Refused Citizenship: Date of Permanent Residence Card and Statement not matching

[MirkoE]

Dear all,
I am copying the issue that I raised with Visa and Immigration UK as I would really appreciate your thoughts on this, especially on the issue in which I have my residency being recorded as having a different, non-matching date (in the future?!) with the release of my Permanent Residence card.

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I have recently applied and seen refused a British citizenship application on the grounds that:
- I have been permanently resident in the UK since 07/12/2017
- I have applied on the 02/09/2018
- I have not been a permanent resident for the whole 12 months before my application.

I believe there is an incongruence and possibly an error with the dates that the HO has on record because:
- I have received my Permanent Residence card, issued on the 25th of August ‘17 at the end of the same month.
- The document attached stated that I had been granted Permanent Residence on the 07/12/17, which was in the future at the time.
- I first entered the UK in May ‘12 and worked since June ‘12 providing abundant documentation that validated the claim.

I am unsure about how to proceed in clarifying the matter and I would appreciate your guidance.

[NikiGio]

The Home Office rule on naturalisation for EEA nationals is clear:

"Apply if you’re from the EEA and you’ve had permanent residence status for the last 12 months".
https://www.gov.uk/british-citizenship.

Did you know about the requirement to hold PR for 12 months before making the citizenship application?

This means you should have waited to apply until after 7/12/2018.

If you noticed the Home Office had made a mistake by stating that the date of you gaining PR status was in the future, you should have first corrected that with the Home Office before making the citizenship application.

Did a lawyer advise you?

[obormot]

My understanding is that by the time you apply for citizenship you should
- have residence status for 12 month and
- be in possession of a EU PR card
But you do not need to have the card itself for 12 months.
(I.e. if you obtained the PR status more the a year ago, you can apply for PR, get it (with the date of acquiring PR of more then one year ago) and apply for citizenship next day)

In your case you had to confront HO about the date you got your PR accourding to rhem before applying for citizenship - as this is the date they put in their records when deciding on your citizenship.
I would try to fight, as citizenship application is a lot of money, but you have to start from the PR department where the mistake was made.