Permanent Residence (EU National)

[victoria_2010]

Good afternoon everyone! My partner and I are EU nationals and have lived in the UK for the last 7 years. I'd like to apply for a Document Certifying Permanent Residence (DCPR). Here are the relevant events in a chronological order:

1. My partner became self-employed in the beginning of 2010.
2. In 2010 I spent a total of 7 months out of the UK to look after my grandmother and daughter
3. In March 2011 I obtained a blue registration certificate allowing me to work (through my partner). I worked a full-time temporary contract job April - June 2011.
4. I spent July - December 2011 looking for work and going abroad for a couple of months
5. Finally I found a job in December 2011, which I started in January 2012 and have had the job ever since.
6. In August 2013 I applied for a Residence Document in my own right (after 12 months of uninterrupted employment), which was issued in December 2013.

I would like to use the 5-year period between September 2010 and September 2015 to apply for a Document Certifying Permanent Residence:

September 2010 - December 2011 as a Family Member of a Qualifying Person (QP), although I was employed for part of the time as well as looking for work;
January 2012 - September 2015 as a Qualfied Person through my job.

I suppose I could wait for another 4 months, at which point in time I would have been working 5 years at my current job and apply as a QP, rather than having to combine a period as a QP and the rest as a Family Member of a QP.

I hope that I would receive my DCPR by the end of this year and be able to apply for naturalisation in December 2016, when I should have accrued 12+ months after acquiring permanent residence.

Does all this make sense? Any suggestions and ideas for the best course of action?

[noajthan]

Are you married or unmarried to partner?
If married, since when?
If unmarried do you have EFM RC?

What were you doing in 2009?

Your absence in 2010 is a concern.
Your unemployment (2011) can be discounted if still FM of your sponsor at that time.
Was your 2011 escape from UK weather less than 6 months?

Will sponsor's selfemployment pass HO PET/MET tests?

[victoria_2010]

Are you married or unmarried to partner?
If married, since when?
If unmarried do you have EFM RC?

What were you doing in 2009?

Your absence in 2010 is a concern.
Your unemployment (2011) can be discounted if still FM of your sponsor at that time.
Was your 2011 escape from UK weather less than 6 months?

Will sponsor's selfemployment pass HO PET/MET tests?

Hi, thanks for the response. Here are the answers to the questions:

1. We are unmarried partners of 10+ years
2. I had a blue RC as the partner of a QP 2011-2013 - it confirmed I am exempt from having to obtain worker authorization and that I was allowed to be employed
3. I have had a blue RC in my own right since 2013 (after 12 months employment)
4. I moved to the UK in Feb 2010 and was working within the EEA in 2009.
5. In 2011 I was unemployed for 6 months and was still FM of my partner (sponsor)
6. The absence from the UK in 2011 was for just 2 months
7. My partner's self employment in 2011 was contract work and some months was earning well over the HO thresholds, but there were weeks when there wasn't much work at all.

[noajthan]

As you are unmarried you need an EFM RC for the time you were a dependent.
So that sets the start date of any qualifying period.
Namely whatever month in 2011.

So absence in 2010, which at 7 months may have been too long, can be ignored.

Note the date you can shoot for privilege of citizenship is pushed back due to date of issue of your RC.

[victoria_2010]

Thank you so much for the info! So... I can't count 2010 at all as part of the qualifying period...

As a Family Member of a QP I applied for a RC in October 2010. In February 2011 the Home Office asked for more information confirming that we had been living together in a durable relationship, which we promptly provided. My Registration Certificate as a dependent of a QP was issued on 02/03/2011.

1. Does this mean that I completed the 5-year qualifying period on 02/03/2016?
2. If I get the DCPR issued .. say in December 2016, would I be eligible to apply for British Citizenship after 02/03/2017 or would have to wait till .... December 2017 ?

Many thanks again for your help!

[noajthan]

Thank you so much for the info! So... I can't count 2010 at all as part of the qualifying period...

As a Family Member of a QP I applied for a RC in October 2010. In February 2011 the Home Office asked for more information confirming that we had been living together in a durable relationship, which we promptly provided. My Registration Certificate as a dependent of a QP was issued on 02/03/2011.

1. Does this mean that I completed the 5-year qualifying period on 02/03/2016?
2. If I get the DCPR issued .. say in December 2016, would I be eligible to apply for British Citizenship after 02/03/2017 or would have to wait till .... December 2017 ?

Many thanks again for your help!

Count from date of EFM RC as long as sponsor was a qualified person.
That takes you to acquisition of PR in March 2016.
Assuming no other prolonged absences.

Shoot for privilege of citizenship: March 2017.
Assuming all other requirements for naturalistion have been/can be met; (have you checked them?).

Unless married to a BC, you need to have been free of immigration time restrictions for 12 months (eg with PR / settled status)
That's not the same as holding the merely confirmatory DCPR.

PS Don't let sponsor become a BC until you have DCPR in the bag. He can't sponsor you as a BC.

[victoria_2010]

My absences for the 5-year qualifying period 03/2011 to 03/2016 are a total of less than 4 months, so all should be ok I hope.

What difference would it make if my partner becomes BC?

Does the Home Office consider whether the sponsor was a QP during the relevant period (03/2011 - 01/2012) or look at their immigration status at the time of adjudication of the application for a DCPR?

[noajthan]

My absences for the 5-year qualifying period 03/2011 to 03/2016 are a total of less than 4 months, so all should be ok I hope.

What difference would it make if my partner becomes BC?

Does the Home Office consider whether the sponsor was a QP during the relevant period (03/2011 - 01/2012) or look at their immigration status at the time of adjudication of the application for a DCPR?

Except in special circumstances BCs cannot sponsor family members. That may or may not apply in your case.
Just something to be careful about.

The sponsor needs to have been exercising treaty rights continuously not just on date of application or at a previous snapshot in time.

Was sponsor a qualified person (exercising treaty rights with no gaps) from 2010/11 onwards?

[Richard W]

What difference would it make if my partner becomes BC?

If you have already qualified for PR, it makes no difference.

If for some reason you do not qualify, you may have ceased to count as a family member when your RC expired. (There may be a conflict between EU law and the EEA Regulations here.) If your partner becomes British, he will then be unable to sponsor you for future times, and you will have to qualify for PR on the basis of your being a qualified person.

[victoria_2010]

As an EEA partner of an EEA sponsor, am I considered a Family Member or Extended Family Member?

[noajthan]

As an EEA partner of an EEA sponsor, am I considered a Family Member or Extended Family Member?

EFM

[victoria_2010]

As an EEA partner of an EEA sponsor, am I considered a Family Member or Extended Family Member?

EFM

And I considered myself FM all along Right, that clears things up then. My partner's been continuously self-employed for the last ~7 years, but has been working considerably less in the last 2 years due to ill health and as a result may have been earning below the HO thresholds!

So despite having been a QP for ~5 years, if HO decide that my partner hasn't been a QP for the last 2 years due to amount of work and low level of earnings.... would I not be able to count 03/2011 - 01/2012 as a qualifying period as the EFM of a QP?

If the answer is negative, would I be able to qualify in my own right as a QP for the above period, which is broken down as follows:

1. Jobseeker in 03/2011 (EFM RC issued 02/03/2011)
2. Employed 04/2011 - 06/2011 (temporary contract)
3. Jobseeker 07/2011 - 09/2011
4. Trip abroad 10/2011 - 11/2011 (visit grandmother)
5. Jobseeker 12/2011 - 01/2012 (found job in 12/2011, started in 01/2012)

I had registered with Jobcentre for the period of 07/2011 - 09/2011 and 11/2011 - 01/2012, but only received NI credits and no JSA. They didn't understand why I wasn't interested in applying for Income-based JSA and an advisor said I was a rare case as I was actually actively looking for work!!!

[victoria_2010]

Please help! Was I a QP myself in 2011 having been a worker, jobseekers and absent from the country for 2 months?

If a QP (worker or self-employed) is absent from the UK for over a month, does (s)he seize to be a QP?

[noajthan]

Please help! Was I a QP myself in 2011 having been a worker, jobseekers and absent from the country for 2 months?

If a QP (worker or self-employed) is absent from the UK for over a month, does (s)he seize to be a QP?

Maybe you were a qp.
Two months absence is fine.

Check yourself out here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf

And if you want to revert to being an EFM, see here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf

[Richard W]

So despite having been a QP for ~5 years, if HO decide that my partner hasn't been a QP for the last 2 years due to amount of work and low level of earnings.... would I not be able to count 03/2011 - 01/2012 as a qualifying period as the EFM of a QP?

The requirement for PR is to be present for five consecutive years with a right to be present under the EEA regulations, except that the following do not count:
(a) Periods with only a derivative right of residence (essentially time caring for an EEA child)
(b) Parts of the initial 3 months if not a qualified person or a family member thereof - though I don't think this has a legal basis.

Having a valid family permit, residence card or registration certificate entitles an extended member to be treated as a family member of the EEA national from whom the right to it was derived, and so have a right of residence.

One can mix and match statuses, so if your partner's self-employed status is indisputable early on, you may qualify as his family member for the first few years, and as a qualified person in your right at the end. For example, husband and wife can alternate as sponsors, and the children can switch sponsors correspondingly. The key test is whether one is resident in accordance with the EEA Regulations.

You obtained an RC as an (extended) family member of your partner in March 2011, so you do qualify in the period March 2011 to January 2012 as a family member, because your RC entitled you to be treated as family member rather than as an EFM.

[victoria_2010]

This is great news Richard! So I would need to send proof of partner's self employment for 2011 and then my employment details for 2012-2016. Do I pick the qualifying 5-year period or let the Home Office decide?

[noajthan]

You acquire PR when you 'automatically' meet the requirements.
Caseworker will identify the period (if any) and issue the confirmatory document.

You're not expected to nominate a period (there is no such question in the form), though you can suggest it in a cogent cover letter.
Caseworker is not bound to agree with your analysis.

Who actually sponsors who depends, at end of the day, on the relative quality of the supporting evidence.

[victoria_2010]

Do we have to apply for PR for our EEA daughter before she is eligible to apply for British citizenship?

I know that EEA adults need to have a DCPR before they can apply for naturalisation. Does the same apply for minor children? If so, could a PR application for a minor child be submitted on its own or needs to be included along with the parents' EEA3/ EEA(PR)?

[noajthan]

Merged in existing topic.

[noajthan]

Do we have to apply for PR for our EEA daughter before she is eligible to apply for British citizenship?

I know that EEA adults need to have a DCPR before they can apply for naturalisation. Does the same apply for minor children? If so, could a PR application for a minor child be submitted on its own or needs to be included along with the parents' EEA3/ EEA(PR)?

Child born where (country)?
And when (month/year)?

If lucky enough to have been born in UK, child is entitled to register herself as a citizen as soon as one parent becomes settled.
No need for DCPR.

If born abroad, DCPR and then registration is necesary; in this case at Home Secretary's discretion.

[victoria_2010]

Thanks for the valuable info noajthan
Have you noticed that the EEA(PR) form asks when the applicant first arrived in the UK, while the EEA3 form asks when the applicant last entered the UK...

Regarding EEA(PR) - are they asking when the applicant came with a view to stay here? Or when did he visit the UK for the first time (which could be as a child on a family trip 20 years ago)

EEA3 - last entry for me was in 2014. Why would they need the date of last entry instead of the first entry?

[victoria_2010]

Merged in existing topic.

Started a new one thinking the rules for children are different

[victoria_2010]

Child born where (country)?
And when (month/year)?

If lucky enough to have been born in UK, child is entitled to register herself as a citizen as soon as one parent becomes settled.
No need for DCPR.

If born abroad, DCPR and then registration is necesary; in this case at Home Secretary's discretion.

Born in Greece in 09/2007. Could we apply for her on a separate form? Would this be EEA(FM) or EEA3?

[Richard W]

Born in Greece in 09/2007. Could we apply for her on a separate form? Would this be EEA(FM) or EEA3?

She has PR - she's a direct family member of both of you - so to get a DCPR (assuming she's an EEA citizen) it would be EEA(PR), not EEA(FM).

She could apply on a separate form, but I'm wondering if the three of you should apply on one form. A covering letter to suggest qualification routes might be kinder to the caseworker.

[noajthan]

Child born where (country)?
And when (month/year)?

If lucky enough to have been born in UK, child is entitled to register herself as a citizen as soon as one parent becomes settled.
No need for DCPR.

If born abroad, DCPR and then registration is necessary; in this case at Home Secretary's discretion.

Born in Greece in 09/2007. Could we apply for her on a separate form? Would this be EEA(FM) or EEA3?

Has child lived in UK with you ar least 5 years? (with at least one sponsor parent who was a qualified person).
If so, shoot for confirmation of PR on EEA (PR) form.
You can include her as a family member on parent's form.

Once she has confirmation of PR status, (or even before), you can start looking at form MN1 for her registration as a citizen.
Note Children are registered not naturalised.

Section 3(1) of BNA applies to her.
You can apply to register daughter as a citizen as soon as one parent is naturalising.

Ref https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... n-form-mn1

At moment daughter is part of your EEA family application.
When you get to registration/naturalisation suggest open a topic in the British Citizenship forum for any questions in that area.