Extended Family Member vs Self-Sufficient

[e-migrant]

Hello,

My unmarried partner and I are EEA Nationals and we are going to apply for UK residence certificates.

In the specific, I qualify for Permanent Residence, as I have been continuously employed in UK since Sep 2011. My partner came to join me in UK in Apr 2012 and she hasn't worked since. I have always supported her financially (i.e. she owns her bank account, but she also has direct access to my own account, as she is the second card holder of my credit card).

At this point she has 2 options in front of us:
1) Apply as Extended Family Member (EEA EFM)
2) Apply as Qualified Self-Sufficient Person (EEA QP)

Which route would you consider the best for future purposes (e.g. Brexit)?

Are there there any differences in terms of rights once the residence certificate is issued?

Thank you!

[noajthan]

1) In order to be able to apply for PR (DCPR) an EFM needs to have held an EFM RC (naming their partner as sponsor);
does partner have such a RC (eg dating from 2012)?
If not get EFM RC and PR clock will start (from zero).

2) Does partner have CSI as required by a selfsufficient qualified person?
If not then selfsufficient won't fly. Get CSI in place and then PR clock will start (from zero).

[e-migrant]

My parter is registered as a dependant on my CSI schedule, so she is covered as long as I keep the policy in place. We have CSI in place since mid 2014.

Is CSI the only factor of importance for self-sufficiency? I can't currently prove I'm making transfers from my account to her account for example. Would a declaration form the bank stating that she is my credit card's holder suffice along with CSI?

Thanks!

[noajthan]

No, self sufficiency is another important factor.
HO look for evidence such as financial transfers.
A joint CC account is unlikely to cut it.

PR clock started in 2014 then.

[e-migrant]

Okay. If she was to do an application for EFM now, just because it might be easier to prove and get a residence certificate for the time being.

Will she still be able to claim PR on the base on self-sufficiency in the future? Or does EFM reset the PR clock for everything?

[noajthan]

Time periods may be concatenated.
But it all needs rock solid evidence.
And an EFM needs to have an EFM RC.
If you apply now, get one in 6 months then PR clock starts in 6 months.
And unclear what basis partner had to be in UK pre-2014.

You haven't much time to play with, you need to be generating that papertrail.

[e-migrant]

You haven't much time to play with, you need to be generating that papertrail.

I see... Actually, at this point it would be worth trying the Spouse or Civil Partner route, but we would need to get married first.

Are there any caveats for a Spouse or Civil Partner application in terms of how long you need to have been married for before you submit the application to HO? For example, could we submit the EEA(FM) application one week after our marriage date?

[noajthan]

You haven't much time to play with, you need to be generating that papertrail.

I see... Actually, at this point it would be worth trying the Spouse or Civil Partner route, but we would need to get married first.

Are there any caveats for a Spouse or Civil Partner application in terms of how long you need to have been married for before you submit the application to HO? For example, could we submit the EEA(FM) application one week after our marriage date?

Yes. As long as nothing invites suspicion of marriage of convenience.

[e-migrant]

Yes. As long as nothing invites suspicion of marriage of convenience.

We have correspondence that we have been living together for the last 2 years.
We bought a house in joint ownership last year.
She has been on my CSI for 2 years.
We can provide old pictures.

In your experience, would this be enough to avoid any suspicions if we were to apply soon after our wedding?

Thanks!

[noajthan]

Yes. As long as nothing invites suspicion of marriage of convenience.

We have correspondence that we have been living together for the last 2 years.
We bought a house in joint ownership last year.
She has been on my CSI for 2 years.
We can provide old pictures.

In your experience, would this be enough to avoid any suspicions if we were to apply soon after our wedding?

Thanks!

Sounds reasonable.

You can get up to speed on how caseworker will assess and weigh up your case here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v3_0.pdf

[e-migrant]

You can get up to speed on how caseworker will assess and weigh up your case here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... s_v3_0.pdf

Great link. Thank you!

[e-migrant]

I'm progressing with my partner's application for Residence Certificate as EFM, but the more I read the EEA(EFM) application form, the more I release that this has been designed for non-EEA nationals only.

As I originally wrote in this post, my partner and I are both EEA Nationals, so my questions is:

can my partner still apply on the basis of EFM even if she is an EEA National?
or is EFM application only for non-EEA extended family members?

[noajthan]

I'm progressing with my partner's application for Residence Certificate as EFM, but the more I read the EEA(EFM) application form, the more I release that this has been designed for non-EEA nationals only.

As I originally wrote in this post, my partner and I are both EEA Nationals, so my questions is:

can my partner still apply on the basis of EFM even if she is an EEA National?
or is EFM application only for non-EEA extended family members?

Yes.
No.

Use this application form if you wish to apply for a registration certificate (if you’re an EEA national) or a residence card (if you’re a non-EEA national) as the extended family member of a relevant EEA national.

PS Don't expect logic or common sense to apply in these poorly-designed and confusing forms.

[e-migrant]

PS Don't expect logic or common sense to apply in these poorly-designed and confusing forms.

You are right

With regards to the application, we were able to put together the relevant evidence, although we are a bit unsure whether our case is solid enough...

We have proof of cohabitation that covers at least 2 years. This includes:

- Council Tax bills in joint names
- Tenancy Agreement in joint names (for the first year of cohabitation)
- Mortgage Agreement and statement in joint names (for the second year of cohabitation)
- Solicitor and estate agent letters in joint names
- All the rest is a collection of correspondence NOT IN JOINT NAMES e.g. House Alarm and Telephone bills, letters form NHS, Water bills, etc.

We have also included:

- Signed declaration from the Electoral Registration Office that confirms that we have been in the Electoral Roll at the same address for the past 3 years
- Membership Certificate from health care insurer that shows that my partner has been a dependant on my policy since 2 years ago

We are also thinking of including a series of pictures since my partner and I met 10 years ago.

Maybe I'm hyper-concerned, but I fear that the fact that we never had a joint bank account could determine a rejection. We never had a joint bank account for credit score reasons, and honestly, we could never imagine 4 years ago that we would have needed to rush into this thing because of Brexit! We simply managed our finances setting my partner as an additional card holder of my credit card (as stated above in the post).

Do you see any possible problems in our application?
I know that we are not talking to immigration lawyers, but at least we can have an idea based on your experience.

Thank you!

[noajthan]

Depending on who replies you may or may not be communing with a lawyer.

Sounds like you are on track with the above. Keep going.

[e-migrant]

Thanks again for your help!

We will go ahed and keep the post updated, so we can share our experience.