“Thanks to Global Immigration Solutions’ support and excellent advice we had a lovely holiday in the UK!“
~ John and Amrita O’Sullivan
An EEA national doesn't have to be in the UK to be a qualified person
When John and Amrita O’Sullivan, who live in India, decided to visit the UK on their way to Ireland, Amrita applied to the British High Commission in New Delhi for a family permit, putting in evidence to show that she and her husband were travelling together on a short holiday. She hadn’t expected any problems, and so was very upset when her application was refused, with the Entry Clearance Officer saying that as John was not working in the UK he was not a qualified person, and therefore Amrita herself was not eligible to make an application under European law. Amrita had the right to appeal against this decision.
In a Skype call from India John and Amrita told us that they were only going to be in Europe for three weeks, as they both needed to get back to work, and that they had wanted to spend three days in the UK visiting Amrita’s family. Clearly there was no point in appealing the refusal of the family permit, then, as the matter wouldn’t get before an Immigration Judge until some six months after they got back from their holiday! We advised them that the only practical way forward was to put in a new application.
It is scary but true that a lot of Home Office officials have only the vaguest idea about European law. We prepared a new application, writing detailed legal representations in support of Amrita’s new application, quoting the relevant sections of the European directive, the EEA Regulations and the Home Office guidance to Entry Clearance Officers, setting out what the Entry Clearance Officer appeared to be unaware of – that the EEA Regulations state that an EEA national could enter the UK for an initial period of three months without needing to exercise Treaty rights in any other way, and that as the couple were travelling together, Amrita was entitled to be issued with a family permit to accompany John. Three days after she submitted this second application, Amrita was issued with a family permit so that the couple could travel as planned.
This is what Amrita had to say when we asked them for a testimonial:
“We were having trouble getting an EEA Family Permit. The Embassy rejected our application stating that we weren’t entitled to one. We were really worried because it seemed like our plan to stop in London on our way to a family wedding looked like it wouldn’t happen.
We contacted a whole host of firms regarding the rejection and what our next step should be. They all suggested appealing the decision which we found out was going to take many months, meaning we would have to cancel our plans. They were also not very forthcoming with information and were way out of our budget.
Fortunately we stumbled upon Global Immigration Solutions who, from day one, seemed genuinely concerned and interested in our case. They shared all the options with us, including the pros and cons of each and explained to us why the Visa Officer had been wrong to refuse our application. We reapplied with a letter provided by Global Immigration Solutions which proved that we were entitled to an EEA Family Permit, and our application was successful.
Thanks to Global Immigration Solutions’ support and excellent advice we had a lovely holiday in the UK!”
