Appeal

[Sesha]

Hi All,

Few months back I posted my problem about revocation of my ILR.

My appeal to Revocation of ILR was granted on 27th Feb 2006. I got the court determination letter on 07th March 2007. After that I have been waiting for my passport, which I have not received till date. My solicitor has suggested me to go to higher court against home office as there is no response from their side and have failed to send back my passport.

I would be very grateful if any of the learned members can guide me on getting back my passport or with any suggestions.

Awaiting Your suggestions.

Thanks and Best Regards
Sesha

[Jeff Albright]

What was your determination? Has the appeal been allowed? Has the appeal been allowed by the Immigration Judge or Senior Immigration Judge?
Have the BIA issued you with the formal letter reinstating your ILR in accordance with the determination?
Then they must return your passport.

If they haven't you need to give the relevant Presenting Officers Unit a call and ask for your passport. If your appeal has been allowed, it is more likely that the file is still with them.

Have you tried to contact the BIA Enquiry Bureau?

[Sesha]

Hello Jeff,

Thanks for your reply.

My appeal was allowed by Immigration Judge. I got the determination letter on 7th of March 2007 which states that the "Appeal has been Granted".

I have not received any kind of communication from anyone else apart from the determination letter which I mentioned.

So, in this kind of circumstances, whom should I contact first?
I tried contacting the Airport Terminal Immigration where my passport was retained but they said that they have got no authority of releasing my passport.

Please guide me about the concerned authorities to contact to resolve this issue.

Thanks and Regards
Sesha

[Jeff Albright]

Sesha

Looks like there were no further applications made by BIA to pursue this matter (they would have had 5 days). They MUST now issue you with the grant letter and return your passport immediately.

1. Call the INEB and require explanation. Ask them to be put through directly to the Presenting Officers Unit and ask them why they have not yet forwarded your file to the Appeals Implementation Unit to issue the grant letter yet.

2. Where was your appeal heard?

Best

Jeff

[Sesha]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the reply.

The appeal was heard at Feltham AIT Dukes Court.

You mentioned INEB in your reply, Can you please elaborate what is INEB and if possible also the contact number. Meanwhile I will try searching the details on Internet.

My solicitor has recently sent a letter to Iplementation Unit for the release of my passport failing which the matter would be taken to higher court. I would like your opinion on this please.

Thank you very much for time and looking forward for a reply.

Thanks & Best Regards

Sesha

[Jeff Albright]

Sesha

First of all let me disagree with your solicitor's advice taking matters to a higher court. It is almost unknown that the BIA would fail to comply with the court's order in principle. The reason of your delay is probably is that your case was caught in some bureaucracy and the culprit is probably the POU, as the turnaround in AIU is generally 2 weeks and there are no known delays there, as I have recently been told by one of the Home Office employee. They put all their efforts to achieve the outcome in their favour but if they lose they just throw the file aside and often forget to implement it. Therefore, my advice to you would be that you should get on the neck of the Operations Manager at POU Feltham. You need to call and write a letter yourself for their attention. You can find the address of your POU on the bottom of your AIT Appeal Notice.

Secondly, I doubt that your solicitor's letter reached the unit where your file is stuck. I doubt that your solicitor has written directly to the POU or AIU. If they had written to Croydon you can consider it to be a complete waste of time and as if nothing has been written at all. You won't get any response.

INEB = Immigration and Nationality Enquiry Bureau - the main public call enquiry office at BIA. The telephone number is on the website. Call tomorrow, speak with them firmly and ask them to PUT YOU THROUGH to the POU, because they will not disclose their direct phone number to you.

The Appeals Implementation Unit may not have your passport. They only deal with issuing grants in a letter. Your passport may be at the port or at the Local Enforcement Unit. It depends on the reasons why they wanted to revoke your ILR and when it happened.

If the BIA did not appeal within 5 days of the Judge's determination, your appeal case had become case law, the actions of BIA revoking your ILR were declared unlawful and it is illegal for BIA to fail to issue you the grant letter. I am sure they understand it but unfortunately, they are very inefficient so you have to spur them. You have the full right to turn up at your Local Enforcement Office or any other BIA unit and make a formal demand for (a) the return of your passport, as your property and (b) issue you with the status letter without delay. What they told you was bullshit - it is their duty to sort things out between themselves. Let them call anywhere they want, do whatever they want but the bottom line is that they MUST reinstate your ILR by law now.

So the best and the most effective approach would be for you to take matters in your hands and leap into action. If nothing works (I doubt it though) the next step for you to take would be to approach your MP and make a complaint to the Ombudsman. Taking matters to a higher court will be simply pointless because there will be nothing to argue about and there could be simply no counter-arguments from the BIA side so all the court can actually do is to simply to issue more paperwork but they will not be running after the Home Office for you and you will still end up chasing this matter yourself. Don't waste your time, this is my advice to you.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Sesha]

Hi Jeff,

Thank you very much for your detailed explaination.

I will start chasing up the issue myself and keep you and the forum informed about the developments.

You have been of real great help to me. Thank you.

Best Regards

Sesha

[Sesha]

Hi Jeff and the forum,

As suggested by you I contacted the INEB number but they were reluctant to pass on my call to Presting officer Unit with quote " Its being processed and if you want further details then get in touch with Appeal UNIT". Number was given to me.

I called the Appeal Unit Number which was given to me by Home Office INEB Person( who answered my call) but to my disappointment, those people asked me to get in touch with Home Office.

I called Airport terminal and was told that they will write to me. No dates were mentioned.

I spoke to my Local MP office and i could only get an appointment date on 29th of June. I did e-mailed my MP previouslyy and given him all the reference numbers I had pertaining to this case. I was told by MP's staff that they got in touch with Home Office and it will take 1month for the Home office to get back to them. However I booked an appointment with him.

The Next thing which left to be done is to write to POU which I would do immdtly.

Is there anything else you would suggest? I am almost on the verge of depression.

Thanks and Best Regards
Sesha

[Jeff Albright]

As suggested by you I contacted the INEB number but they were reluctant to pass on my call to Presting officer Unit with quote " Its being processed and if you want further details then get in touch with Appeal UNIT". Number was given to me.

I would expect such a response. You should have been persistent and if they refused to put you through, should have asked to speak with their manager.

I called the Appeal Unit Number which was given to me by Home Office INEB Person( who answered my call) but to my disappointment, those people asked me to get in touch with Home Office.

Morons. Must have given you the AIT customer service number.

I called Airport terminal and was told that they will write to me. No dates were mentioned.

Call again and say you are not prepared to wait. Action is required now. If not, ask to speak to a Manager.

I spoke to my Local MP office and i could only get an appointment date on 29th of June. I did e-mailed my MP previouslyy and given him all the reference numbers I had pertaining to this case. I was told by MP's staff that they got in touch with Home Office and it will take 1month for the Home office to get back to them. However I booked an appointment with him.

You should have specified what you wanted from them. Writing to the Home Office is not what you want - I explained to you it is pointless. Go to www.ombudsman.org.uk download a complaint form, fill it in and take it to your MP. But first try to get hold of the relevant unit at the Home Office and resolve the issue with them directly.

The Next thing which left to be done is to write to POU which I would do immdtly.

This is correct. You should get a response fairly soon, within the next few days. But you need to make sure you write a good letter, polite but at the same time putting demand on them.

I am almost on the verge of depression.

As long as you have a plan of action, follow it and be firm with what you want, you will not be depressed.