(edit title) Appealing Refusal of PN and next steps Our situation is a bit particular... Rating Options

[DuncanTheTall]

Dear community,

I researched this topic quite thoroughly and could not really find an answer, each situation being different, this is quite normal. Anyway, I have to say that this community seems super helpful and feedback given is always very detailed and to the point. So here is yet another story about PN!

I am a national from the EU and this summer my wife, who is Swedish, and I got married. We never lived in Sweden before (a part from holidays), but we lived together in the UK, as well as outside the UE. To be short, my wife and I both have expats jobs and we have lived in a few different exotic countries since 2016. But without any proof of it (a part from the UK, more on that later). I don't currently have a job in Sweden. I must say that I am not a UK national, so this has nothing to do with Brexit.

In September, I applied for a PN. I grounded my application based on two things: enough money to live by myself, and family reunion with my wife.

I received a request for more information: without surprise they asked me for a proof of a comprehensive health insurance (That I am/was unable to give, my health insurance in my country being soon cut since they know that I moved to Sweden). If you know about an health insurance that could be accepted by Skattverket...

OR they were asking me to prove that my wife used her right of free movement within the UE to live with me.

For that, we had all the necessary proofs from the UK, rental agreement with our names, job contracts, etc. Everything dated back from 2017 when we were living in the UK. But Skattverket asked what we did after the time in the UK.

We left the UK to live in a "third" country (outside Europe).

Based on that, Skatteverket is refusing me the PN saying that they could have only considered her using her right to free movement within Europe if she had been back to Sweden after using this right.

We are going to appeal this decision by saying that after leaving the UK she actually got registered again in Sweden: she only went to the third country as a Swedish state employee (statligt anst?lld), during all the time in this third country, she kept her adress and she kept paying taxes as a resident. She was (and still is actually) employed by Sweden's government!

In September, I also applied to migrationsverket for a residence permit with the same rationale (reunion with my Swedish wife), but no news on that. This is somehow normal, they say minimum 11 months on their website.

I have several questions:
- What do you think of this, is there any chance for the appeal to work?

- I am considering sending my case to SOLVIT. Any tips on that? Do we have any success stories from this?

- If the appeal does not work, how long should I wait to re-apply (considering my situation does not change, of course if I get a job I would apply asap)? 1 Year?

- In the meantime before a new application, I would like to gather as many proofs as I can that I am living in Sweden. But without a PN, I cannot have phone bills, or anything like that. Any idea of how can I build my case for a future application? I guess if I say in the future that I have been living in Sweden for a year or so, I will need to prove it...

- Would a Samordningsnummer be helpful? If yes how to get one? (considering you cannot apply for one).

- I would like to buy a car on blocket soon... Should I expect issues? Not being able to insure it, or something like that?

Many thanks in advance !

[bonviveur]

Samordningsnummer you can get by registering at arbetsformedlingen, local job center it is, good luck with swedish bureaucrats, you will need it...

[Case officer]

EU rules gives you the right to move to another EU country for the purpose of employment, studies or self employment. An EU citizen who move to another member country for a different reason must jump through all the loops in the national legislation and there is nothing SOLVIT can do about that.

If you have an employment in Sweden you can get either a coordination number (samordningsnummer) or a personnummer - employees do not need to have comprehensive insurance.

[DuncanTheTall]

That is what my wife did, she, and I, worked and lived in the UK. As mentioned, we have the work contracts, rental agreements, etc.

Skattervket is acknowledging that, there is no issue on this: my wife used her right for freedom of movement within the UE.

The issue for Skatteverket is that they say she moved to a third country after that. I don't recall reading anywhere that you had to go back to Sweden after using your right.

[skogsbo]

Something doesn't seem right. Your wife or partner is a swede, if she has lived and worked in sweden previously it makes no difference where she has been since. You should be able to move to sweden and residency is issued to you as an eu migrant, upon proof that you have the means to support yourself and are living with her.

[DuncanTheTall]

Something doesn't seem right. Your wife or partner is a swede, if she has lived and worked in sweden previously it makes no difference where she has been since. You should ... (show full quote)

Something doesn't seem right. Your wife or partner is a swede, if she has lived and worked in sweden previously it makes no difference where she has been since. You should be able to move to sweden and residency is issued to you as an eu migrant, upon proof that you have the means to support yourself and are living with her. ... (hide full quote)

That's right... something does not seem right

When I applied for a PN, I based my application on two things: enough resources, and family reunification.

They gave me two options:
- 1. For the enough resources, they asked me to provide a proof of a health insurance. I chose not to go through this option since every single person I have heard about trying to go for this option got refused by Skatteverket.
- 2. For the family reunion, they asked me to prove that my wife used her freedom of movement within the EU. On Skatteverket website, they say like that:

"Documents showing that the Swedish citizen has had right of residence in another EU or EEA country, such as proof of employment, study certificate or a certificate of a company registration."

We provided al these proofs. But since my wife moved to a third country after living in the UK, she said she did not use her freedom of movement within the EU! We don't understand that. Moreover: being back from the UK, my wife actually got registered again for a month in Sweden, by Skatteverket. And in this third country, my wife was working as a Swedish State employee, still had her adress in Sweden and was paying taxes here! It's crazy.

[DuncanTheTall]

Hi all,

A short update on that.

After having sent my appeal to Skatteverket on 10 December 2019 (if I remember correctly), I received a letter from the Stockholm's administrative court on 19 December.

They acknowledge my appeal, and basically say that I have to wait. In the letter or on their website, they don't give any timeframe (any idea on that?).

The good thing is that they provide an email address where you can tell them about any change of address (this is my case actually) or just to give them your own em-mail for future contacts. This is good, makes things easier.

Concerning Solvit, well, no signs at all beyond the usual acknowledgement of reception of my complaint. This is kinda weird knowing that on their website they say I should have been contacted within a week... But I think my case is now in the hands of my country's Solvit office and bureaucracy there can actually be worse than in Sweden so...

[DuncanTheTall]

Hi all,

A new update on this, since it might help future people in the same situation:

I received yesterday the result of the appeal I made to contest the decision of Skatteverket. Unfortunately, the administrative court approved Skatteverket's decision.

A few things to note:
- Surprisingly, the decision from the court was very fast. As written above, they sent me a letter on 19 December saying they received my request for appeal, and on 24 February, I received the final decision by email.
- In their decision, they don't talk at all about all the documents we gave to back our case (registration of my wife back in Sweden after she used her freedom of movement within the EU, that she was a Swedish State employee, tax payer, etc.). They ignored that and just said that since she moved to a third country (outside the EU) after we have lived together in the UK, then, I could not get a PN and a residence permit. I am even at a stage that I am wondering if Skatteverket was totally honest and forwarded to the court all the documents they had...
- My only hope now is through Migrationsverket, but I don't expect anything before September 2020, 12 months after I have applied through them...
- Concerning SOLVIT, well still no news at all, this is completely crazy. Swedish bureaucracy may be harsh, but at least they stick to their deadlines and they give a feedback...

To be continued...

[Mpf]

So if I read this right, your wife is Swedish and now living in Sweden. You are from an EU country and you have applied to live in Sweden with your wife and requested a PN, and Sweden has said NO.

That's bonkers - just saying. Good luck.

[DuncanTheTall]

So if I read this right, your wife is Swedish and now living in Sweden. You are from an EU country and you have applied to live in Sweden with your wife and requested a PN, a ... (show full quote)

So if I read this right, your wife is Swedish and now living in Sweden. You are from an EU country and you have applied to live in Sweden with your wife and requested a PN, and Sweden has said NO.

That's bonkers - just saying. Good luck. ... (hide full quote)

Yep that's entirely right !

[DuncanTheTall]

Hi all,

An update for the people who might be in the same situation and looking for information.

Since my last message, I have been in touch with Solvit office in Sweden, they were very helpful but unfortunately could not do much because the Solvit Office in my home country was way too long to forward them the case, so in the meantime the case had already been processed by a court and in this situation, there is not so much Solvit can do.

If the Solvit office in my home country would have been faster, maybe things would have been different. Nevertheless, Solvit Sweden was super helpful in the way that they recontacted both Skatteverket and the Court to get dome details (I had a doubt about Skatteverket transmitting honestly all the documents my appeal was based on to the court). Very fast to answer email, Solvit really went the extra mile to help me.

So my advise would be: if you think things are gonna take too long in your home country with Solvit, don't hesitate to contact Solvit Sweden asap. Their email adress is available easiyl with a simple Google search.

Back to my case:

- I had the really nice surprise to be contacted by Migrationsverket last week, saying by email they took a decision concerning my Residence Permit (uppeh?llstillst?nd). Their email was not saying what was the decision, neither did their website. By mail, I received a letter stating I was giving Residence Permit!

- I am given Residence Permit for a duration of 18 months, basically until the expiration of my passport.

- It took them 7 months to decide, when on their website they were saying they could need up to 17 months.

- I don't know why they were so fast but I have my theory: I think I read somewhere that Migrationsverket was giving residence permit for minimum 1 year, and for maximum until the expiration of your passport (or other ID you applied with). Meaning that the moment of their decision must be earlier than 1 year before your ID / passport expires... That it's just a theory.

- Another theory could be that with the pandemic they don't open so much and that their employees have more time to focus on cases already opened rather than on new ones... But once again, that's just a theory.

- Since I bought a car I also got a samordringsnummer from Transportstyrelsen.

Next steps:

- The next step for me will be to apply again for a PN, this time backing my application with my residence permit. I hope the residence permit will allow my PN to be issued a bit faster than the usual 12 weeks... Any tip on that? or recent experience?