Today passport returned (two weeks of insistent requests to Worldbridge about the delay produced no information whatsoever).
The two EEA FPs were renewed, which is not surprising in view of the court judgments.
Visit visa refused. €340 up in smoke!
I really hadn't expected this to be refused, and wrongly thought that the appeal possibility for family visit visas had already been abolished, so selected general long term visit visa. But specified that one of the purposes was for my partner to visit her mother, now resident in the UK.
Additional information stated
Was this an appealable visit visa??? It also now costs £140 to fight to avoid having to give details forever of a visa refusal!! Even to get to the ECM review stage at which they conceded last time.This request for a general visitor visa is made to allow me to visit the UK unaccompanied by either my son or my partner. I will need to visit for job interviews and my mother’s health is such that I may need to visit at short notice.
What is interesting is that the grounds of refusal are essentially the same as posted above on June 20th 2011. -
This is what the UKBA site currently saysYou were granted two permits for Family Member od EEA National to accompany your son and your unmarried partner...with a view to long term employment...your family has consistently maintained intention to move back to UK in near future...I am not satisfied that you are genuinely seeking entry as a visitor for the limited period as stated by you or that you intend to leave thereafter. I am therefore not satisfied that paragraph 41 (i) and (ii) are met.
These are the Immigration rules on which she was refusedDo you need an EEA family permit?
A non-EEA family member of an EEA national will need to obtain an EEA family permit before travelling to the UK if they are:
coming to live with the EEA national in the UK.
The non-EEA family member must be travelling to the UK:
with the EEA national; or
to join the EEA national here.
If the EEA national is outside the UK and is not travelling with them, the non-EEA family member must instead apply for a visa (if they need one) before they can come to the UK. For more information, see the Do I need a visa? page.
What does anyone think is going on? The ECO seems to think that my partner would choose to enter the UK on a visit visa, overstay, abandoning her British son and British partner, and forego recognition of her medical degree in the UK, rather than use one of her two EEA family permits to enter and practice medicine, with her family. Presumably he does not understand that an EEA family permit bestows no rights: it merely attests to the existence of a continuing enforcable Community right...41. The requirements to be met by a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom as a general visitor are that he:
(i) is genuinely seeking entry as a general visitor for a limited period as stated by him, not exceeding 6 months or not exceeding 12 months in the case of a person seeking entry to accompany an academic visitor, provided in the latter case the visitor accompanying the academic visitor has entry clearance; and
(ii) intends to leave the United Kingdom at the end of the period of the visit as stated by him; and does not intend to live for extended periods in the United Kingdom through frequent or successive visits; and
How could any holder of an EEA FP ever successfully apply for a visit visa?
More immediately: I interpret Aladeselu (TA) & Ors (2006 Regs - reg eight) Nigeria [2011] UKUT 253 (IAC) (01 July 2011) as having established that an EEA FP holder can travel in advance of the family member, and be joined by them later. Is that how UKBA interprets it?
If so, does she need a visit visa at all?