Home Office says delay will not affect UK nationals returning with EU families | home office

[ad_1]

The government has said that British nationals who wish to return permanently to the UK without a visa with EU families after Brexit will not be penalized by the Home Office, as long as they apply for their papers within the next two months.

The confirmation comes as a relief to British citizens suffering from anxiety and distress due to Home Office delays due to the March 29 deadline to apply for the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS).

However, it was too late for the 67-year-old British woman and her 80-year-old French husband who had been waiting 10 months for a decision from the Home Office.

After their case made headlines in the UK, their hopes were raised when they received a call from the Home Office hours after a decision was imminent.

“Honestly I was shocked. We got rejected,” said Carmel, who asked not to be given her real name.

The couple, who are artists, sold their home near Perpignan last summer and planned to move to Cornwall for what they hoped would be a revitalization after retirement.

They were rejected on the grounds that Carmel did not provide a translation of the marriage certificate and tax statement, and did not provide sufficient evidence that she had lived in France for 30 years.

“It is not what we had hoped for,” she said, adding that when they applied there was no clear requirement for documents to be translated. “My sister and I searched the application form to see what evidence we needed. We submitted passports, marriage certificate, joint bank statements and my tax certificates. There was nothing at the time asking for translations,” she said.

The Home Office said Carmel has the option to offer any other application for free or to appeal within 28 days.

But the couple has now decided they don’t want to deal with any more Home Office pressure. “It was a total fiasco and we decided not to back out now but to buy a place in Paris,” Carmel said.

Ben Bramic is among those who were relieved to hear that they can still apply for settled status even if the permit arrives after the deadline for non-British spouses living in Europe before Brexit.

He has also been waiting 10 months and he and his wife Valerie now on Airbnb 8 in Brussels while waiting for the Home Office permit.

When asked if spouses can apply for settled status in the EU if they miss the deadline due to Home Office delays, the Home Office issued this statement.

“If an application for an EUSS Family Permit is submitted on this basis by 29 March 2022 but is not determined by that date, it will continue to be processed and an EUSS Family Permit will be issued where the applicant meets the requirements.

“Family members of returning British nationals who have been granted an EUSS Family Permit, and who have applied for it by 29 March 2022, will be deemed to have ‘reasonable reasons’ to apply in the UK to EUSS after this deadline. They should apply to EUSS as soon as possible. after their return to the United Kingdom.

The Bramish had planned to return to the UK last summer but their first application for a family permit was rejected on the grounds of insufficient paperwork.

His wife had to delay moving from her work to the UK, and a father of two separated from his children after getting a job and renting a house in Cheshire.

He also contacted Brexit supporter Esther McVeigh, but her office said they were unable to get an answer from the Home Office.

An assistant in her office told him in an email that she was sympathetic but helpless.

Esther agrees that such delays are clearly unacceptable. Unfortunately, unlike other government departments, the Home Office is not open to MPs who approach ministers on individual issues.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman is now looking into a complaint from Bramich on the grounds that the Home Office provides “unclear guidance” and does not have a Service Level Agreement on response times, “long processing delays” and “refusals without giving applicants the opportunity to submit missing documents”.

Bramic said he hopes they will both be approved, but doesn’t understand why getting the permit in the first place was a nightmare. “We ended up submitting about 200 pages of documents. We threw the sink on her,” he said.

“Is it really that complicated to process these apps? My wife and I have been married for 15 years. We already met when we were in England and we both lived in England, but we moved away from England and now we can’t go back.

We are married and have two children. It’s very straightforward, but they make it very difficult.”

“Everyone is really worried, worried and angry about what is going to happen in. If I read some forums online, the anxiety and worry would be enormous.”

A Home Office spokesperson said that EUSS family permit applications were “resolved as soon as possible, but wait times can vary depending on the volume of applications received and the complexity of the case being considered. As a result, customers may experience a waiting period longer than usual to make their own decision.”

[ad_2]