ILR.Employed non-EEA national.PLS HELP!

[janetk]

I'm a non-EEA national married to an EEA (Irish) national and I had applied for my Permanent Residence (Indefinate Leave to Remain) almost six months ago at the end of April 2006.

The basis of my application which was done using the EEA4 form was that the Treaty Rights that were exercised by my husband over the past 5 years were by virtue of my employment as he does not work and has not done so for the past five years.

After submitting the application I called the Home Office twice a month to check on the progress of my application. When they finally responded to my by mail it was to request all the documents of my employment (P60s, wage slips, letters of employment etc) which I had already sent to them when I made the application back in April - so I am assuming they have lost my originals. I sent them the photocopies that I had kept so they could try and find the original documents.

I have now received another reply by mail from them asking me to send a full set of documents to show that my husband has been working for the past five years. This is so confusing to me now as I was originally told that I could make the application if my husband had been excerising treaty rights and was economically self sufficient by virtue of my own employment.

Can anyone advice please? Does this mean that if my husband has not been working and has not been ill over the past five years I will not get permanent residence? What happens if your application is rejected? Any answers are much apprecicated.

[JAJ]

I'm a non-EEA national married to an EEA (Irish) national and I had applied for my Permanent Residence (Indefinate Leave to Remain) almost six months ago at the end of April 2006.

As your spouse is Irish, why did you not apply for immigration under the normal UK Immigration Rules rather than the EEA rules? You'd have obtained your ILR long ago (after 2 years) in that case?

You may need some good professional assistance to sort out your current situation.

[janetk]

JAJ, Thank you for your quick reply.

When you say apply for immigration do you mean the initial application for the residence permit? Because at the time of my residence permit application in 1998 I was told we would have to apply under EEA rules and wait 4 years to make the ILR application.

However they also lost my documents then and that application was resolved in 2001. So it is possible that from that period onwards new laws allowed applications under UK Immigration Rules.

Or do you mean Irish applications exclusively have this dual option.

Thank you

[JAJ]

JAJ, Thank you for your quick reply.

When you say apply for immigration do you mean the initial application for the residence permit? Because at the time of my residence permit application in 1998 I was told we would have to apply under EEA rules and wait 4 years to make the ILR application.

However they also lost my documents then and that application was resolved in 2001. So it is possible that from that period onwards new laws allowed applications under UK Immigration Rules.

Or do you mean Irish applications exclusively have this dual option.

Irish applicants have the option of sponsoring under either pathway. As do certain others, such as Britons with dual nationality, or other EEA/Swiss citizens with permanent residence in the UK.

Whoever told you that it was mandatory was wrong.

A lot of people go for the EEA permit because it's cheaper and quicker to obtain. But the hard part comes later in many cases. You've now been in the UK for 7 years it seems, many other people in similar circumstances would be naturalised British by now.

You need to realise that working is one way of exercising Treaty rights, but not the only way. What has been your husband's source of income over the last 7 years?

Out of interest, have you got children born in the UK?

[breadfan]

JAJ is correct. Your husband qualifies as self-sufficient because you work. Here's what Chapter 1 Section 5 says:

...an EEA national will qualify [as exercising treaty rights] on the basis of self-sufficiency if his/her spouse, civil partner, or partner is able to support him/her financially through his/her legal employment / self-employment.

There's no reason for your EEA4 application to be turned down under the new (30 April 2006) EEA laws.