Employment Gap for Permanent Residence for EEA National

[agnetha007]

I am not sure but I heard that you can be accepted as exercising treaty rights if you are unemployed for upto six months and can prove you were looking for a job. For that you dont need to be registered as job seeker during that time.
I maybe totally wrong but wanted to share something I heard and maybe help.

Wonder where you heard that?

You need rock solid evidence of being a qualified person who is a jobseeker.
And a major component of that can be achieved by registering as a jobseeker.

HO cw will obviously be looking for that; if its not there they are likely to scrutinise the remaining evidence with an even finer toothcomb.
One or two emails from jobsites won't cut it.

Well, then in theory 1 day gap between employments can stop the PR clock if there is no evidence supporting job seeking. The caseworker's guide defines jobseeker in this situation as: "is present in the UK seeking employment, immediately after enjoying a right to reside ...". Of course, nobody will challenge 1 day, but where is the threshold? It would be great to have a survey from applicants who had gaps and whether they were challenged or not.

[noajthan]

Well, then in theory 1 day gap between employments can stop the PR clock if there is no evidence supporting job seeking. The caseworker's guide defines jobseeker in this situation as: "is present in the UK seeking employment, immediately after enjoying a right to reside ...". Of course, nobody will challenge 1 day, but where is the threshold? It would be great to have a survey from applicants who had gaps and whether they were challenged or not.

Ssh don't give HO ideas.
Joking apart there is a clue mere mortals like us (who don't work at HO) can find in internal DMG documents.
Can't post link as I'm on a mobile.

Anyway, that suggests a gap of up to 30 days maybe overlooked.
Does that float your boat?

Do note however that is guidance and not binding; it is unclear if caseworkers have discretion &, if so, how much.

[agnetha007]

Anyway, that suggests a gap of up to 30 days maybe overlooked.
Does that float your boat?

Do note however that is guidance and not binding; it is unclear if caseworkers have discretion &, if so, how much.

My situation is different because I am self-employed (through my limited company). It is not clear whether HO would look for any gaps and what would they treat as gaps. For example, is it enough to just be in the payroll system (PAYE) to be considered "employed" (or "self-employed" for that matter), even if there are no payments for months? However, company directors pay NI on a cumulative basis anyway! I requested my NI record from HMRC to show that I paid NI contributions in each year. It arrived within a week. I also requested my employment history from HMRC, but after 3 weeks of waiting it still has not arrived and I am getting nervous..

The self-employment route feels very vague with a lot of uncertainty. After all, it is rarely smooth in terms of stable contracts and payments, very much like with any startup company! So many opportunities for HO to challenge your case if they really want to.

[noajthan]

Gaps are in between being in various categories of qualified person.
That is quite different from being self-employed and having no work.

Both work and self employment have to satisfy the genuine & effective test. That is EU law.

UK now, controversially, overlays its MET/PET tests on top.
There is no basis in EU law for doing so but it still happens.

No payments for months is very likely to fail the EU genuine/effective test (let alone the UK MET/PET test).

You need adequate documentary supporting evidence to prove your case by passing all these checks and tests. Good luck.

[agnetha007]

No payments for months is very likely to fail the EU genuine/effective test (let alone the UK MET/PET test).

But we are back to the same question. In theory, it would be enough to apply genuine and effective test and/or MET test for 1 "unlucky" month and lots of people would fail. Where is the threshold? The only indication I could found was DMG 073038 and 073040 here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... ch0703.pdf
It mentions continuous 3 month period, but again, there are other aspects and "it depends". Also, Habitual Residence Test (HRT) is not directly related to EEA PR guidelines, so this may as well not be relevant for PR.

[noajthan]

Yes, guidance is unclear even as to whether the DMG is directly applicable.

At least you know what you're up against.
It seems the more work and the fewer gaps the better.