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Do I have grounds to remain in the Uk

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:48 pm
by Mattcin
Hi everyone, thank you in advance for your time. My situation is not very straight forward so I will just state some facts about my situation,

I came to the Uk in 1996 as a Turkish nationality
Got married to a German resident in the Uk and got divorced in 2009
Before our divorce each year gone to visit my family we had to get an entry clearance for family member to return to the Uk up until told by an officer at the embassy that I didn't have to do this each time that I should apply for residence card so I have.
Received my residence card in 2008 ,
informed home office accordingly as I separated and divorced but I was told my residence card was valid till 2013 sept, I also told them I was traveling to Aus.
After my divorce in 2009 I travelled and stayed in Australia, got remarried to my husband in 2010 (he is English) and we came back to the Uk in 2012
I have been misinformed and got confused about EEA applications and applied for EEA4 before sept 2013 and been refused recently, hindsight I should have applied for EEA2.
Refusal for EEA4 letter reads And i quote" As you appear to have no alternative basis of stay in the Uk you should now make arrangements to leave"
My passport is NOT retained and no date for departure.
My question is do I appeal the decision for refusal on the grounds of private life and unjustified removal.
Or do I make a fresh claim for EEA2 , if yes with or without appeal.
I don't want to breach and immigration rules , I also don't want to leave my home and my husband, as settlement visa from overseas takes very long time. There isn't a place I can stay in Turkey for that long and I know I can't switch category from EEA to British within the Uk.

I'm sorry it is a long post but thought you'd need to know to be able to answer, thanks again , I really appreciate any input.

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:59 pm
by Obie
If you married in 1996 and resided with your German national from 1996 -2009 in the UK, yhen you might have secured the right to permanent Residence, provided your then husband was working through out your marriage, and never left the UK for a continuous period of 2 years, and you have documents attesting to this fact.

I will suggest you appeal against the decision, if the above is the case.

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 1:25 pm
by sheraz7
If you will still not qualify for permanent residence under EU route then if you have resided legally between 1996-2006 with no breaks of more than 6 months each year or 18 months during those 10 years then you might have already been eligible for Indefinite leave to remain (ILR) on the basis of long residence.

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 1:26 pm
by Mattcin
Hi Obie, thank you so much for your quick response.
I have lived with him till 2008 then we separated, never left Uk for longer period, and he was working but at times he also received job seekers, I have no contact with my ex, and when I left the marital home I was only able to take some personal belongings, I haven't got any paper work for him. I was hoping the entry clearances issued by the British embassy would be efficient enough as they approved and recognized his residency and treaty rights over here in the Uk. Each time I had to take supporting documents to the embassy to be able get my family permit, I have two passports full of them. We also given evidence of his treaty rights for 5 yr residency permit, but as I said I myself have no paperwork for him :( I don't even know where he is right now, no contact details whatsoever!
Is removal decision unjustified in your opinion?
If I appeal I couldn't offer anymore docs apart from my old passports to show, but I was thinking I can appeal to the decision of removal, what do you think :/

Thanks again

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 1:30 pm
by Obie
Yes I am sure you can appeal, ask UKBA and the ECO for your file and application history, by making a SAR request.

Ask the Tribunal to issue a direction forvthe srcretary of state to provide evidence of your ex husband tax history, and provide copies of the passports you received stamps from

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 1:34 pm
by Mattcin
Sheraz7, thanks for your reply.

I have been legal resident always, as I mentioned before tho my biggest problem is not having much paperwork other that the fact that family permits in my old passports.

I have some tax papers, and some employer letters for myself but not for each and every year. Obviously has been a very long time now to seek employers and at the time i never thought I had to keepsake paperwork for evidence one day :(
Looking back on it now, I was very naive and stupid to say the least!

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 1:43 pm
by Mattcin
You are all awesome :)

I have lost seven days trying to find ways to prove somewhat I as a person I too have some rights but not successfully.

I will try what you suggested I'm worried tho because of the time frame as it is holidays,not sure how much I can get done but I will do all that I can. I have till 7th of Jan to make an appeal.

Thank you so much again, you guys are given me the best info so far.

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 2:26 pm
by Mattcin
Hi Obie,

I searched for UKBA it does take up to 40 days for home office to reply for SAR request, I suppose that'll be fine but forgive me because It might be a silly question tho gotta ask what ECO stands for, I get info for ICO but not so much for ECO :/
Thanks

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:28 pm
by Obie
ECO is an acronym for Entry Clearance Officer.

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 9:21 pm
by Mattcin
Thank you :)

Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:36 am
by physicskate
Mattcin wrote:Thank you :)
Just throwing this out there -

Did leaving the country 2009- 2012 not break residency? Even in the case if the OP had defacto PR, aren't they only allowed out of the country for 2 years? I am more than happy to be wrong about this....

Isn't the OP now under UK immigration law and not EU, as OP is married to a UK citizen? Doesn't this now mean spouse visa route??

It is a shame that the OP didn't apply for ILR and naturalisation when such a huge chunk of residency was built up 1996 - 2008.

Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 12:21 pm
by Mattcin
You are right, it has broke my residency for the duration of the residence card permit of 5 years. It was one of the reasons why I am refused for the eea4 application, the other one was that I wasn't able to show treaty rights for my ex on the day that I have received my absolute decree. Having said that in hindsight I should have applied for eea2 because I have been absent from the Uk for longer than 2 yrs, but when I called ukba they told me I have to fill eea4 but now after a lot of research I found out I could have asked for another 5 year residence and then apply for pr.
But my argument is that I was married to my eea national for over 10 years and I have stamps for eea family entry clearances, which means that at more than one occasion an ECO was satisfied with evidences provided.
Unfortunately Ukba says I can not switch from Eea to British partner, not from within the Uk, but outside the Uk it takes about 6 months for application to go through.
I really am in rock and a hard place as my husband and I can't afford me to go away for that long, I'm now thinking that my appeal will be for their removal decision not so much for the eea4 refusal!!
Any thoughts??