Return of passports from Home Office

[NikitaKnez]

Good day,

I am writing to you in the desperate hope of getting assistance.


I arrived in the United Kingdom in February holding dual citizenship - South African and Croatian, and subsequently found out that my right to work in the UK as a Croatian national depended on being in possession of documents that I did not have. I called Home Office and requested information on which application I should proceed with in order to obtain rights to work in the UK. I was assured more than once I could apply as a Croatian national as the unmarried partner of my boyfriend of 4 years (also hold dual Citizenship- South African and Deutsche) using the EEA EFM form, so this is what I ultimately applied for.

Several days before the 23rd May (23rd May being 8 weeks from submission of my application) I called to enquire about my application as I had received no feedback or correspondence from Home Office. I was informed that at 8 weeks I would receive a certificate of application. As this did not happen, I continued to call for updates on my application. I was then told by another official at Home Office that as a Croatian national I cannot apply using the EEA EFM form and that I should have applied using a form set up only for Croatians. I therefore will not receive a certificate of application.

Amongst the confusion of which application I should have completed, I queried the return of mine and my boyfriend's passports. We have upcoming commitments in Europe, for which we obviously require them to travel. It was again advised that I wait for the certificate of application. I did not receive this certificate. On May 28th I submitted the request online for our passports to be returned. I waited 10 working days and the passports never arrived with no contact or correspondence from Home Office. I then completed the online progression form stating we did not receive our passports. Still no correspondence from Home Office.
With time wearing thin, I submitted a request on 15 June to withdraw both our applications as a matter of urgency: I believe this is the only way I am able to get back our passports. Again, after the stipulated ten working days, I still haven't received them.

With Home Office proving to be totally unhelpful on this matter, I have no idea where to turn. I have been forced to cancel my travel arrangements, I worry too about the legalities of my passport being unnecessarily withheld. Surely this infringes on my right to freedom of movement? I am not able to work in the UK - but as a result of this situation, I am also not able to leave.



Your advice would be most appreciated.

Kind regards,
Nikita

[NikitaKnez]

Good day,

Has anyone been in the same or similar situation?

Regards
Nikita

[khers]

Good afternoon Nikita,

I have been through the same problem you are facing now, it's outrageous and frustrating to know that they hold your identity documents for an indefinite time without a reason and not giving any justification. First they hold my passport for almost 6 months without justified reason, and they lost the ID of my partner. It was a nightmare for me to get my passport back, since they seem to disregard all regulations and normative and they keep abusively and illegaly personal documents.

The only way I could get my documents back was sending a formal complaint. By internal regulation they always answer to your complaints, since it is handled by another section in charge of quality customer service, but you've got to follow and keep record of every answer they give you. If they don't uphold your complaint, you can escalate to a different division until reaching a senior officer.

Here you can find more information.

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisat ... -procedure

You can request for the help of your local member of parliament. Mine was very helpful and fought for my rights. They can help you to complaint and escalate to the Ombudsman if necessary.

I hope this helps you,

Best Regards