Getting passport back while EEA2 application is in progress

[turcaloca]

Hi everyone,

I am a Turkish national, married to a Swede. I applied for a residence card using the EEA2 form back in March. My husband and I sent our passports to the HO along with all the forms and wage slips back in March.

My problem is that I need to get my passport back so that I can travel next week (family emergency). At the end of May, I called the HO and put in a request for my passport to be sent back to me. They told me that it normally takes up to 3 weeks for the passport to be sent back but that it was taking longer than usual at that point (surprise, surprise). They also said that they would put in an urgent request but needless to say, I still have not got it back (tomorrow, it will be exactly 4 weeks since my request). Getting more and more freaked out, I called them yesterday to find out the status of my request. The person said that they can see on the computer that I put in a request in May and that the passport has not been sent yet. She said that she will put in a request again and mark it "urgent" -- I told her that they had already done that 4 weeks ago and asked how they can guarantee that it will work this time. Of course she did not have an answer for that, she even refused to give me any guidance as to how long it would take for the passport to be sent back...

My question is if there is anything in the EU directive that suggests that they are in breach of some guideline here. I am just trying to find a way for my complaints to have more bite. "It's unfair for you to prevent me from travelling" or "it is unreasonable to take 4 weeks to send a passport" does not seem to do it at any rate.

I am trying to be calm about this whole process but you can imagine how mad I get every time I talk to these people and get vague answers in return.

[JA13I]

I am afraid there is no EU law that facilitates a quick return of passports. A written letter to the complaints dept. of the BIA perhaps?