If you want us to return your documents to you by a Royal Mail 'signed for' service, you must enclose a pre-paid, self-addressed Royal Mail Special Delivery (or Recorded Signed For delivery) envelope with your application.

The pre-paid envelope should be able to accommodate the size and weight of your documents, and should be insured to the appropriate level. See the Royal Mail website for more information.

If you do not enclose a pre-paid envelope, we will return your documents using Royal Mail 2nd class post, or by Recorded Delivery if we received and acknowledged your application before 17 January 2011.

We will send you a certificate of application, in accordance with European law, as soon as your application has been received and a record has been established. Depending on your circumstances, your certificate of application may or may not give you an entitlement to work in the UK. If you do not have the right to work in the UK, we will send you a 'Questions and answers' sheet explaining why you cannot work.

If several weeks have elapsed since you submitted your application, and you have not received your certificate of application, you can phone our European enquiries contact centre to check whether we have sent you a certificate.

There may be a number of reasons why we cannot confirm that you have a right to work in the UK. The main reasons are listed below:

• If you are seeking to remain in the UK on the basis of caring for a child who is an EEA national, your application is based on your full-time caring responsibilities, so you will not be given permission to work in the UK under the European regulations.
• If you are the unmarried partner or an 'extended family member' (such as a brother or sister) of an EEA national, you do not have an automatic right or entitlement to live in the UK with them. Until we have fully considered your application and determined that you qualify under the European regulations, we cannot confirm your right to work in the UK.
• If you have not provided satisfactory evidence of your identity or of your relationship to an EEA national, we may need to ask you for additional or alternative evidence. Until we have fully considered your application and determined that you qualify under the European rules, we cannot confirm your right to work in the UK. 

If you want to withdraw your application, you must inform us by sending a letter to:

UKBA - European Applications
Withdrawals
PO Box 306
Dept 45
Liverpool
L2 0QN

If you need your passport or ID card back whilst we are processing your application you should follow the instructions below. We will endeavour to return your documents as soon as possible- usually within 5 working days, however there may be exceptional cases where it takes longer so we strongly advise that you do not  book travel until your application has been fully considered and your documents returned to you.

Non-urgent requests

If you will be travelling in the near future (i.e in the next month) and need your documents back, please email your request to LiverpoolEuro.PassportReturns@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk. Please provide details of your travel plans and your Home Office reference if possible.

We will normally return your documents to you using Royal Mail 2nd class post. If you have provided a pre-paid Recorded or Special delivery envelope with your application then we will use this to return your documents securely.

Emergency Requests

We understand that sometimes circumstances arise when you need your passport or ID card back as a matter of urgency. As with all requests we will endeavour to return your documents as soon as possible (within 5 days) , however in emergency cases we will allocate your case to a manager who will monitor your request to ensure you are kept informed of progress. In order to request this service you should contact our European Enquiries Contact Centre on 0845 010 5200. Please note that we do not routinely accept emergency requests, therefore we require evidence of your need to travel.

We will normally return your documents to you using Royal Mail 2nd class post. If you have provided a pre-paid Recorded or Special delivery envelope with your application then we will use this to return your documents securely.

If we return your documents at your request we will not withdraw your application and you will not be required to make a fresh application. However, on occasion we may need to request your passport or ID card back to complete the processing of your residence card.

If we have refused your application because you have not provided the necessary evidence to support your application, the quickest and easiest solution is to make a new application.

If you have a right of appeal, you can choose to appeal against our decision. We will send you details of how to do this, and the appropriate appeal forms, with your refusal letter. 

We will only reconsider our decision in exceptional circumstances. Your appeal will only succeed if our decision, based on the evidence that we had at the time, was incorrect. For example, a reconsideration is not appropriate if you did not supply enough evidence to support your application - in that situation, you should make a new application and ensure that you include all the supporting information.