EEA4 - What to do after waiting for than 6 months

[Ajudante]

Dear all

My partner has submitted his EEA4 application more than 6 months ago (6 months and 1 week). No answer until now.

He asked for his passport back a while ago (when the 5-year residence permit was still valid, so he could travel abroad and come back), so he's waiting for UKBA to decide his application. They have not asked for the passport back, which means they have not even started to look at the application.

The European partner has already a permanent residence certificate, so I am not sure why they're taking so long.

What to do? We hate to call them, because they are unhelpful and sometimes rude, and the calls cost a lot of money. Is there any other choice to know what is going on?

Has anyone tried to call them after 6 month and get any help or information at all from them?

How about E-mail? Do they just ignore it?

Can you get any sort of feedback from them?

Many thanks

[Jambo]

They have not asked for the passport back, which means they have not even started to look at the application.

The caseworker normally doesn't ask for the passports to be returned but issue the document on a standalone paper. So this is no indication on the status of the application.

Involve your MP to get a decision made as they are in breach of the EEA regulations.

[Ajudante]

Thanks Jambo

I contacted my local MP about this.

More on our experience:

This morning, we called the number they gave in the CoA (08450105200)

After 15 minutes waiting, a woman answered. At first she did not wanted to give me her full name, but I insisted.

I explained that the application was made more than 6 months ago and haven't heard from them since we got the CoA (6 months and 1 week ago). She replied "So, what do you want me to do?" (sic).

She then told me to go to a certain page on their site. I did, and when I chose the relevant option i.e. "enquire on the progress of my application" I was redirected.... to the same telephone number I had just called!!!

So there is no point in calling them. It's just a waste of time and money.

Later, I wrote to my local MP and I sent 2 complaints, one about the UKBA breaching European regulations and another one about the member of staff at the call centre, as she is as clueless as we are regarding what to do when they do not process the application within the 6 months. I sent both complaints to the address in the CoA:

UKBA
Permanent Migration
PO Box 306
Liverpool
L2 0QN

I then sent the same 2 complaints to the general complaints Email
complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

What else can we do? Any ideas? Any other UKBA people or department I can contact?

Is this kind of cases covered by SOLVEIT?

http://ec.europa.eu/solvit/site/index_en.htm

Many thanks!

[Jambo]

You seem to be doing the right thing. Keep complaining and sending emails.

See Q5 in EEA FAQs - Common Questions - Read before posting - Residence Card for a cheaper way to call the HO.

[Ajudante]

Actually, I have no faith at all in the Emails sent to

complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

because from my experience, they will take 2-3 months to reply and it seems that the people who reply have no access to the application file, because they only reply with generalities and copy-paste.

Anyway, at least it contributes to the statistics of the negative feedback they receive.

Does anyone know any Email address that we can can write to when the application is taking more than 6 months? Thanks

[Jambo]

Not sure where you found that address. The one on the UKBA complaint web page is UKBACustomerComplaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

There are also some direct addresses of managers in the UKBA which you find in some posts. You can also try those.

What did the MP say?

[Ajudante]

Yes, you're right. The first part of the address was deleted by accident when I copy-pasted. The correct complaints Email is

UKBACustomerComplaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

No reply from the MP yet.

[Ajudante]

Thanks to all who replied to my post

We finally received the outcome of the application from the UK Home Office.

This was only possible after contacting out local MP. The HO contacted us a few days after our MP complained to them. If not for her help, we would still be waiting, and who knows for how long.