EEA2 Success - a story (and tips?)

[Magarhe]

OK so now I have my EEA2 residence certificate thing in my passport. I cannot thank enough the people here who have helped me through this insane process. Here is my story in brief in the hope it will help others:

I am Australian. My wife is Hungarian / Australian. We moved from Oz to England around 18 months ago.

I came over with my FMRS and my wife joined the Worker Registration scheme.

My FMRS expired after 6 months, as they do, and I then had to apply for the next stage, I can't even remember what that thing is called, but it lasts a year.

Note that just after the FMRS expired and just before I applied for the next stage, I was offerred a great job at high pay, and when I went to start, the payroll company would not accept me because they did not understand the whole EU / FMRS / Residence / EU rights etc.. so basically, I lost that job, which was just great. I then had to submit my passport for the next stage after FMRS, and in the weeks before I had my Certificate of Application, pretty damned hard to get a job.

Now, that all could have been avoided if I had set up a limited company beforehand, because the payroll would have been handled differently. So it may be a good idea to setup your own company like that, although who knows how much it will help in reality.

OK, so then I have my one year "name forgotten" stamp thing. Life goes on normally for awhile.

But when I start a new contract a week before this stamp expires, well, the company is pretty confused about how this all works. Their expensive HR lawyer doesn't really understand it and thinks that EU family members don't have rights here (!?) but checks and still is not totally sure. Conflicting and weird vague advice from home office to the company. Luckily, since I was using my own company, and already signed contracts, and home office eventually said a Certificate of Application is OK, the company I was doing work for begrudgingly allowed me to continue working. They nagged me for the certificate for weeks, I had to ring and chase HO to get it. Then they started asking me when the passport would be back, I said it takes around 6 months for the HO to process it. Eventually they stopped asking.

So, applied for the Residence Card. Expected wait of up to 6 months (or more). Following advice from this board, sent all applications to Liverpool, not Croydon, for me and my wife.

OK so now it is 5 1/2 months since application for the Residence Card. My wife is getting anxious and wants to call HO - I tell her perhaps don't make them angry. So she calls. THEY HAD NOT EVEN LOOKED AT IT. She is not happy and tells them to get cracking. A week later, she calls again - they STILL have not looked at it. My wife is pretty angry about this.

Wife: "Isn't there an EU requirement to get it done by 6 months?"
HO: "I don't know." ... they sort of check it out and get manager
Manager: "Oh yes we try to get them back by that guideline."
Wife: "Well that's not good enough I want ot make a complaint"
HO: "Well, you can write to our complaints department"
Wife: " That's not good enough, what is the address of the ombudsman?"
HO (quite distressed, gives the address)

Now, after threatening them with the ombudsman, my passport arrives one week later. After not touching it for 5.5 months, suddenly it was all processed and returned. One week after that, my wife's passport returns.

Am I recommending everyone ring and threaten them with the ombudsman? I don’t know, well, MAYBE. It is a bit of a joke to let something like this drift for 6 months + … for us, it has stuffed up chasing work, and made it impossible to travel, to go to conferences etc.. I also have a friend who recently had her father die, and because her passport was tied up, it took days to get it returned, and she missed the last days / funeral of her father. Nice. By nice, I mean TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.

Anyway, thanks again for all the help. I hope everyone else gets their things sorted out smoothly and speedily.

Good luck.

[daria]

"Wife: " That's not good enough, what is the address of the ombudsman?"
HO (quite distressed, gives the address) "

Could you please provide the address?

Many thanks!

[Magarhe]

I will get the address off my wife, but I think asking them for the address is more effective than writing the the ombudsman.

I don't think you could call them say, 2 weeks after you have applied and then start pushing them to finish it quicker. We had waited nearly 6 months, but they had done nothing for 5.5 months.

I expect them to take nearly 6 months - or longer - I certainly do not expect them to complete it immediately.

Also if you ring them 1 month after you apply and start complaining, they can always say "it does not have to be done for 6 months" - and they have a point. So you can't really complain until the 6 month time period is nearly up.

I think it is really stupid, I believe in Germany it takes 2 days to do it, so I have heard. It takes 2 days here, too - just that they don't start for 6 months.

So maybe this tactic is onyl useful after say 5 months .... at least you can stop them taking 8 months or so, as I have heard they do.

[daria]

In my case it's more then 7 month waiting by now.Complaints do not help neither calling them. I was told to wait, in a rude manner (like I did not wait enough).
So I would really like to escalate my complaint further if you can help me with the ombudsman's address.
Thanks in advance.

[runie80]

Well my situation is pretty much same as yours.

I have my FMRS stamp for one year.
Luckily I have a full time permanent job.

My FMRS & my wife's WRS is expiring in February some time.

I will be applying for EEA 2 & she will have to apply for EEA 1.

I want to be more mobile in terms of changing a job if a better opportunity arrives. What i am afraid is how to convince the employer that I am legally allowed to work which I am.

Its really hard to convince employers that you are allowed to work.
They are not willing to read all the legislation and etc.They think its a bit risky.

I am hoping that home office will speed up the procedure.

would it be possible for someone to let me know how long before or after the expiration of the FMRS (1 year stamp) you should apply ?

much appreciate you guys sharing information.

Regards