PR confirmed with later than expected date of acquisition

[anna99]

Hi All,

I sent my application at the beginning of July and today I received my PR document.
I also received a letter stating when I acquired my permanent residence status.

However, a letter states I acquired my permanent residence on 6th October 2016, even though I submitted all relevant paperwork covering time from June 2009 to July 2016...
In October 2009 I enrolled in full time university course in the UK and I sent some letters from the university (along with my results for that period) to confirm it. I also sent WRS certificate that was dated 6th October 2010 (I didn't have to have it as a student, but it was one of the requirements at my old workplace). Therefore I thought that I acquired my permanent residence status, the latest, on 6th October 2015.


How can I contact Home Office to amend this information? Is there any chance they will change it?

If I want to apply for British citizenship do I really have to wait until October 2017 or can I apply now? In the letter I received from HO it says that if I apply before that date my application will be refused. However, it also says that if I can prove I acquired the residence status earlier, then I need to send supporting documents.

It's a little bit confusing for me. I don't want to wait until October next year - I'd prefer to have it all sorted now, so I don't have to worry what's gonna happen next and by how much the fees will go up.

I would really appreciate your help and opinions.

Regards,
Anna

[salmintin]

However, a letter states I acquired my permanent residence on 6th October 2016, even though I submitted all relevant paperwork covering time from June 2009 to July 2016...
In October 2009 I enrolled in full time university course in the UK and I sent some letters from the university (along with my results for that period) to confirm it. I also sent WRS certificate that was dated 6th October 2010 (I didn't have to have it as a student, but it was one of the requirements at my old workplace). Therefore I thought that I acquired my permanent residence status, the latest, on 6th October 2015.

First of all congrats for getting the DCPR! Can you please post the full timeline of your application? i.e. the date you sent the documents, the date your DCPR was issued etc.

Also what did you actually do between Oct 2009 and Oct 2016? It's a bit strange that they only had evidence up until 07/2016, but considered you acquired PR in 10/2016.

One way to double check your PR date is by making a SAR request.

[noajthan]

Hi All,

I sent my application at the beginning of July and today I received my PR document.
I also received a letter stating when I acquired my permanent residence status.

However, a letter states I acquired my permanent residence on 6th October 2016, even though I submitted all relevant paperwork covering time from June 2009 to July 2016...
In October 2009 I enrolled in full time university course in the UK and I sent some letters from the university (along with my results for that period) to confirm it. I also sent WRS certificate that was dated 6th October 2010 (I didn't have to have it as a student, but it was one of the requirements at my old workplace). Therefore I thought that I acquired my permanent residence status, the latest, on 6th October 2015.

How can I contact Home Office to amend this information? Is there any chance they will change it?

If I want to apply for British citizenship do I really have to wait until October 2017 or can I apply now? In the letter I received from HO it says that if I apply before that date my application will be refused. However, it also says that if I can prove I acquired the residence status earlier, then I need to send supporting documents.

It's a little bit confusing for me. I don't want to wait until October next year - I'd prefer to have it all sorted now, so I don't have to worry what's gonna happen next and by how much the fees will go up.

I would really appreciate your help and opinions.

Regards,
Anna

Just goes to show caseworkers work in mysterious ways and it does not pay to assume anything.
Least of all what your qualifying period may be.

Perhaps some period of your history was disregarded for some reason.
For example, did you have CSI throughout your carefree student years?
Or was some of your evidence patchy?
The refusal seems to suggest some issue with your proof of residence.

Don't forget the two aspects to acquiring PR are exercise of treaty rights and proof of residence (including any absences enjoyed from UK to have been within prescribed limits);
- did you have any prolonged absences?

Alternately, a hard-pressed and time-poor caseworker may simply have made a mistake in either calculating the date of acquisition or in keying in such a date into your record in the CID (databank).

There is no known procedure for correcting a date of acquisition. Obviously they won't just take your say so.
A SAR will presumably re-confirm your date as Oct 2016!
Maybe still be worth a punt just to find out.

[noajthan]

To avoid confusion & jumbled responses, I have moved your question to its own thread (this one).

[anna99]

Hi,

My timeline is as follows:
Date application sent: 11th July
Application received by HO: 13th July
Payment taken: 14th July
Confirmation email received on: 15th August
Documents requested back: 5th December
DCPR and documents received: 17th December
DCPR letter dated: 12th December
PR status acquired: 6th October 2016

I came to the UK in May 2009 to study. I stayed with my parents (they have lived here since 2004) and started a full time course at the end of September 2009. Also, in the same time I opened my bank account and mid-October I began part time work.
As part of proof I sent a few letters from UCAS confirming my address (from 16th June 2009 onwards) and confirming my place at the university. I also sent 6 letters from the university dated from June 2009 confirming the following: passed English test to the required standard, registration paperwork, bursary and scholarship entitlement for 2009/2010, confirmation of my place at uni and results from 3 academinc years (2009/2010, 2010/2011 and 2012/2013).
I also sent P45 from September 2010 confirming that I have had a part time job in the meantime. I included as well a bank letter stating I opened my current account in September 2009.

What's weird for me is that I deemed to have acquired the residency status exactly 6 years after my WRS card was issued (6th October 2010). Maybe the case worker was meant to put 2015? I don't know now.

With regards to the prolonged absences - the longest absence I had was 3 weeks for Christmas in 2009. Apart from that I have never gone over the limit. In total between May 2009 and July 2016 I was away for 180 days.

Regards,
Amma

[noajthan]

How did you satisfy CSI requirement as a student?

You could have acquired PR as early as 2014 let alone 2015 or 2016.
There must be a reason the first 2 years in UK didn't cut the mustard.

Unless this is all down to human error.

[anna99]

I thought I didn't have to have CSI as I was working on a part time basis since October 2009 and in August 2010 I took a full time role.

[noajthan]

I thought I didn't have to have CSI as I was working on a part time basis since October 2009 and in August 2010 I took a full time role.

Just because you thought you were a worker qualified person or that you were a student qualified person (etc) doesn't mean a caseworker will agree with you.

No CSI for work no but students needed CSI. Did you declare (and prove) you has CSI or did you declare you had no CSI?
Workers needed WRS (if A8 up to 2011) and work to be shown to be genuine and effective rather than marginal and supplementary to semething else (eg studying).
Was it - especially when it was only part-time work in those early years?

One or both those requirements may have failed in your earlier years so that they were not considered.
And/or perhaps your proof of residence in earlier years was weaker.

[salmintin]

I thought I didn't have to have CSI as I was working on a part time basis since October 2009 and in August 2010 I took a full time role.

Just because you thought you were a worker qualified person or that you were a student qualified person (etc) doesn't mean a caseworker will agree with you.

No CSI for work no but students needed CSI. Did you declare (and prove) you has CSI or did you declare you had no CSI?
Workers needed WRS (if A8 up to 2011) and work to be shown to be genuine and effective rather than marginal and supplementary to semething else (eg studying).
Was it - especially when it was only part-time work in those early years?

One or both those requirements may have failed in your earlier years so that they were not considered.
And/or perhaps your proof of residence in earlier years was weaker.

While I agree with your points, it's weird that UKVI set her PR date to be 06/10/2016 even though OP probably did not provide any sort of documents to cover the months after her July application. This means they probably filled the gap somehow, but I don't think they normally do that.

[noajthan]

While I agree with your points, it's weird that UKVI set her PR date to be 06/10/2016 even though OP probably did not provide any sort of documents to cover the months after her July application. This means they probably filled the gap somehow, but I don't think they normally do that.

Years 2009-2011 may have been discounted. Clock could have been counted from (only) 2011-2016. But yes, hard to count until October if application dated from July.

HO may have defaulted to the date of some internal decision if not defaulting to actual date of issue of card.
Or maybe it was date of issue but card production was then delayed and card sent out late.

Or perhaps date was not recorded in CID and the person finally generating the DCPR letter panicked and set an arbitrary but recent date. A SAR may clarify on that score.

Member ohara had something odd happen with his dates as well;
as I vaguely recall, he got a bizarre date based on the anniversary of some piece of information relating to his case but not directly correlated to his evidence and presumed qualifying period.

[anna99]

No, I didn't have CSI. I declared I had no CSI as I was also employed in the same time. With regards to the WRS card - I included it with the application. It was issued on 6th October 2010 - I started working for this employer on 21st August 2010 and left in November 2012.
What do you mean by genuine and effective work? From October 2009 to July 2010 I worked in average 16 - 20 hours a week. From August 2010 my hours went up to 42 and effectively from 21st August 2010 I was a full time employee working 42 hours a week (night shifts), while also studying on a full time basis.

I think I will send a request to provide me with the information from their database as I read it can also include case worker's notes. I really hope it is just a mistake made while entering the data on the letter. As I mentioned before it's just weird that the acquisition date is 6 years after issuing WRS card and not 5... Since August 2010 I have worked on a full time basis, with the only gap in employment being from end of April 2013 to June 2013 - time when I was looking for a new role.

[noajthan]

Genuine and effective work is the only requirement set in the Directive for workers and self employed qualified persons.
You can get a steer on it here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf

It may be caseworker ignored your carefree student years (due to no CSI) - as would be expected;
and she may have also ignored your part-time work too - if she deemed it to be marginal and perhaps supplementary to you being a full-time student.

Your case may have strengthened with start of fulltime work in 2010 (despite being a student with no CSI as well).
But some element of human error or other unknown factor seems to have crept in to get you bumped from 2015 to 2016.

Takeaways:
1) Applicants are not punished for shortcomings, for example for not having CSI when a student; that time is just ignored for PR purposes.
2) Don't assume applicant knows when their qualifying period is; don't restrict evidence to just a 5 year period (and then, horror of horrors, get it wrong).
3) Caseworkers move in mysterious ways.

[salmintin]

While I agree with your points, it's weird that UKVI set her PR date to be 06/10/2016 even though OP probably did not provide any sort of documents to cover the months after her July application. This means they probably filled the gap somehow, but I don't think they normally do that.

Years 2009-2011 may have been discounted. Clock could have been counted from (only) 2011-2016. But yes, hard to count until October if application dated from July.

HO may have defaulted to the date of some internal decision if not defaulting to actual date of issue of card.
Or maybe it was date of issue but card production was then delayed and card sent out late.

Or perhaps date was not recorded in CID and the person finally generating the DCPR letter panicked and set an arbitrary but recent date. A SAR may clarify on that score.

Member ohara had something odd happen with his dates as well;
as I vaguely recall, he got a bizarre date based on the anniversary of some piece of information relating to his case but not directly correlated to his evidence and presumed qualifying period.

Yes there are a few possible explanations.

Technically I think OP can still lodge an appeal and try to make the case for setting the PR date in 2015 or earlier. But anna99 please be aware that appeals can take a long time (I'm still waiting for the one I lodged back in August and I won't hear back until at least January). You're in a very unfortunate position.

[anna99]

Salmintin, noajthan

Thank you for your replies. I sent an email to the HO Further Nationality Enquiries and today I've got a reply saying that according to their records I gained permanent residency on 6th October 2016.
I was advised to contact the team that had dealt with my application if I think this date is wrong.

Any advice on who shall I contact or how can I lodge an appeal? I know it's a long term process, but I think I've got nothing to lose and in the worst case scenario I'll have to wait until October 2017 to apply for British citizenship.

[noajthan]

Salmintin, noajthan

Thank you for your replies. I sent an email to the HO Further Nationality Enquiries and today I've got a reply saying that according to their records I gained permanent residency on 6th October 2016.
I was advised to contact the team that had dealt with my application if I think this date is wrong.

Any advice on who shall I contact or how can I lodge an appeal? I know it's a long term process, but I think I've got nothing to lose and in the worst case scenario I'll have to wait until October 2017 to apply for British citizenship.

Contact the people you have been dealing and/or use addresses on official letters. There is no 'fix my PR date' unit or mailbox.