COA issued 2 weeks after EEA4 application sent

[AnthCambs]

Because of the availability of documents, I only sent my application 2 days before my current EEA2 stamp expires, which means HO received it 1 day before expiry of my EEA2 stamp.

And, my husband's passport is expiring in 2 months from the date of my application.

And, I was living at a 2nd address because of my postgrad study (for 27 months). But we travelled back and forth to our main residence weekly during weekends.

Do I stand a chance getting my EEA4? Could they refuse my application on these grounds?

04/04/2011 EEA4 application sent (via Special delivery)
05/04/2011 Application received by HO
06/04/2011 EEA2 stamp expired

06/2011 Husband's passport expires


Other than that, we have every supporting document they asked for. We even included extra documents such as baby's birth cert, sponsor letter to support my student status and the need to relocated to a 2nd address.

I don't want to be deported! I don't want to leave my baby and dear husband!

[86ti]

You are not legally required to apply for either document.

[fysicus]

As 86ti points out, you are not required to apply for a (Permanent) Residence Card, and because of that there cannot exist a deadline for application. There is absolutely no risk of being deported! Your immigration status does not change because of the expiry of any of these documents.

The extra documents you mention are totally unnecessary and I would never have included them, and certainly would not have made any mention of your 2nd address.

I would strongly advise, however, after you have received the Certificate of Application, to ask your husband's passport to be returned to you so that he can renew it at the embassy of his home country.

Which nationality does the baby has? Yours, your husband's or both? When you or your husband have acquired PR, the baby can also be registered as a British Citizen, as UKBA will point out to you in the accompanying letter.

[86ti]

The passport must be valid. The UKBA carry out pre-checks and they should send the application back immediatly if they think that it should be valid until the final decision. If the application reaches the case-worker with an invalid passport they might choose to refuse the application. In that case get a new passport and reapply as soon as convenient.

[AnthCambs]

I have received my COA on 30th April. It was issued on 19th April. (it took them 2 weeks to issue COA with a case ID -> positive sign?)
There is a case ID and the HO reference is now updated to my husband's HO reference number.

Is this looking good?

I hope to get all my documents back before beginning fo June but it looks a bit dim now....

[fysicus]

I don't think you can expect a decision within two months. Three to four months (from the date of application, in your case early April) seems to be the current average. The CoA just means that the application has been checked and found to be complete (no documents obviously missing).
Therefore as I advised earlier the best thing to do now is to ask (by email, quote the case ID and HO reference) for your husband's passport to be returned to you so that he can renew it at the embassy of his home country. They will not ask this passport back as it has been checked already and is no longer needed to decide your application.

[AnthCambs]

I hope they will send the documents back soon.
I have enclosed a envelope for the return of passports and another for supporting documents.

Looking at the processing time thread, I was hoping it would take less than 3 months...

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

The passport must be valid. The UKBA carry out pre-checks and they should send the application back immediatly if they think that it should be valid until the final decision. If the application reaches the case-worker with an invalid passport they might choose to refuse the application. In that case get a new passport and reapply as soon as convenient.

The passport must be valid when received by UKBA. But if they take their time, it is their problem. They can not require a certain validity to the passport. They can not require EU law citizens to have a valid passport while in the UK, since they do not require UK citizens to have one.


AnthCambs, nothing you have said gives any reasons to worry. You need to breathe deeply and relax totally. You ask "Is it looking good?" I think that is the wrong question to ask. The default is that you will be issued with the new confirmation of the rights that you already have. Or put another way, you are legal and they will send you the confirmation slowly but in due course (unless there is some big problem that you have not mentioned).


If you want the documents back now, I would urge you to explicitly request them from UKBA. See http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucit ... /applying/ at the bottom where it says How can you get your passport back from the UK Border Agency if you need to travel?

[AnthCambs]

Thanks, everyone for the reassurance! I should relax and focus back on my work!

I shall post again when my EEA4 PR arrives

[fysicus]

They can not require EU law citizens to have a valid passport while in the UK, since they do not require UK citizens to have one.

I don't think this sentence is actually true. Even within the Schengenzone when you travel from one country to another you are required to have a valid passport, despite it is not actually checked when crossing the border. As far as I know, all EU citizens must have a valid passport when they travel to a member state of which they do not have the citizenship.

Furthermore, whether a legal requirement or not, I think it is a very good idea anyway to make sure that you are in possession of a valid passport at all times. I have to admit though, that some years ago I had a gap of about a week between expiry of my old passport and the starting date of a new one.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

They can not require EU law citizens to have a valid passport while in the UK, since they do not require UK citizens to have one.

I don't think this sentence is actually true. Even within the Schengenzone when you travel from one country to another you are required to have a valid passport, despite it is not actually checked when crossing the border. As far as I know, all EU citizens must have a valid passport when they travel to a member state of which they do not have the citizenship.

Furthermore, whether a legal requirement or not, I think it is a very good idea anyway to make sure that you are in possession of a valid passport at all times. I have to admit though, that some years ago I had a gap of about a week between expiry of my old passport and the starting date of a new one.

I agree 100% agree that is is very good, even extremely good, to have a valid passport at all times. I certainly do!

But once an EU citizen (or their non-EU family member) moves to the UK, they are not required to have a valid passport while living within the UK. They can not be fined by the police or arrested.

In general, if a local citizen is required to do something, then so can the EU citizen or their non-EU family member.

So in fact, Germans are required (generally) to have the Personalausweis on them or close by. And therefor so can EU citizens and their non-EU family be required to have their passport or similar ID. If a German can be fined 50 euros for not having it, then the EU and non-EU family member can be only fined 50 euros for not having theirs.

Again, in the UK, there is no requirement that UK citizens have ID. And so no requirement that EU or non-EU family members have ID.