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Hi there,

I recently made an application for "permanent residence" on the basis that I'm an EEA national who has lived in the UK for almost 20 years.

I have been refused the residence permit on the grounds that I haven't provided evidence to show that i have been exercising "treaty rights" in the UK for 5 continuous years.

I didn't send any letters/payslips/p60's from my employer, but i've sent a previous resident permit which expired in 2008 and a passport.

My question is;

1-Should I make a new application and send a letter from my employer/P60's/payslips?

2- Appeal- of which i have 14 calendar days from the 23.01.16, this will cost me £80 paper based or £140 for hearing.

If a make a new application this will cost less than the above.

Please advise on the best action to take.

Do you understand how permanent residence is acquired, and what exercising treaty rights means? Did you read the guidance notes at all before you applied

If you have resided in the UK for the past twenty years, you must have entered the UK before 2000. Do you happen to have your passport from that time? You may want to check if your passport was stamped with ILR. I believe that before 2000, the passports of EU citizens was stamped with ILR on request. If you have ILR stamped in your passport before 2000, you do not need PR as you would be considered settled in the Uk on the basis of ILR.

If you do not have ILR, the requirements for PR are very specific. Mere residence in the UK is not sufficient. You need to have exercised treaty rights in the UK for five continuous years by doing any combination of the below;
a) Working
b) Seeking work
c) Studying (requires private health insurance or a non UK EHIC card to count)
d) Self-sufficient (requires private health insurance)

All of this needs to be substantiated with appropriate proof.

secret.simon,many thanks for the informative reply. I used an ID card to enter the UK thus I didn't get the ILR stamp. If I send prof of employment should that be enough?

Do you understand how permanent residence is acquired, and what exercising treaty rights means?
Well no, as didn't send them the appropriate paper work.

Do you suggest that I appeal the decision or make a new application. Also could someone tell me if I need permanent residence before I can apply for British Citizenship.

You should appeal if you believe their decision was wrong, but since you don't seem to know what you are doing, I don't see how you can prove them to be wrong (and it appears they aren't anyway).

Permanent residence is gained automatically by EEA nationals after exercising treaty rights continuously for 5 years. Once you gain PR, you do not lose it unless you leave the UK for 2 years or more.

Since 12th November 2015, if you apply for British citizenship through naturalisation, one of the documents you are required to submit as evidence is a document certifying permanent residence. This is the one you apply for with the EEA(PR) form. If you didn't use this form for your previous application, I suggest you take a look it and also the guidance notes.

"Exercising treaty rights" is basically being in one of the following:

full time employment
self employment
jobseeker
student
self-sufficienct

You can use a 5 year period of being any of the above as long as it was continuous. Students and self-sufficient people must have comprehensive sickness insurance or those periods will not count.

You need to submit evidence of the applicable category; if you are in full time employment this usually means P60's and a couple of random payslips from each year. You can also use a letter from your employer, and bank statements which show regular income.

For proof of residency you should try to send a few different utility bills / official letters from each year. Council tax bills, tenancy agreement etc are also acceptable. Bank statements if used above will also be evidence of residency.

The EEA(PR) form looks long and daunting but you only need to complete the sections that apply to which route you are using, and you don't even need to print off the pages you aren't filling in.

Bear in mind that one of the requirements for citizenship application is that you must have held PR for at least 12 months. Therefore, when applying for the document certifying permanent residence, be sure to use a 5 year qualifying period which ended at least 12 months before the application. Then you won't have to wait for another year before applying for citizenship.

fox349 wrote:secret.simon,many thanks for the informative reply. I used an ID card to enter the UK thus I didn't get the ILR stamp. If I send prof of employment should that be enough?

Do you understand how permanent residence is acquired, and what exercising treaty rights means?
Well no, as didn't send them the appropriate paper work.

Do you suggest that I appeal the decision or make a new application. Also could someone tell me if I need permanent residence before I can apply for British Citizenship.

Suggest print form & guidance out & have few dry runs at completing it.
Adequate if not unimpeachable documentary supporting evidence is an absolute must.

And yes PR card now mandatory if you have ambitions for privilege of citizenship.

ohara wrote: full time employment
self employment
jobseeker
student
self-sufficienct

At least part-time employment. Full time employment is not a requirement.

Thank you all for your feedback.

Ohara, I really appreciate your detailed and informative reply, this is very helpful. I'm making a new application and sending in all the evidence.

ohara wrote:Bear in mind that one of the requirements for citizenship application is that you must have held PR for at least 12 months. Therefore, when applying for the document certifying permanent residence, be sure to use a 5 year qualifying period which ended at least 12 months before the application. Then you won't have to wait for another year before applying for citizenship.

I'm not sure what you mean to use 5 year qualifying period which ended at least 12 months before the application, do you mean to send them supporting information for the last 6 years?

fox349 wrote:I'm not sure what you mean to use 5 year qualifying period which ended at least 12 months before the application, do you mean to send them supporting information for the last 6 years?

No need to send 6 years worth, but make sure the 5 years worth you do send ends no later than around December 2014. For example, if you were exercising treaty rights from June 2009 to June 2014, send evidence of that. At least that way you know you'll have satisfied the free of immigration time restrictions for 12 months prior to the application requirement of the citizenship application, which I assume is your end goal

fox349 wrote:Hi there,

I recently made an application for "permanent residence" on the basis that I'm an EEA national who has lived in the UK for almost 20 years.

I have been refused the residence permit on the grounds that I haven't provided evidence to show that i have been exercising "treaty rights" in the UK for 5 continuous years.


I didn't send any letters/payslips/p60's from my employer, but i've sent a previous resident permit which expired in 2008 and a passport.

My question is;

1-Should I make a new application and send a letter from my employer/P60's/payslips?

2- Appeal- of which i have 14 calendar days from the 23.01.16, this will cost me £80 paper based or £140 for hearing.

If a make a new application this will cost less than the above.

Please advise on the best action to take.

Hello,

I am in very similar situation - was refused permanent residence. Now I have 2 choices - appeal or apply again, and havent got a clue what the best option is.

This thread is over 12 months old. You will get more response if you open your own topic and post your questions there.