Post
by soul.biz » Wed Dec 16, 2009 11:52 am
Well guys,
We still have not heard anything from UKBA.
Sent in a complaint today with the entire story. Here's what it said:
We have applied for an EEA2 with the UK Border Agency to receive a Residence Permit. The application was sent in January 2009 with a cover letter stating we will not issue them our passports until they are required, in order to issue the Residence Stamp.
When we sent the application the first time (in January 2009) we contacted UKBA to ensure that they had received the application accordingly. The UKBA informed us via email that they had not received any such application. All important documents (apart from our passports) were within the application, including our marriage certificate.
We called Canada Vital Statistics to re-order and re-pay for another set of marriage certificates. We then re-sent another application in February, only to find that the UKBA had in fact received the first one! The agent who responded to us via email had not checked physically for the application and merely looked up the Royal Mail website to enter the Royal Mail Special Delivery Number to see that on the website there was no proof of signature!
The entire process for the application was to take a maximum of six months. We received no response from UKBA regarding our application until February, which is when I received my COA (Certificate of Application). Then, the next contact was on November 13, 2009 stating our Home Office Case Reference Number and that they require our passports to be sent in as well as other information (which the UKBA already had). On Monday, November 16 the UKBA contacted me on her mobile to request the passports to be sent and confirmed that the remaining documentation requested in the letter was not required (I believe UKBA made a mistake and realised that they already had the documentation, therefore contacted us by phone to clarify). We sent in both of our passports on November 17 and the passports were received by UKBA on November 18th (as confirmed by an agent at the UKBA upon calling the following week). The application is still currently pending and the UK Border Agency is holding both our passports. As mentioned earlier, the cover letter sent to UKBA along with the application stated to ask for the passports only when required to stamp the residence card within it. It has been a month since we sent the passports in!
The entire process has taken nearly one year. No timescale has been issued as to how much longer it will take. We have plans to travel in January 2010 and are tired of waiting for the application to be processed. This is basically putting a stop to our lives. The UKBA website has stated that all applications will be up to date in processing times by early January 2010. When I called this morning, Wednesday, December 16, an agent at UKBA informed her that this is not a guarantee and that they are "trying" to catch up on applications by that time.
I have called for the past four weeks to ask for how much longer the application will take. The first time I called was on November 30. I asked the agent if we should recall our passports as we have plans to travel in January. The agent assured me that we will receive our passports back well before January. The following week called, another agent was unable to let me how much longer the process will take and informed me that he will put notes on behalf of my situation into my application. This week, the agent I called was unable to inform me of the timescale and no such notes were entered into the application as informed by the agent on the previous week. I was then informed to call back within 4 to 6 more weeks! She informed me that there is nothing that I can do to help the process and that I can send in a complaint or write a letter but it will not help! I was shocked and very upset by this information but decided to try writing a complaint anyway.
I have sent a complaint to the UK Border Agency hoping that this will help but highly doubting that it will resolve anything, therefore have also taken my case to SOLVIT for resolution of this situation.
So...we registered online with our case on SOLVIT and hope that something works out. Otherwise, I'm recalling our passports so that we can have our vacation and when we come back, I'll send them to UKBA again. Can't be bothered to sit in the country because of delays due to their side!
