LAWYER RESPONSE EUSS refusal

[Emily Q]

Hello all.

I have pre-settled status in the UK as a EEA citizen and my parents (both EEA citizens too) applied to join me last summer (before 30/6) and they both got pre-settled status too. My mother then travelled to the UK with my younger sister who is a minor. They applied for my sister's EUSS status in the end of last year but it was just refused, the reason was that my mother does not qualify as a 'relevant sponsor' as she herself was granted PSS as a joining family member, therefore she can't support my sister's application to become a joining family member.

They gave us the option to appeal, or apply for administrative review, or make a new application. But I'm quite confused as to the requirements and their reasons - does this mean my sister will not be able to stay with us in the UK? Can we make a new application and put me as her 'relevant sponsor'?

Any insight / advice / experience sharing would be really appreciated. Thank you!

[Site Admin]

Hello all.

I have pre-settled status in the UK as a EEA citizen and my parents (both EEA citizens too) applied to join me last summer (before 30/6) and they both got pre-settled status too. My mother then travelled to the UK with my younger sister who is a minor. They applied for my sister's EUSS status in the end of last year but it was just refused, the reason was that my mother does not qualify as a 'relevant sponsor' as she herself was granted PSS as a joining family member, therefore she can't support my sister's application to become a joining family member.

They gave us the option to appeal, or apply for administrative review, or make a new application. But I'm quite confused as to the requirements and their reasons - does this mean my sister will not be able to stay with us in the UK? Can we make a new application and put me as her 'relevant sponsor'?

Any insight / advice / experience sharing would be really appreciated. Thank you!

Afternoon,

I'm very sorry to hear this, unfortunately it's not a well publicised fact, that only EEA nationals who obtained status in their own right by living here before the end of 2020, are able to sponsor close family members under the EUSS. Anyone whose status was obtained as a joining family member, whether they are EEA nationals or not, is not able to sponsor via this route.

Also unfortunate is the fact that the route to sponsor extended family members, which includes siblings, ended at the end of 2020, so you couldn't be the sponsor either.

[Site Admin]

Olga M (lawyer) Would you have any suggestions via Appendix FM? As I can't see how the EUSS could work here.

[Olga M]

I am getting a few enquiries like that and unfortunately I do not know the answer. Under Appendix FM non-EEA national with PSS can not sponsor their relatives and there is no provision for minors other then children to be sponsored by EEA national. Or there should be some paperwork that they are guardians (?) or similar.

I guess it could be an application under Article 8, outside the rules? Unfortunately I am not authorized to work on that level and don't have experience.

[Emily Q]

Thank you Olga and Site Manager for your replies!

So if EUSS won't work for my sister, I am wondering if the other route Appendix FM can actually help. You suggested probably not, but my mother is a EEA national herself, does it change anything? Can she, as an EEA national with PSS, sponsor her child (my sister) under that route? My sister is a minor (age 7).

I think, or at least I hope, there has to be a way for this - as my parents and myself will all be living in the UK, there is no way we can leave my sister in Italy by herself?

[ClaudLatina]

Thank you Olga and Site Manager for your replies!

So if EUSS won't work for my sister, I am wondering if the other route Appendix FM can actually help. You suggested probably not, but my mother is a EEA national herself, does it change anything? Can she, as an EEA national with PSS, sponsor her child (my sister) under that route? My sister is a minor (age 7).

I think, or at least I hope, there has to be a way for this - as my parents and myself will all be living in the UK, there is no way we can leave my sister in Italy by herself?

Olga M

[Site Admin]

Thank you Olga and Site Manager for your replies!

So if EUSS won't work for my sister, I am wondering if the other route Appendix FM can actually help. You suggested probably not, but my mother is a EEA national herself, does it change anything? Can she, as an EEA national with PSS, sponsor her child (my sister) under that route? My sister is a minor (age 7).

Morning,

Unfortunately only EEA nationals who obtained EUSS status based on their own residence here before the end of 2020 can sponsor via the EUSS, people who got status as joining family members, regardless of whether they have EEA nationality or not, cannot sponsor via this route. This is not well publicised by the government, if it was me, I'd have made it very clear on the forms and on the official pages, they have not made it clear at all.

It also seems to me, that there is a huge gap left by the EUSS, whereby sponsored family members can't even sponsor their own minor children under the scheme, yet, while many organisations have been arguing endlessly about things of much lesser significance, I've not seen this being mentioned at all.

[Site Admin]

Olga M Is there any other route they could use, via Appendix FM? Being an EEA national, she should be able to sponsor with pre-settled status.

[Site Admin]

Aron F (lawyer) Would you be able to comment on this?

[Aron F]

Apparently Appendix FM won't help as according to its GEN.1.3(d):

references to a person being “in the UK with limited leave under Appendix EU” mean an EEA national in the UK who holds valid limited leave to enter or remain granted under paragraph EU3 of Appendix EU to these Rules on the basis of meeting condition 1 in paragraph EU14 of that Appendix.

Paragraphs EU3 and EU14 of appendix EU don't apply to joining family members, thus joining family members who have pre-settled status are also excluded from sponsoring under Appendix FM.

The only way seems under Part 8 of the Rules 301. It does seem odd and I will try to found out a bit more.

The fees are still the same. If your sister has been here now more that 6 months and thus an overstayer, she would have to apply from outside the UK.