Dear all,
I am writing this post mostly due to the anxiety I have been feeling while waiting for a decision to be made on my application. While waiting I have to admit that I have been overthinking every step of my application and trying to find out if I have in any way misunderstood the process.
To provide some background, I am originally from Romania and I have arrived in the UK in 2010 as a student. In January 2011 I applied for the Yellow Registration Certificate, which allowed me to work 20 hours a week during term time as a student and full-time during the holidays. The application was successful and I started working part time in March while studying. I carried on working throughout my studies as per the guidelines of my registration certificate.
In July 2013 I finished my BA, I did not apply for a Blue Registration Certificate for full time workers due to the fact that the scheme was due to expire in January 2014 and I was reassured by the EU Team at the Home Office that if I worked for a full year as a student, I was no longer required to apply for a Blue registration certificate and I could start work straight away. This is the response I received from the HO when I emailed them back then:
Dear X,
Thank you for your email.
Your Student conditions.
If you currently hold a yellow registration certificate as a student and your course is due to end, your yellow card will remain valid for employment for a maximum period of four months from your course end date. As you will have completed your course, you will be able to work full time.
Exemption from work authorisation
If you have been working in the UK as an employee, for a continuous period of 12 months or more with permission to do so (for example, as a student or an Au Pair), you would now be exempt from work authorisation and you are not required to apply for The blue card.
However, from an employers perspective, the blue card is the only document that would provide them with a statutory defence against a civil penalty, and so, you may find it difficult to find employment without one.
Regards,
Based on the advice above, I did not apply for another card. I started an MA in the UK in September 2013 and I have also managed to get a part time job at that time. The employer was happy with this response from the HO and did not want me to show a Blue Card. One of the points I have been overthinking is that the HO case worker might think that I worked without permission to do so between September 2013 and January 2014 because I had no card during that time. 1. Has anyone been in a similar sort of situation? Does anyone know of cases of EU citizens who may have been refused on this basis?
In January 2014 I was away in Paris for study (this was part of my MA) until June. I came back to the UK for holidays and I still had a UK address and bank account etc. I really don't think this is relevant as my qualifying 5 year period for the naturalisation started in December 2014. I applied on 6 December 2019. I assume this is not relevant in any way and it should not create any problems. 2. Is this correct? Again it seems like I am overthinking this.
When I returned to the UK in June 2014, I started working alongside writing my MA thesis. I got a job in July 2014 and since then I worked without any interruptions until now. I have submitted work related paperwork (P60s, letters from employers) to cover the 5 year qualifying period within this time. I was a bit confused over the 5 years versus the 6 years qualifying period but from reading a lot of the posts here it seems like the 5 years worth of evidence regarding residence is enough.
In December 2018 I got my settled status and I applied one year and a day later in December 2019 for the naturalisation. I was in the country 5 years before so I believe I meet that particular requirement.
Regarding the English language requirement, I submitted paperwork for both of my UK degrees. I also submitted the Life in the UK test.
Since I have applied, I have been in touch with HO once for an update and I received two responses: a generic response and then an email that was in no way related to my case and even contained details of someone else's case. I found this quite upsetting and it made me lose the confidence I have had in the system.
Since then I emailed them again last week because I realised I forgot to mention my very first part time job on the application in the 10 years employment section and that I did not mention the details of the Settled Status application in the "previous applications made to the HO" section. I did include the paperwork for Settled Status but forgot to mention it in that section. I can see there are many others in my situation so I am hoping this will not prove a problem. I hope HO does not penalise for simple mistakes.
I have had no convictions ever, no legal problems in any way, no debt so I believe I should meet the good character requirement unless I am forgetting something or as above they think I worked here without permission. My references were a professional (dentist who I used to work for) and a former British colleague over the age of 25. They have both known me for over 3 years.
I have also not been outside of the UK more than the required days in the last 5 years.
Based on this very long background, is there anything else I am forgetting or that I have not considered already?
Thanks a lot for reading what is indeed a very long post and I appreciate any words of advice or reassurance!
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