UKVI did not meet its statutory deadline for dealing with residency application

What happened

Ms A was married to a European citizen who was allowed, under European Union law, to work and live in the UK. Ms A applied for permanent residency, because she was entitled to do, and by EU law her application should have been decided within six months. But UKVI did not look at it for over six months. It then rejected the application because Ms A had not given it all the supporting papers it asked for. UKVI told Ms A she might have to leave the UK. Ms A appealed the decision and was told that she had the right to remain in the UK during the appeals process. However, a private company, contracted by the UKVI to track down illegal migrants, telephoned and wrote to her to tell her she should make arrangements to leave the UK. At the tribunal hearing, UKVI said it now had all the documentation and would look afresh at her application. It then granted her permanent residency in the UK. Ms A complained about what had happened and was dissatisfied with UKVI's response.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. UKVI should have looked at Ms A's application within six months. However, it had been right to reject it because Ms A had not sent all the supporting documentation. Once Ms A had appealed, she had a right to stay in the UK during the appeals process but UKVI was not notified of Ms A's appeal for over a month. As a result, the private company was not aware that Ms A had put in an appeal when it contacted her, so there was no fault there. However, UKVI could have responded more fully to her complaint.

Putting it right

UKVI apologised to Ms A for not deciding her application within six months and for responding inadequately to her complaint.