Returning EEA residence card after change of citizenship (non-EEA to EEA)
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:14 pm
Hi all
I am an Irish citizen living in Northern Ireland. My civil partner has recently naturalised as an Irish citizen. He used to hold Chinese citizenship and had a residence card issued to family members of EEA citizens under the EEA regulations.
We have been told in the past that an EEA citizen cannot hold a residence card (EEA2 as was) so we had sent it back to the Home Office a few months ago. We received a letter today that stated that they cannot update his records (as an Irish citizen) and that this can only happen if he applies for a residence card as an Irish citizen.
The issue is that an Irish citizen doesn’t need any form of residence card to reside in the UK. We are not going to waste time on an application for a registration card when it is of no value in our circumstances.
My worry is that the Home Office start to contact non-EEA citizens who were/are family members of EEA citizens in the future in some form of database clean up and the fact that we have not had the records update might prove problematic.
I guess range likelihood of the above actually happening is low but would anyone have any idea about the best way forward? Should we just hold on to the residence card and do nothing? Is it best to reply stating firmly that I want his status to be updated so that he won’t fall foul of any checks in the future and enclose the RC?
Sorry for the long post!
Thanks
CC
I am an Irish citizen living in Northern Ireland. My civil partner has recently naturalised as an Irish citizen. He used to hold Chinese citizenship and had a residence card issued to family members of EEA citizens under the EEA regulations.
We have been told in the past that an EEA citizen cannot hold a residence card (EEA2 as was) so we had sent it back to the Home Office a few months ago. We received a letter today that stated that they cannot update his records (as an Irish citizen) and that this can only happen if he applies for a residence card as an Irish citizen.
The issue is that an Irish citizen doesn’t need any form of residence card to reside in the UK. We are not going to waste time on an application for a registration card when it is of no value in our circumstances.
My worry is that the Home Office start to contact non-EEA citizens who were/are family members of EEA citizens in the future in some form of database clean up and the fact that we have not had the records update might prove problematic.
I guess range likelihood of the above actually happening is low but would anyone have any idea about the best way forward? Should we just hold on to the residence card and do nothing? Is it best to reply stating firmly that I want his status to be updated so that he won’t fall foul of any checks in the future and enclose the RC?
Sorry for the long post!
Thanks
CC