Non-EEA Overstayer with EU National – Advise SOS Please!

[mastermind72]

Some interesting updates...

We did give our notice, it was accepted and we set our date for wedding in June.

(for those of you not familiar with our case, we applied for the Certificate of Approval, and under durable relationship for EEA2 and once the certificate of approval was abolished we contacted the council and gave our notices).

On the day of the wedding and while we were waiting for our ceremony to start, an immigration officer, escorted by two police officers, told my partner (non-eu, overstayer) the she had been flagged through the systems and he'd have to interview her and me.

I will spare the details of how abusive and dismissive he was with her (on the fact that she was an overstayer) and he interviewed her for 30mins. With a myriad of questions about me, us, her family, my family, etc.

Then it was my turn, shorter this time, I will not go into details, but his "gut feel" was that we were genuine and the he would not stop the wedding - I really explained to him in detail about our life and how we are family, etc.

He did keep her passport though and said she was still committing an offence as an overstayer.

So we got married and we are very very happy and our solicitor consoled us that my wife now is legally in the UK under EU law and that we should send the certificate to UKBA to progress our EEA2 application.

Our happinness only lasted 2 days, as shortly after we received a letter at home, addressed to my partner, with a decision for removal and liability for detention and removal (form IS151A).

She was also given a temporary admission, asking here to present herself weekly to a UKBA centre.

Of course we spoke directly to our solicitor who said not to worry because we are protected under EU law. Which is probably the case, however my partner is very very worries and she is particularly shaken by her interview on the day of the wedding, and now she is scared to go every week, scared of being detained.

Any views please? Needless to say that we have been living together for 2.5 years, all evidence sent to UKBA back in March when we applied for EEA2 durable relationship, but this removal decision is alarming us a lot.

Are we indeed covered just by having gotten married, and does this (as I have been reading in case law) mean that my partner's prior immigration history bears no relevance?

Thank you in advance for reading such a long thread and for any insights!

M._

[alekos]

Congratulations!!
As long as you are exercising treaty rights in the UK, your wife has the right to live, work, study, watch TV all day, etc.. Keep going with your wife's application for a Residence Card, it'll make her life easier.

As for signing in every week, I'd turn up, but as I understand it only IF my EEA Spouse also has to do it. It might be their new policy to send those "nasty letters" to "save face" with the public.

Have a lovely and long married life together.

[Godott]

Some interesting updates...

We did give our notice, it was accepted and we set our date for wedding in June.

(for those of you not familiar with our case, we applied for the Certificate of Approval, and under durable relationship for EEA2 and once the certificate of approval was abolished we contacted the council and gave our notices).

On the day of the wedding and while we were waiting for our ceremony to start, an immigration officer, escorted by two police officers, told my partner (non-eu, overstayer) the she had been flagged through the systems and he'd have to interview her and me.

I will spare the details of how abusive and dismissive he was with her (on the fact that she was an overstayer) and he interviewed her for 30mins. With a myriad of questions about me, us, her family, my family, etc.

Then it was my turn, shorter this time, I will not go into details, but his "gut feel" was that we were genuine and the he would not stop the wedding - I really explained to him in detail about our life and how we are family, etc.

He did keep her passport though and said she was still committing an offence as an overstayer.

So we got married and we are very very happy and our solicitor consoled us that my wife now is legally in the UK under EU law and that we should send the certificate to UKBA to progress our EEA2 application.

Our happinness only lasted 2 days, as shortly after we received a letter at home, addressed to my partner, with a decision for removal and liability for detention and removal (form IS151A).

She was also given a temporary admission, asking here to present herself weekly to a UKBA centre.

Of course we spoke directly to our solicitor who said not to worry because we are protected under EU law. Which is probably the case, however my partner is very very worries and she is particularly shaken by her interview on the day of the wedding, and now she is scared to go every week, scared of being detained.

Any views please? Needless to say that we have been living together for 2.5 years, all evidence sent to UKBA back in March when we applied for EEA2 durable relationship, but this removal decision is alarming us a lot.

Are we indeed covered just by having gotten married, and does this (as I have been reading in case law) mean that my partner's prior immigration history bears no relevance?

Thank you in advance for reading such a long thread and for any insights!

M._

I have read most of your posts. I can say that you really are doing a lot for your woman ( and both of you of course) , and well done!
As per decision for removal, I sincerely suggest you talk to your lawyer regarding APPEAL to the HIgh Court or where ever more appropriate as they have NO right to remove her and not even to make her go weekly to their centre as she is now the SPOUSE of the EEA national! As now since u r married European law overrides the UK law.
IF you dont step up on your rights , Home Office won't help you realize that your/ your wife's right is not to be now treated a s a offencer.

I strongly suggest you to go to your solicitor before it becomes fuzzy, as if you appeal and court brings decision she has right to stay in the UK, even when Immigration come sto escort her ( i hope not) so you can just show them the final decision on the paper brought by specific court ect.

React on time so later you won't have a reason to regret , and so both of you can move on peacefully with your lives.

All the best, and keep up!

[mastermind72]

Thank you for all your messages and we will certainly pursue with our solicitor.

And I am well aware that we are "covered" and she is now lawfully here as we are married.

It is just that, after the ordeal on our wedding day, I cannot allow for us and her to be treated like that in case, when we appear to report as requested in the letter, she is detained - I know that they cannot do it, as I will produce all the evidence that we are married, etc, and they must release her immediately but it is just the whole ordeal.

Regarding appeal, what really worried me is that it says in the letter that she has the right to, but only after she out of the country (!), even if she applies as a family member of an EEA national (which is our case).

Also, what again concerns me is that, how come they can order to detain and remove someone (they have not done so but obviously threaten to with this letter) when their EEA2 application is pending.

Anyway, I will update all on how things go - this is turning into a proper case study!

[alekos]

It seems to be their new policy. see http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=81060

[mastermind72]

Thanks, yes I did read this and was just about to respond to the poster.

I do not believe it is a new policy, our solicitor advised us that they have done it in a number of cases with their other clients.

It is cheap publicity for them to look better, let them blow some steam!

[mastermind72]

This is me again to conclude our ordeal: our solicitor confirmed, after speaking to a senior immigration officer (SIO) at the reporting centre where my spouse was asked to attend today, the there is no reason for her to attend and she should not have even been issued with the removal liability letter and the temporary restrictions - it was more like the issuing IO who was overzealous (the one that crashed our wedding and interviewed us).

So make sure you know your rights and do not give up on these bozos.

[mastermind72]

I am writing this last message to give you the details of the happy ending to our story.

End of July our Immigration Lawyer applied for an appeal against UKBA's and the SIO's decision to issue a decision for removal and liability for detention and removal (form IS151A).

We were issued with a date for the appeal to be heard in the courts.

At the same time our lawyer kept pressurising UKBA to issue the Residence Card to my wife, ahead of the appeal, and the rationale of the letters was that this would save the courts of unecessary time, money and effort (as the appeal clearly would be won).

The argument seems to have worked, as my wife after 10 days of the latest correspondence (early August) she was finally issued with the Residence Card!

The Residence Card was issued on a A4 paper (not in her passport, as her passport was expired). Anyway not a problem there.

And after that we withdrew our appeal as there was not longer a case for her removal.

There was one thing outstanding: UKBA had not yet returned my wife's expired passport - after a couple of pressure letters, we found out that it was held by at the immigration centre in London, where the idiot SIO was based. Their response was that it would take time to find it because they did not have the necessary resources to search for it (!).

Which was all "fibs" as after one week they miraculously found it and sent it to us.

With the Residence Card, my wife went to her Embassy in London and now had her expired passport extended.

We are all ok, we have already traveled twice to Europe, with no problems, and we are planning another trip before Christmas.

All in all a very stressful time and I cannot imagine how we would have managed better without the services of our immigration adviser.

Happy to provide more details, so send a private message.

All the best to all.

T._

[saiyuki91]

Hi i have just read this success story and I'm hoping you could help me shed some light on my matter?
Hi Everyone

I am hoping you can help shed some light on my issue. I am a british born (with british birth certificate) over 21 overstayer since nearly 10 years now. Left the uk in the early 90's as a child with my non british parents and returned to the uk when i was 13. I have british citizen family members aunts, uncles grandparents, etc who i live with. I have been living and working legally with my birth certificate. My only issue is being stateless and not having the right to reside or travel.
I have been refused an application based on private life and have been refused also a judiciary review and now my solicitor is advising a request for a removal direction in order to gain a right of appeal against this decision in court.

I am also currently in a new relationship 6 months with a french national and was wondering if i could apply based on the EEA application? we have not yet co habituated and it is not a marriage or civil partnership. could you advice please?


I just wanted to know if there are any other grounds i could apply on as a fresh application or anything else i can do to help my situation.

Hope to hear from someone soon.

Thanks