DCPR application - PR granted - missing year

[johnkk]

Here is my story so far:

I already received my DCPR last month. To get it, I had provided documentation for the last 6 years (Sept 2010 to Sept 2016) ( 1 year as student + 5 working ).

I expected that I would use the period of Sept 2010 to Sept 2015 as qualifying years, thus by Sept 2016 I'd have PR for a year and be free to submit for citizenship.

I submitted a SAR to get my 'date of acquiring PR'. This came back, and there is a problem: My date of having acquired PR is Sept 2016 instead of Sept 2015 that I thought.

This happened because the caseworker did not 'count' my 1 year as student, only the following 5.

According to the caseworker notes:

"The applicant has also exercised Treaty rights in the form of: EVIDENCE SUBMITTED AS A STUDENT, EVIDENCE SUPPLIED LETTER FROM UNIVERSITY OF [**] DATED OCT 2010 STATING THAT COURSE RUNS FROM SEPT 2010 TO SEPT 2011. THE LETTER DOES NOT CONFIRM THAT THE APPLICANT HAS COMPLETED THE COURSE AS IT WAS DATED A YEAR BEFORE THE COURSE WAS DUE TO END. APPLICANT PROVIDED COPY OF MEDICAL INSURANCE FOR SEPT 2010-2011."

So basically, my 1st qualifying year was discounted because my Uni letter didn't confirm that I graduated (which of course I did)

1. I sort of understand their point and it seems like a mistake on my part not to submit a letter confirming I completed the course. Of course I have graduated and have my MSc degree at hand.. I should have sent that.
2. I am a bit furstrated about this 'requirement'. Where is this coming from? This was not in Guidance notes.
   https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... -04_KP.pdf
   
   The notes specifically state:
   

   Letter from the school, college, university or training provider confirming the title of course, start
   and end dates of the course, qualification the course leads/led to, whether the course is/was
   full- or part-time, details of any work placements involved.

   All these items are mentioned in the letter I provided - including the date the course ends and what qualification it leads to upon completion.
   
   The caseworker notes document also does not specify that you have to prove that you actually received the qualification. Which to be honest does not make sense - what if someone failed to get a degree, wouldn't that year count as student anyway? https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf
3. . What can be done now?
   
   I am thinking of sending a letter to the same address I sent my EEA PR application to, and include in this:
   • a cover letter, explaining the issue
   • my original MSc degree document
   • possibly also including (again) all previously submitted documentation for CSI and funds available for that one year.
   In the cover letter, I plan to ask them to reconsider this year and include it as a qualifying year, changing the 'date of having acquired PR' from Sept 2016 to Sept 2015"
   
   What do you think? How would they respond to something like this? Would I need to provide another fee?
   I suspect there's no-one who would know how to answer these questions in the HO hotline so there's no point in trying that.
   Thoughts?

..and if all this wasn't enough, through the SAR I found that there's a typo in my 'place of birth'.. need to fix that somehow as well I guess.

[LilyLalilu]

Silly caseworker...completing the course is not a requirement; as long as you were a student with CSI during this one year it should have counted towards your period of exercising treaty rights.
I think there is no official way of having these errors corrected, sending a letter to the same address is probably your best bet - or potentially getting your MP involved if they deem the issue important enough to intervene.
There have been a few reported errors where caseworkers put the wrong PR date in the CID (date of issue of PR certificate as opposed to the actual date when PR was acquired) which may mean an extra year's wait for some people before they can apply for citizenship which is highly inconvenient. As all caseworkers are human there are bound to be some errors, the issue is that there seems to be no official way of having them corrected.

[johnkk]

Silly caseworker...completing the course is not a requirement; as long as you were a student with CSI during this one year it should have counted towards your period of exercising treaty rights.
I think there is no official way of having these errors corrected, sending a letter to the same address is probably your best bet - or potentially getting your MP involved if they deem the issue important enough to intervene.
There have been a few reported errors where caseworkers put the wrong PR date in the CID (date of issue of PR certificate as opposed to the actual date when PR was acquired) which may mean an extra year's wait for some people before they can apply for citizenship which is highly inconvenient. As all caseworkers are human there are bound to be some errors, the issue is that there seems to be no official way of having them corrected.

I can only assume that the caseworker assumed that I enrolled on the course and then never attended it for whatever reasons (like that would somehow discount the 'student' year??)

The caseworker's note even mentions that my CSI was ok for the student period so this brings me to an awkward situation without clear path forward.

I'll send a new letter from the Uni along with my degree in the mail and hope for the best.

This sets my naturalisation timeline back quite a lot; I am even scheduled to take the Life In The UK test this week (I hope it doesn't expire!) and have the Form AN application all filled out and ready to be sent

I am feeling pessimistic here. I don't think I'll get anywhere by chasing this, and even if I do it'll take so much time that it won't be worth it.

[noajthan]

A LITUK pass certificate does not expire.

[LilyLalilu]

I can only assume that the caseworker assumed that I enrolled on the course and then never attended it for whatever reasons (like that would somehow discount the 'student' year??)

Maybe, but it's really not their job to make this assumption, very strange. I have plenty of students who are genuine and attend university yet unfortunately never graduate...

Yes, LIUK test doesn't expire so you're good to take it.


Maybe something to look into as well: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisat ... -procedure
Not convinced they are going to do anything but you may as well try

[johnkk]

Maybe something to look into as well: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisat ... -procedure
Not convinced they are going to do anything but you may as well try

I called the HO EEA hotline today; they told me they don't have access to cases, so one thing I could do is get in touch with the caseworker by sending a letter.
They told me to send my letter to Liverpool (New Hall Place, L39PP). This is a bit surprising, as the EEA(PR) application was sent to a PO box in Durham (DH99 1AD) - any thoughts on that?

I'll also check the complains process, but that specifically states that complaints do not affect our decision-making process.. which is what I want to affect.
Also there seems to be two different avenues, one a normal complaint and one to go for 'administrative review' as in https://www.gov.uk/ask-for-a-visa-admin ... -in-the-uk - Not sure this applies to DCPR applications and it's fee is higher than the application itself!

[LilyLalilu]

I think Liverpool could be right, I once heard that that's where the applications are actually processed (plus the DCPR has Liverpool as place of issue). You could always send a letter to both addresses.
By the way, I would not send an original degree certificate (too risky, you may never see it again...) - maybe obtain a letter from your university registry confirming the duration of your studies and award.

Yes, the complaints procedure definitely doesn't seem to be the exactly appropriate way to do it, but then again it doesn't cost anything and you do have a complaint about their service. Admin review is not the right option, that's for a different purpose, probably best to just email and see if anything happens. Maybe you're lucky and someone helpful picks it up and escalates it