Residence card for Non-EEA and Citizenship

[carinjo]

Circumstances currently are:
My Civil Partner: Portuguese Citizen here for 7 years, wants to start Citizenship application process.

ME:
Issued in, Type, (period of validity)
2001 Working Holiday Visa (1 year) on a South African Passport
2002 Renewal of Working Holiday Visa (1 year)
2003 Student Visa (1 year) I know that up to the next visa does not count as time spend in the UK.
2004 Unmarried Partner Visa (2 years) **
2006 Residence Card of a Family Member of an EEA National (5 years)

I applied for the above Residence Card on advise from a solicitor, even though I thought I qualified for Indefinite Leave To Remain. He unfortunately failed to mention that it is not transferable to a new passport. My passport expires in October 2009

My questions are as follows:
1) do i have to wait till the Residence Card expires before i can apply for Permanent Residency? i have been without work restriction since 2004 when i got my Unmarried Spouses Visa

2) if Yes for Q1) then can i use the old and new passport together or do i have to re-apply for the Residence Card with the new passport?

3) if i have to re-apply can my partner apply for citizenship now or should she wait till after i get my new Residence Card? i think we used form EEA2 the last time and i'm not sure if it is valid for British citizens applying for non-EEA members.

4)does my partner have to apply for Permanent Residency or can she go straight to Citizenship application?

thanx for your collective knowledge and hope you can help.

Leah

** As a side note we have been together according to Home Office since Nov 2002, even though we got together in Nov 2001. We waited till my Student visa expired since we were on a tight budget, so the 2 year qualifying period for an Unmarried Spouses Visa counted backwards from Sep 2004.

[Wanderer]

I suspect cos you've switched immigration routes, from UK rules to EEA rules, and as such you are due for permanent residence in 2011.

[thsths]

Circumstances currently are:1) do i have to wait till the Residence Card expires before i can apply for Permanent Residency?

It is a bit of a stretch, but you could argue that EU law was already "latent" when you were on the unmarried partner visa. However, I am not sure whether that is consistent with the legal situation at the time, because the situation of unmarried partners was improved quite significantly in 2006. Other than that there is no quick way to get PR.

2) if Yes for Q1) then can i use the old and new passport together or do i have to re-apply for the Residence Card with the new passport?

Yes, you can just keep the old passport, the residence card is still valid. But you can also apply for a new one, if you like.

3) if i have to re-apply can my partner apply for citizenship now or should she wait till after i get my new Residence Card?

If he keeps his current citizenship, you are not affected. If he has to give it up, that may potentially be an issue.

4)does my partner have to apply for Permanent Residency or can she go straight to Citizenship application?

In theory he can apply for citizenship straight away after being in the UK for 6 years. In practice I would certainly apply for PR first.

Tom

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

3) if i have to re-apply can my partner apply for citizenship now or should she wait till after i get my new Residence Card? i think we used form EEA2 the last time and i'm not sure if it is valid for British citizens applying for non-EEA members.

This is a very insightful question, and easily answered. Your partner can decide to get UK citizenship and it will have no impact on your status as the partner of a non-UK EU citizen so long as your partner does not give up the Portuguese citizenship. In this case your partner will have both Portuguese and UK citizenship and your new Residence Card application can be done with respect to the Portuguese citizenship. The UK rules are quite clear about this.

As another person pointed out, you do not have to do a new Residence Card application - just carry the old and the new passport.

4)does my partner have to apply for Permanent Residency or can she go straight to Citizenship application?

Your partner can go directly to Citizenship application if they already satisfy the conditions of permanent residence. No need to waste 3-6 months waiting for the Permanent Residence Card to be processed, plus the cost and time of no-passport while it is issued. Note also that citizenship application prices usually jump each year, so it may be worth doing before the next jump. Note that your partner can submit a certified copy of their passport for the citizenship application, so that the passport can be retained for travelling.

[carinjo]

thank you so much for all the info everyone!! i kinda guessed about having to wait before applying for permanent residency because i switched from UK to EU rules when i started reading up about it, but wasn't sure. knowing that i can use both passports together is a big relieve and thanx for the tip about my partner needing to keep both passports to help with my future applications. i only realised it might be a problem when i went to re-read everything i had googled when i formulated my questions to you. you guys rock!

oh, but can i use both my old and new passport together for travelling?

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

oh, but can i use both my old and new passport together for travelling?

You have your main (new) passport, and you also travel with the old one because it contains your Residence Card