EEA FP Appeals

[Radconn]

Hi
My wife was recently refused her EEA FP to go to the UK.
I am a UK citizen and we have lived in Ireland since August last year.
They refused the visa because of my self employed status. In that the ECO wasn't satisfied that I had moved the centre of life to another EU state.

Is there anyone with knowledge about the appeal system, do decisions like this get overturned on appeal, or is it pretty much a lost cause.

I have already appealed because I felt I should appeal after we got knocked back on the visa. I put the application in online before the end of Dec. 2013. So I don't believe that it should have been assessed based on the new Regs. 01/01/2014.
I have received the registration back from the Tribunal and in their letter it states that the ECO has the opportunity to change his decision if he cares to.
Anyone know if they do change their minds? Or do they seem to prefer to allow it to court to the Court of Appeal?

Any info would be welcomed.
Thanks
Brad

[rosebead]

Your application should have been assessed under the old rules, the ECO got it wrong! Search for Schedule 3 Transitional Provisions here.

[Radconn]

Hi Rosebead
thanks for your response.
I think he got it wrong as well.
I actually found those transitional provisions and quoted them when I sent off the appeal.
I am hoping that I have it right and he will change his mind, they have given him until the 25th April to get the documents back to the Tribunal.

[rosebead]

You could also write a letter to the visa application centre or better still to the caseworker if you know who it is and ask for a reconsideration. Tell them why you think they made a mistake and include a copy of the Schedule 3 Transitional Provisions with your reconsideration request.

Did you ask for an oral appeal? I think oral appeals are probably better because you get a chance to argue any point that comes up.

[Radconn]

Hi Rosebead
I had to do a paper appeal, because we aren't living in the UK.
I could try and write them, but all applications from Ireland are now sent to the UK, so not sure where to write. I don't think they tell you the actual caseworker.
I will have to see what I can find out though. It might help.
Thanks.

[Radconn]

hi
just wanted to update what I have done. I have already appealed this decision, but I decided to try a more direct approach as well.
I found an address for the Entry Clearance Manager at the British Embassy in Dublin. so I dent a registered letter directly to him/her.

Anyone else have any experience of doing this themselves?
If so did you get any positive response or are letters like this just ignored?

Thanks

[Jambo]

AFAIK applications made in Ireland are not decided in Ireland anymore but are forwarded to the UK for a decision (this change happened last year) so I'm not sure there would be an ECM who would read it.

[Radconn]

Wouldn't they forward the letter to the UK?
Surely they cannot just ignore it. Or can they? Seems to me they are a law unto themselves.

[Radconn]

Does anyone know the answer to this please?

I think my wife is able to reapply for the EEA family permit, while the appeal is pending.
But we are appealing based on the fact that they assessed her application using Regulation 9 as of 01/01/2014 and we submitted the application in December 2013. So we are saying the ECO misinterpreted the regulations because he ignored the Transitional Provisions in Schedule 3.

Anyway, my question is if we did reapply before the outcome of the appeal would the new application be assessed based on a completely new application or a follow up application from the first application in December.

If it is linked to the first application I can then put more information in a covering letter explaining that it should be looked at under the regs. prior to Jan 2014.
If you know what I mean?

[rosebead]

As far as I know, a fresh application will be assessed under the new rules. It won't be looked upon as a follow-on.

People that have submitted reconsideration requests generally sent it in the same envelope as their appeal, so I would suggest you send your reconsideration request to the same address as your appeal, making sure to include within your letter any reference number that they gave you.