EEA National - acquiring Permanent Residency/Citizenship

[Jamsco]

Hello all,

I have looked through the boards, but require further help with my question.

My friend is an EEA National (German). She settled in the UK in August 2007, and has been here continuously since. She also has a British born son (to a a father with British Citizenship). She is no longer with the father, and they were not married.

Can you please advise whether it is possible for her to acquire PR/citizenship through her son? If not I am assuming she can get PR after 5 years of being settled here? Also, is there any further route to PR she could consider (I appreciate that 'back dating' a cohabitation with the father is not possible?)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Lucapooka]

Her easiest option is to wait until she has PR and then wait a further year to qualify for naturalization.

An alternative route would be to leave the UK and apply for entry clearance as a person with access to a child living in the UK. This is not an easy application as it requires that the child's father has some complicity in delivering the correct paperwork with regard to contact orders, etc. After one year on this status she will be eligible for ILR, and can then apply for naturalization one year after that.

It's sounds like the first option will, in any case, be quicker or coincident with the more onerous child access route so the best advice would be stick with this.

[Jamsco]

Thanks Lucapooka.

I note your comments about the two options and suggestion of the first being easiest. I wondered if you could help further on eligibility for PR. Specifically I was wondering about the criteria to exercise Treaty rights, she has been in the UK for just over four years and was a student for 1 of those years (well 9 months). Would she need evidence of health insurance during this period to gain PR?