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Hello there! Apologies if this question has been asked a zillion times but couldn't find any possible solution yet.

I been living in the UK since late 2010, I've studied for an year in a private university. Since then I've been working on and off, mostly 'cash-in-hand', sometimes getting benefits, other times getting help from my parents and at time working as self-employed. My employment history is a big mess I'm not even sure where to start.

A couple of weeks ago me and my partner had our first child, born here. She is EU national but just moved to England to make a family together. Our kid is very healthy and he's bringing lots of love to our family. He's been registered already with a 'british birth certificate'.

However, it's not clear to us how to proceed about getting him a passport as we would like to go and visit our family for a month in September. With the 'treaty rights' situations I'm not sure if I can just go and apply for a passport for him as my situation has been changing so many times although I been living in the UK for 8 years. Can I go straight on applying for a british passport in order to travel or get another valid document or what route would you suggest us to take to avoid getting stuck in customs?

Thanks alot!

In order for the child to acquire British citizenship at birth, one parent needs to have acquired PR/ILR at the time of birth. Prima facie, you do not. Therefore, the child does not qualify for a British passport.

lady_bird wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 06, 2018 10:29 pm

I've studied for an year in a private university.

Studying counts as exercising treaty rights only if you had Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (private health insurance) or a non-UK EHIC card to cover that period.

lady_bird wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 06, 2018 10:29 pm

Since then I've been working on and off, mostly 'cash-in-hand', sometimes getting benefits, other times getting help from my parents and at time working as self-employed.

You would need proof of your work (payslips, bank statements, tax statements; presumably you declared the income). Any time you were not working or seeking work (which also requires proof of the jobseeking) and were self-sufficient by means of parental help, you need to have been covered by CSI (private health insurance).

Also keep in mind that to acquire PR, you will need to have had five continuous years of exercising treaty rights. Any breaks in the five years may well deny you PR and your child British citizenship.

The best thing for you to do would be for you to apply for a DCPR with proof of having exercised treaty rights for five continuous years before the birth of the child. Once you have got the DCPR (with a date preceding the birth of the child), you can then apply for a British passport for the child.

In the meanwhile, the child will have to enter and exit the UK on a non-UK EU passport based on the nationality of its parents.

In simple terms, if you didn't have PR before the child's birth, the child does not get a British passport.

secret.simon wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 06, 2018 11:34 pm

Studying counts as exercising treaty rights only if you had Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (private health insurance) or a non-UK EHIC card to cover that period.

That's great that you pointed that out. Just recalled the Italian government provides a form of European Health insurance card, and I still got it as it's still valid. Would that be an incentive to prove my state of self-sufficiency for treaty rights?

secret.simon wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 06, 2018 11:34 pm

Also keep in mind that to acquire PR, you will need to have had five continuous years of exercising treaty rights. Any breaks in the five years may well deny you PR and your child British citizenship.

Apologies for the double post, I couldn't edit my previous one anymore. Just wondering if switching between worker, self-employed and worker would disrupt continuity of the treaty rights? Do they have to be 5 years from the same category or can one mix and match them?

lady_bird wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 07, 2018 1:00 am

Just wondering if switching between worker, self-employed and worker would disrupt continuity of the treaty rights? Do they have to be 5 years from the same category or can one mix and match them?

That's the easy question. You can mix and match. Though not obviously relevant to you, one can also mix and match being a qualified person, a family member of a qualified person, and being a family member of an EEA national with a permanent right of residence.

The difficult question is how long a gap within the UK without any of these statuses will be ignored. There are known rules applying to gaps outside the UK, and it is not clear whether these apply to gaps within the UK. The UK is allowed to be more generous than EU law demands,

The way I see it, it may be best if you claim the whole period as "self-sufficient", though I do not know the impact of periods when you claimed benefits on such a claim (by definition, if you are claiming benefits, you are not self-sufficient, are you?).

As the basis of this thread is basically an exercise in discussing acquisition of PR under EU law, I am minded to move the thread to the EEA-Route applications forum. Is that OK with the OP?

In the meanwhile, have you applied for an Italian passport for the child?

secret.simon wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 07, 2018 11:58 am

The way I see it, it may be best if you claim the whole period as "self-sufficient", though I do not know the impact of periods when you claimed benefits on such a claim (by definition, if you are claiming benefits, you are not self-sufficient, are you?).

Yes, that makes sense! I've requested a complete employment history from HMRC just to be sure on dates and I'll print out all my past transactions to shed more light on the matter. As far as I know I should be able to fit in 5 years of self-sufficiency broken by 3 months of JSA just before our kid was born.

secret.simon wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 07, 2018 11:58 am

In the meanwhile, have you applied for an Italian passport for the child?

Yes, seems the most sensibile thing to do right now. I think we'll go through this route in order to get a quick document for travels while I apply for DCPR, then see if he can get a dual citizenship afterwards.

secret.simon wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 07, 2018 11:58 am

As the basis of this thread is basically an exercise in discussing acquisition of PR under EU law, I am minded to move the thread to the EEA-Route applications forum. Is that OK with the OP?

Of course! Thanks a lot for your support.

Richard W wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 07, 2018 8:32 am

You can mix and match.

That's great, thank you!

lady_bird wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 07, 2018 12:08 pm

3 months of JSA

You should be fine claiming JSA for three months if you have proof of job-seeking (email applications, interview calls, etc).