EEA2 - Surrinder Singh

[Freda]

I am British, my husband Tanzanian, we entered the UK in August from Ireland, as my husband was granted a EEA family permit under Surrinder Singh as we had both lived and worked in Ireland. He then applied for a residency card EEA2 for the UK and received a certificate of application which allowed him to work. Now we have this email:

'I have just looked through your application and note that you have applied under Regulation 9 (the Surrinder Singh ruling). Looking though the evidence provided I note that you have successfully shown that you meet all of the criteria of Regulation 9.



I am writing to you as in order to issue you a residence card the Home Office requires evidence that your wife is currently a qualified person in the United Kingdom. I need some evidence that she is either (a) a worker, (b) a job seeker (c) self-sufficient (d) self-employed as required by regulation 6 of the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2006.



Please could you let me know A.S.A.P. so I can move your application forward.'

We were under the impression that through Surrinder Singh you do not need to be a qualified person as you have already used EU treaty rights in another EEA state. I am currently receiving maternity benefit from Ireland and have a 10 week old baby, and so am not working or a job seeker. Will my benefits from ireland make me self sufficient? And do we reallly need this card by law? I thought not but thought it would make life easier.

Thanks for any advice

[Jambo]

You should feel lucky that the caseworker wrote to you and didn't just refuse the application. I suspect he is new so is not used to the way UKBA tend to work

The caseworker is wrong. I suggest you write back to him/her attaching the following - their internal European Operational Policy Notice 05-2011: “Instruction on Regulation 9 Surinder Singh cases”and point out that you are not required to be a qualified person in the UK following your return.

[dalebutt]

This lot are a bunch of jokes aren't they? your wife does not definitely need to be a qualified person on return, I do not know what guidelines the little guy has been reading but even their own guidelines contradicts his statement, what a joke he is. You should write to him politely with a bit of lecturing.

[Freda]

Thank you for backing up what I thought! I will email him the attachment and hope everything goes smoothly...

[chaoclive]

Please do let us know if they reply...keep his/her email address too...never know when you might need it in the future (or may be able to help somebody else on here)!

Good luck!
CC

[Freda]

We got a reply! And an apology! He said sorry, we were right and that the residence card would be issued within 14 days, Hooray! They did add that it is normal for them to ask that the British citizen is a qualified person as they like to see that..but it is not technically necessary, so others be aware of this!

[Jambo]

Great to hear that. I guess his way of apologising is to speed up the process. Not bad.

[euroguys]

You should feel lucky that the caseworker wrote to you and didn't just refuse the application. I suspect he is new so is not used to the way UKBA tend to work

The caseworker is wrong. I suggest you write back to him/her attaching the following - their internal European Operational Policy Notice 05-2011: “Instruction on Regulation 9 Surinder Singh cases”and point out that you are not required to be a qualified person in the UK following your return.

Jambo I believe that the link you provide contains errors and should read worker or self employed not worker or self sufficient

[Jambo]

You should feel lucky that the caseworker wrote to you and didn't just refuse the application. I suspect he is new so is not used to the way UKBA tend to work

The caseworker is wrong. I suggest you write back to him/her attaching the following - their internal European Operational Policy Notice 05-2011: “Instruction on Regulation 9 Surinder Singh cases”and point out that you are not required to be a qualified person in the UK following your return.

Jambo I believe that the link you provide contains errors and should read worker or self employed not worker or self sufficient

Well spotted. You are right.

[Jellybean105]

How long does the resident card via surrinder singh usually take? I know it says up to 6 months or usually quicker on the site but what have people experienced?

Thanks!

[Freda]

We arrived in the UK at the start of August and applied soon after. From the email correspondance we are expecting it to be sent to us in the next couple of days. So that is about 4 months. Will let you know when it actually arrives! It is a long time without a passport which can make setting up bank accounts etc difficult so I suggest you get your bank account before sending off your passport.

[Jellybean105]

Hi Freda

Thank you for replying! If you could let me know that would be great. Right now, we are waiting for my husbands Ireland resident card, which is taking foreverrrr!

I'm not too worried about the docs being held up as my husband was in the UK previously so he already has everything there

[Freda]

Thats us got everything back now, so 4 months, so great to finally have it in our hands!

[Jellybean105]

Thats great! Congrats! Thank you for letting me know

[Freda]

Our current situation is that we are very happy that my husband has his EEA2 residence for 5 years, he is working and I am looking after our 4 month old baby.

My maternity benefit runs out in 2 weeks, and as such we are going to be living off my husbands (minimum wage) income. I am therefore considering applying for housing and council tax benefit (and possibly job seekers allowance). As a British citizen I believe this should not be a problem.

However, as I am an EEA national for the purposes of our immigration status, I wanted to double check that receiving these benefits would not jeopardize future applications for my husbands EEA4, permanent residency and eventual citizenship.

Would my husband (the EEA2 holder) or us as a couple also be allowed to apply for working and child tax credits?

Also, at what point do we change from being subject to European law and instead fall under UK's Immigration Rules?

Sorry if this is in the wrong section, I couldn't find a surrinder singh case in the benefits section of the forum.

Thanks for your help.

[askmeplz82]

A PR applications from family members of UK nationals ( Surinder Singh route ) would be treated in the same way as if they were an EEA national who had acquired permanent residence in the UK. So you don't need to show that you are exercising treaty right anymore in the UK. You can claim any benefit ( if you are entitled ) it will not jeopardise his EEA4 application

When your husband apply for PR in future he need send same documents you send for EEA2 application

[Freda]

Thank you for your reply, much appreciated.

[Jellybean105]

Do we need to apply for a biometrics residence permit while applying for a UK EEA Family permit?

[Wow85]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but can anyone confirm that it is still the case that it is not necessary to prove that a British Citizen under Surrender Singh is a qualified person?

My wife has just had her EEA2 application refused because I failed to do this (although the form actually directs us to skip all sections related to proving qualified person status!)

I am preparing a firm letter to the case worker...

[noajthan]

Sorry to bring up an old thread but can anyone confirm that it is still the case that it is not necessary to prove that a British Citizen under Surrender Singh is a qualified person?

My wife has just had her EEA2 application refused because I failed to do this (although the form actually directs us to skip all sections related to proving qualified person status!)

I am preparing a firm letter to the case worker...

May be worth opening a new thread for this matter.

Under case law of Eind (Case C-291/05) it is not necessary for the BC to be a qualified person & exercising treaty rights once back in UK.

Ofcourse they need to have been exercising treaty rights in a.n.other EU country before returning to Blighty.

Ref HO guidance on this matter:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... w_v2_0.pdf

See also:
https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/eu-rights-clin ... ng-the-law
&
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... ber_c_2910

[Wow85]

Thanks. I have written a letter requesting reconsideration as they have obviously made a huge mistake... I'll start a thread if that doesn't work! What I dont understand is that these rulings are more than 3 years old and the HO are still refusing applications incorrectly. Can they really be that incompetent?

[noajthan]

Thanks. I have written a letter requesting reconsideration as they have obviously made a huge mistake... I'll start a thread if that doesn't work! What I dont understand is that these rulings are more than 3 years old and the HO are still refusing applications incorrectly. Can they really be that incompetent?

I have no way of knowing what goes on in the bowels of the Home Office and through the minds of caseworkers except that I have experienced life-changing and cavalier decisions at the hands of such officials.
Decisions that after a great deal of time, money, stress and effort did not stand up when challenged on the basis of UK immigration law.

However the political climate and how the land lies regarding family migration is fairly clear so putting this down to 'incompetence' may be too generous.

Best of luck.

[Wow85]

Partial faith in humanity restored.

A recorded delivery letter with my complaint was delivered to the home office on Friday (8th), I also sent the same letter in an email to Linda.Bateman@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk on Sunday (10th), who was on holiday so I received an automatic reply informing me to email Francis.Winter@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk instead (which I did on the same day).

My wife received her EEA residency card today (13th), letter dated Monday (11th)!

Unbelievable that they refused and then turned it around so quickly (either the same day as receiving my complaint by email, or the next working day after receiving my letter, although I find it hard to believe that they open letters that quickly!). Either someone higher up realised that a very wrong decision had been made, or (due to the way they treat people, I unfortunately cannot exclude the possibility that) they knew what they were doing was wrong but thought they would try anyway...

At least we saved the time and money of an appeal.

[noajthan]

Partial faith in humanity restored.

A recorded delivery letter with my complaint was delivered to the home office on Friday (8th),
...

My wife received her EEA residency card today (13th), letter dated Monday (11th)!
...

Either someone higher up realised that a very wrong decision had been made, or (due to the way they treat people, I unfortunately cannot exclude the possibility that) they knew what they were doing was wrong but thought they would try anyway...

At least we saved the time and money of an appeal.

Congratulations on a very positive result.
Shows that attention to detail, persistence and the bulldog spirit pays off.