Hi everyone,
I am an EEA national and I applied and got my permanent residency card earlier this year. When I made the application I submitted evidence for the period September 2010 - September 2015, and the actual card was issued on 10th of March. On October 2016 I applied for naturalisation via NCS and it got refused with:
"Based on the evidence you provided with your application for Permanent Residence card you were deemed to be permanently residence with effect from 01st April 2016.
Although you have been exercising treaty right in the United Kingdom for a continuous period of 5 years, you have not had permanent residence for 12 months prior to the date the application was received in the Home Office and you do not meet the requirement set out on our website at
http://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-citizen. Whilst the Secretary of State has discretion to waive this requirement she is not prepared to do so in this particular case. Your application was therefore been refused."
I was quite disappointed as everything I've read here and on the booklet made me think that I can start counting the 12 months from the time that I submitted my documentation for at the end of the 5 years (September 2015), and not the date that I actually receive the card in my hands.
The Naturalisation booklet explicitly states (section 6):
"When you apply for a permanent residence document the evidence that you supply for your EEA(PR) application must be for a 5 year period that ended at least a year before you want to apply for citizenship.
For example:
If you apply for Permanent Residence on 1st December 2015 and want to apply for Citizenship once that application is decided, you should send evidence that shows you were exercising Treaty rights as a qualified person or family member from 1 December 2009 to 1 December 2014."
Now, my question to you is:
Is it even worth doing the form NR now and request a reconsideration, or should I just wait until 10th of March (I don't even know where they got the 1st of April date on the refusal letter..) and do the whole form again from the beginning?
I don't really know how to do the form NR, the guidelines are very minimal. How much documentation do I need to send with it (passport? All the original documents that I submitted for naturalisation?) and there's no nationality service checking or equivalent for it. Which makes me think I might just waste another 272 pounds if I don't do it right.