PR wrong date

[halfpint91]

Hiya,

I've just received my Permanent Residency, however the date on the enclosed letter says I've acquired it on 04/09/2018 and I provided proof from September 2010 onward. There's no explanation in the letter as to why they have excluded 2 of the years and the evidence I have provided for my student years 2010-2014 are just about the same, same CSI, same proof of studies and bank statements for all the years + even for 2011-2012 (which are the years they seem to have excluded) I have provided extra council tax and lease agreement.

In this situation now this is almost a useless document since they won't be valid after March and I don't see what my options are. Is there anyone I can contact to get more information on why those years have been excluded, do I have any options to reapply?

I didn't expect this, I expected either a successful application or a rejection so I have no idea what to do next. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Ellie

[NikiGio]

Hi Ellie - you seem to be making some wrong assumptions.

What you've received IS a successful approval of your application.

Your PR card will be valid until June 2021. Sometime between March 2019 and June 2021 you will need to exchange your PR card for a Settled Status card (for free). See:
https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families

Apart from providing proof of exercising treaty rights from 2010 onwards, did you indicate anywhere in your application or in a covering letter that the qualifying period you were applying for was 2010-2015? If you didn't include a covering letter or indicate in your application what qualifying period you were applying for, the HO normally assume the qualifying period are the last five years, so 2013-2018.

Are you planning to apply for citizenship? The date of having acquired PR is irrelevant, unless you're planning to apply for citizenship - in your case, unless you're married to a Brit you will only be able to apply for citizenship after 04/09/2019, as you need to wait 12 months after the date of having acquired PR in order to apply. If you're married to a Brit, you can apply for citizenship immediately.

If you decide that you need the date changed because you want to apply for citizenship before 04/09/2019, you could try writing them a letter asking them to change the date on your PR to 2015 - quoting what proof/documentation you've provided since to cover your qualifying years as 2010-2015. I know from another immigration forum that some people have been successful in getting the date changed by the HO when they should have given an earlier date - but I don't have information on how they did it.

You could also initially give them a call.

Otherwise, just enjoy the fact that you've acquired PR and that you won't have to deal with the HO again for quite a while! Congratulations.

[kamoe]

Your PR card will be valid until June 2021.

if I may make a small correction,

Your residence card will not be valid after 31 December 2020.

as per announced here https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-a-uk-resid ... dence-card

[NikiGio]

You're right Kamoe - I had looked at this page (https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families) where it says the deadline for applying for Settled Status will be 30 June 2021, so assumed PRs would be valid until then.

So Ellie, correction:

Sometime between March 2019 and *31 December 2020* you will need to exchange your PR card for a Settled Status card (for free).

[halfpint91]

Ah, no, I didn't realise I had to tell them explicitly in the cover letter, I didn't realise that is the case. However during the online form application I'm pretty sure it did ask when I believe i have acquired PR status. Such a shame because I've been preparing this application for months. Can I write to the case worker and ask for my application to be reconsidered?

I phoned them earlier and they said I should contact the case worker in writing. Can you advice me on what not miss in this letter as they said they process those in 4-6 weeks.

I do want to apply for citizenship, which was the reason why I applied for the PR to start with, preferably before Brexit as waiting times after that would probably be very long.

Thanks for the quick responses!

[kamoe]

I do want to apply for citizenship which was the reason why I applied for the PR to start with, preferably before Brexit as waiting times after that would probably be very long.

From what can be gathered, the process to switching to Settled Status having already a permanent residence card will be free and straightforward. As straightforward as filling an online form and taking a picture of your permanent residence card. See here: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-ci ... led-status

[NikiGio]

No problem Ellie.

There's no question in the EEA (PR) online form which asks what your qualifying period is - so, unless you tell them either via a covering letter or via inserting a paragraph in the "Further Information" section, it's seems that they assume it's the most recent five years for which you've provided evidence of exercising treaty rights (so in your case, 2013-2018).

At this point - worst case, which isn't really a worst case, is that you'll just need to wait until 05/09/2019 to apply for citizenship. Waiting time may be longer then, but they may also not be. You can use these months to gather all the info you need for the application, do the Life in the UK test, do the English test - the whole process is quite expensive so you really don't want to make mistakes.

The HO Guidance Notes for the EEA (PR) application say:
"Please note that once the application is concluded, we are unable to revise the date you are deemed
to have acquired permanent residence without a fresh application being made. It’s therefore important
that you provide sufficient evidence with your application for the whole period that you want us to take
into account."
[p.18 of https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... tes-v3.pdf]

So although the guidance says the above, it may be possible to get them to change the date they deemed you to have acquired PR if you write to them stating why you think you should have an earlier date. So assuming the HO got it wrong, you should write a letter to the same address you sent the original application to, addressing it to the case officer/team indicate in your PR decision letter. You should politely explain why the date should be different and ask that they issue a new letter.

If the above is unsuccessful, you could submit a new application - ensuring you ONLY send evidence of exercising treaty rights for 2010-2015 and that for 2016-2018 you ONLY send evidence of continued residence. And ensuring you send a covering letter explaining everything and what you believe the qualifying period is.

For now I would just enjoy the moment! I'm sure it's taken a lot of work/stress to gather all the info for the PR application, so enjoy the fact you've been successful on your PR.

[NikiGio]

On the back of the above:

Just read on the other immigration forum I'm a member of about someone who had a similar experience to yours. She said the error was rectified quite easily - she sent a letter back addressed to the case worker that had issued the PR, same address to where she originally sent the application pack. In it she stated what she wanted the qualifying period to be and why (want to apply for citizenship straight away and not wait for another year). She spelled it out, leaving no room for interpretation or misunderstanding.
She also sent an email to the home office at the address: Public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

She received a letter a couple of weeks later saying that she needed to send them more evidence if she wanted the date on her PR changed. So she sent a recorded letter to them with a cover letter saying what she wanted, she attached p60s to it covering the required 6 years and she also sent her PR card and letter recorded delivery (she had applied for PR as a worker). She didn't send a passport or anything else - just the P60s and her PR card.
A month later a new PR card arrived with the date she had requested...no extra cost.

So try the e-mail + letter first, and see what they answer.
Good luck.

[halfpint91]

Thank you so much for the response! I sent a letter yesterday saying that I have provided evidence from 2010 onward and i was expecting the date to be closer to September 2015, I said I was hoping this is a mistake however if its not I wanted to know what was i missing so I can make a fresh application if I have to. On the phone I was told that response times for these letters are about 4-6 weeks, so now I'll sit and wait. I'll try emailing the email you suggested as well and hopefully this will get sorted!

[NikiGio]

Great, best of luck