C650 first officer reported being non-rvsm; yet ATC allowed clearance into rvsm airspace.

Attributes
ACN	1617028
Time
Date	201902
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Citation III VI VII (C650)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 62 Flight Crew Total 6800 Flight Crew Type 516
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Narrative:

Current aircraft operator did not have rvsm authorization letter. When we reached the cruising altitude of FL280 we found that we were in the tops of a cloud layer and it was choppy there. We asked for higher and reported negative rvsm. Center cleared us to climb to FL320. When center handed us off to [the next center controller] we checked in negative rvsm. [The next center] told us to descend to FL280 and call a number about a possible pilot deviation.I found out that we are not supposed to be allowed to cruise at an rvsm altitude without rvsm approval. I thought the controller could let you into rvsm airspace traffic and workload permitting; but that is actually only to climb or descend through rvsm; not cruise in it.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C650 First Officer reported being non-RVSM; yet ATC allowed clearance into RVSM airspace.

Narrative: Current aircraft operator did not have RVSM authorization letter. When we reached the cruising altitude of FL280 we found that we were in the tops of a cloud layer and it was choppy there. We asked for higher and reported negative RVSM. Center cleared us to climb to FL320. When Center handed us off to [the next Center controller] we checked in negative RVSM. [The next Center] told us to descend to FL280 and call a number about a possible pilot deviation.I found out that we are not supposed to be allowed to cruise at an RVSM altitude without RVSM approval. I thought the controller could let you into RVSM airspace traffic and workload permitting; but that is actually only to climb or descend through RVSM; not cruise in it.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.