Romani Online in UK

On another thread a forum member highlighted a letter received from the Home Office which did not relate to, or answer, the question she had put to them. I would be very interested to see other examples of such correspondence.

In the example above, the question asked was do I need to provide documents showing I have been in the UK for the full five years the applicant had been in the UK, or do you just need more recent documents because HO records will already show how long I have been here.

The response received was this:

Thank you for your enquiry.

Please be advised that if you wish to work in the UK on a self-employed basis, you have a right of establishment under EU law.

You may obtain and complete application form BR1, in order to obtain a self-employed Registration Certificate. This will confirm that you are an EEA national exercising a treaty right as a self-employed person, however this right does not extend to working as an employee in the UK.

If you have been working in the UK on a Self-Employed Basis, but you now wish to work as an employee, you will need to complete application form BR3, in order to obtain a Worker Accession Card.

Application forms are available at: http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/workin ... forms.html .

For further information, as it becomes available, please click on the link below:

http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/workin ... abour.html

If your ECAA visa expires after 1st January 2007 and you have not completed five years in this category, you cannot apply to extend it under the Immigration Rules. You will not be entitled to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain under the Immigration Rules if you did not extend your visa before 1st January 2007. Therefore, if you continue to be self-employed, you will qualify for Permanent Residence on 1st January 2012.

If you were granted an extension of this visa before 1st January 2007, when you complete a total of five years in the UK as a self-employed person, you will be entitled to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain under the Immigration Rules. In this case, the period of time spent in the UK as a self-employed person after 1st January 2007 can be counted towards the five years.

**************

So, the HO has not answered the question and as a result there could be further delays in an application being processed.

Please provide me with other similar examples where the HO is not answering your question.
thanks

I am posting an incompetent reply to a straightforward question. This made me complain to the Home Office and write to all the MEP's for London and finally the issue was revisited and competence reigned again at the Home Office.

I think that the automated kind of replies show how little immigration law these officials really know and can in a very real sense affect adversely the outcome of an application by their poor advise to the customers.

thank you for what you are doing to change things at the Immigration department from the HO

Razvan Veer




Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your enquiry.

If you will not qualify to make an application for Indefinite Leave to
Remain at the expiry of your current Leave to Remain under the
Immigration Rules, the time spent in this category will not count
towards an application for Indefinite Leave to Remain.

In order to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain under the Immigration
Rules, you will need to submit the appropriate application form and you
will be required to pay the appropriate fee. If you are applying on
or
after 1st April, 2007, you will be required to demonstrate knowledge of
life in the United Kingdom as well as language ability. For further
information about this, please see our website at:
www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk.

If you are not eligible for Indefinite Leave to Remain before your
current Leave to Remain expires, you will not be able to extend your
Leave to Remain under the Immigration Rules. In this case, you will be
eligible to apply for Permanent Residence, under EEA Regulations, when
you have completed five years exercising treaty rights in the UK, from
1st January, 2007.

In either case, if you have been working legally in the UK for more
than
12 months, you may obtain and complete Application Form BR1, in order
to
obtain a Registration Certificate. This will confirm that you are an
EEA national exercising full Treaty rights in the UK.
Application forms are available at:
http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/workin ... s/all_form
s.html. Please note, applications will not be accepted before 1st
January, 2007.
For further information, as it becomes available, please click on the
link below:
http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/workin ... /news/anno
uncements/access_to_the_uk_labour.html

Yours faithfully,

Hannah Collins
Managed Migration

If you intend to reply to this e-mail please ensure that you re-send
all
the information from your original enquiry.


-----Original Message-----
From: Razvan Veer [mailto:razvanache1980@yahoo.com]
Sent: 20 December 2006 23:16
To: IND Public Enquiries
Subject: ECAA STATUS CLARIFICATION


Dear Sir/Madam,


I am Razvan Veer, romanian national and I have been self-employed
under ECAA. My current leave will expire in December 2007. But, in
light
of the Romania's accession to the EU I understand I do not have to
extend the limited leave to remain.

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU REFERS TO INDEFINITE LEAVE TO REMAIN
UNDER ECAA AFTER THE ACCESSION. There are rumours even from Home Office
officials that those who have been self-employed under the ECAA will
not
have those years count for the 5-year requirement to apply for
indefinite leave. Can you you confirm whether this is the case or not?

And now, if this is the case, this would come in sharp contradiction
to the modifications made to the articles 222 onwards from the
Immigration Rules under which an applicant who had previous leave to
remain under ECAA before 1st of Januray, 2007 is entitled to apply for
ILR after 5 years in this category.

This is an extremely important issue for me as I paid taxes and
natyional insurance contributions and I have the right to know in
reasonable time what is the position in respect of ECAA status.

I am looking forward to having your feedback as soon as possible.

Thank you for your time!


Yours faithfully,


Razvan Veer

Razvan,

Is the second email you posted the text of your original question to the HO or is this your follow up response to the HO after they replied?

I need to be clear what your initial question was and why the response from the HO did not answer it.

I've e-mailed the HO on 14 MAY regarding the topic mentioned here:

http://www.romani-online.co.uk/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,236/topic,995.msg16050/#msg16050

I've got a read receipt dated 15 MAY (that's only because I've sent the e-mail with the "Request Read Receipt" option on) but I've got no answer whatsoever so far ... I've sent them another email today, so hopefully this time around I'll be luckier.

Most public institutions have an automated e-mail acknowledgment system letting the sender know that their message has arrived at its destination ... not the HO though!

I don't know what's worse: getting an inaccurate reply or not getting a reply at all!

Also a 6 month old (at least!) statement constantly present on their website saying: "Due to unprecedented levels of requests for information by email over the last few weeks, we are currently unable to provide you with a personal response to your query, as we would normally do." is not likely to boost the confidence of anyone... :)|

DST I can confirm that the second e-mail is the original e-mail withe the question that I asked the Home oFFice for clarification. And the first one is their "illuminating" response

thank you

razvan

As mentioned in my yesterday's post, after failing to get an answer from the HO to an email I've sent them nearly a month ago, I've sent them another email yesterday, again asking for a read receipt. This is what I just got back today:

From: "Ammantoola, Ackhmez"
To: "CristianS"
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 8:53 PM
Subject: Not read: Permanent residence (ILR) question - attempt no 2


Your message

To: IND Public Enquiries
Subject: Permanent residence (ILR) question - attempt no 2
Sent: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 22:32:41 +0100

was deleted without being read on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 20:53:50 +0100

Final-Recipient: RFC822; "Ackhmez Ammantoola"
Disposition: automatic-action/MDN-sent-automatically; deleted

That's interesting ... -scratch- cratch-

That is indeed interesting and instructive.

I think it would be useful if all people emailing the HO set your email client to request a read receipt.

Just a quick follow up to my previous post, in order to let people know that if you email the HO now, you will get a confirmation e-mail (a copy is provided below). For those who are not aware, this wasn't the case before! The e-mail says that they aim to answer most inquiries in 5 working days (let's hope that this will be the case). This is a positive development, and I thought I should let people know!

Automated confirmation e-mail content below:

-------------------------

Thank you for contacting the Border & Immigration Agency.

If you require information about an outstanding application, or the return of documents, please contact the Immigration Enquiry Bureau on 0870 606 7766. We are unable to respond to these enquiries by e-mail. The Border & Immigration Agency aims to complete 90% of all charged applications within 14 weeks of receipt. We will contact you if further information is required to complete your application.

We aim to respond to enquiries about other immigration matters within five working days. If the answer to your enquiry is contained in the information below, you will not receive another response.


Knowledge of Life and Language in the UK

From 2nd April 2007, if you are applying for settlement in the United Kingdom you will need to demonstrate Knowledge of Life and Language in the UK (KOL), in addition to meeting the usual requirements for settlement.

There are two ways in which you can do this:

? If you are already at or above ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Entry 3 standard of English, you will be able to undertake a specially developed short test called "Life in the UK Test".

? If you have not reached ESOL Entry 3, you will need to gain an approved English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) qualification by attending an ESOL course which includes citizenship materials at a local college.

If you have completed the required qualifying period to apply for settlement, but you do not have evidence of KOL, you can apply to extend your current Leave to Remain, providing you still meet the requirements of that category.

For further information, please visit the Border & Immigration Agency website at: www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk

We hope that this information will be of assistance to you.

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