise it was not.

[Samelamin]

Ok when they arrive I will be sure to send them as proof to support the consideration

But my original question remains, what are the average timelines people had for reconsideration?

Are we talking weeks or months?

[Obie]

Ok when they arrive I will be sure to send them as proof to support the consideration

But my original question remains, what are the average timelines people had for reconsideration?

Are we talking weeks or months?

There is no right to reconsideration, unless there was case working error or material evidence which would have made a difference to the decision was ignored.

This does not appear to be the case here.

Generally speaking, they always write back to applicant refusing to undertake reconsideration..

During reconsideration new materials are not usually considered. Only material that were before caseworker originally will be given consideration to.

[Samelamin]

Understood, we will still go ahead with the appeal

Under these circumstances what do you think we should do, reapply with the documents when they arrive while the appeal is ongoing?

Because I believe with the appeal you can submit new documents

[etdshap]

Understood, we will still go ahead with the appeal

Under these circumstances what do you think we should do, reapply with the documents when they arrive while the appeal is ongoing?

Because I believe with the appeal you can submit new documents

Have you heard anything back from the Home Office?

My EEA PR application was rejected because, as per regulation 15 (1) (b) I haven't spent 5 years since the initial residency permit was issued. However, they completely ignored that my application was based on regulation 15 (1) (d) which says that any family member of an EEA national acquires PR when the EEA national retires.

So I am really keen to know of your experience and the timeline of the reconsideration request.

[ahmedorf]

Have you heared anything about your reconsideration?