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I'm a( non) EEA family member of a french citizen
On 5 years EEA family member residence card. That been granted on 17/01/2012 which is coming to an end on 24/01/2017.
And willing to apply for permanent residence card, I understand that my wife has to exercise her treaty right throughout the 5 years living in uk .to be a qualified person , she worked full time and paid taxes appropriately , until she fell pregnant and gave birth to our 1st child she decided to quit her job when her maternity leave ended on 07/2014 to care for a child , "she prefered to look after him by herself not relying on child minder.
She fell pregnant again and gave birth to our 2nd child on 20/08/2016 .
I'm due to apply for permanent residence card on January 2017 .
I have 12 p60's from working so hard in last 12 years legaly in the UK. And managed to support my family without the public fund.
Now my worry is what gonna happen if my application is refused. And what im supposed to send when applying . both my boys where born in uk and the elder one just started nursery.
I know it's a bit complicated but I'd appreciate if anyone could help. Cheers.
ps: sometime genuine people that contributed a lot to the system can fall into the same situation.

Your wife has to be the one exercising her treaty rights.

She would be considered as working for the period of maternity leave (typically of one year). So, if she quit at the end of the year, she would have exercised treaty rights uptil 07/14.

If she was not working after that, she can have continued as a self-sufficient person if she had CSI (essentially private health insurance). Did she have that?

Also, when did she start working in the UK and what are her nationalities?

Thank you for quick response .
my wife is a french national
started work in uk on January 2011
regarding the comprehensive insurance, we just realised that our European health insurance card (EHIC)that we both have since 2012 does not help.

Was the EHIC card issued by a non-UK EEA Country?

If your wife did not have CSI since the end of her work, then she has not exercised treaty rights for five continuous years and her and your PR clocks have been reset to zero.

EHIC ,was issued in the uk unfortunately,
I understand that there is no chance.
It's just instability for the family specially for kids.
Thank you very much for your help. I praise the time you guys take to help people .

Hi skydiver
I am not a legal expert but i am writing here with my personal experience.
Exercising treaty right in eea member countries is not a continuous 5 years instead if you have gaps then you can fill them up by exercising treaty right again.
e.g your wife has started job in 01/2011 and then quit it in 07/2014, which means she exercised it for 3 year and 6 months now she needs to exercise her treaty rights for another year and half to qualify for her permanent residence and for your permanent residence card.
As you have stated that you have spent 12 years her in uk legally then you can also adopt 10 years route to apply for a indefinite leave to remain and the following year British nationality.
Hope i answer your question.

Bilalz88 wrote:i am writing here with my personal experience.Exercising treaty right in eea member countries is not a continuous 5 years instead if you have gaps then you can fill them up by exercising treaty right again.

Do elaborate on your personal experience for our knowledge, because your advice is directly contrary to the EEA Regulations.

Regulation 15 wrote: Right of permanent residence
15.—(1) The following persons acquire the right to reside in the United Kingdom permanently—
(a) an EEA national who has resided in the United Kingdom in accordance with these Regulations for a continuous period of five years;
(b) a family member of an EEA national who is not an EEA national but who has resided in the United Kingdom with the EEA national in accordance with these Regulations for a continuous period of five years;...

Bilalz88 wrote:As you have stated that you have spent 12 years her in uk legally then you can also adopt 10 years route to apply for a indefinite leave to remain and the following year British nationality.

This is a possibility, but
a) It is expensive (£2250 as opposed to £65 for PR)
b) we will need a full history of all your visas (month/year), application dates and refusal/appeal dates if any in order to assist you further.