Permanent residence after 13 years?

Hello,

I came to the UK as an EU national when I was 13. I studied for my GCSEs and A-levels in this country before going to uni. I've been resident in the UK since then, going to uni again after 2 years and being employed in between.

I never had any health insurance as a student, so I didn't exercise treaty rights as a student. I have two questions.

In order to be eligible for permanent residence:
1) Would I have needed health insurance as a student under the age of 18?
2) Would it matter if I exercised treaty rights for 5 continuous years if it hasn't been in the last 5 years?

I'm very worried that I'd have to leave this country after brexit, this is my home and I have nowhere else to go realistically, considering that all my qualifications are specific to the UK. Surely they couldn't just throw the EU citizens out after such a long time of residence just because of a loophole about "treaty rights".

Edit: I tried to apply for permanent residence after giving them my addresses for the past 5 years. It was rejected because I was a student 2 years ago without health insurance.

psot2 wrote:Hello,

I came to the UK as an EU national when I was 13. I studied for my GCSEs and A-levels in this country before going to uni. I've been resident in the UK since then, going to uni again after 2 years and being employed in between.

I never had any health insurance as a student, so I didn't exercise treaty rights as a student. I have two questions.

In order to be eligible for permanent residence:
1) Would I have needed health insurance as a student under the age of 18?
2) Would it matter if I exercised treaty rights for 5 continuous years if it hasn't been in the last 5 years?

I'm very worried that I'd have to leave this country after brexit, this is my home and I have nowhere else to go realistically, considering that all my qualifications are specific to the UK. Surely they couldn't just throw the EU citizens out after such a long time of residence just because of a loophole about "treaty rights".

Edit: I tried to apply for permanent residence after giving them my addresses for the past 5 years. It was rejected because I was a student 2 years ago without health insurance.

Welcome.

As you have discovered HO plays hardball when it comes to CSI.
However there are ways and means around it.
For example:

• Union citizen sponsor;
  foreign EHIC card;
  reciprocal healthcare agreement with original country;
  health insurance policy held by family member in home country that covers you in UK;

1) No. Not if you apply for confirmation of PR as the dependent of a.no.ther Union citizen (parent??) who was a qualified or settled person and can act as your sponsor.
In that case your activity in UK is immaterial. No CSI required from you.

2) Acquiring PR is not about "the last 5 years".
Its about you (or sponsor) exercising treaty rights over a period of 5 years. Any continuous period.
(And with any absences from UK kept with prescribed limits).

if you came to UK in 2003 or so you may have acquired PR by 2008 or 2009.

Noone knows for sure what's going to happen as Brexit looms. But if the traditional British sense of fair play comes to the fore there may/will be some transitional arrangements put in place; all yet TBD ofcourse.
Such arrangements are usually predicated on citizens holding certain EU-documentation (eg at least a RC) by a key date.

My father was an EEA national and he applied for British citizenship successfully. I don't know if that means I can apply as a family member of a British citizen, but I'm estranged from my father in any case and he would refuse to be my sponsor. It also means that I would not be able to get confirmation of exercising citizenship rights when I was underage, as all of the documents were registered to his name and, once again, he would not do any of that for me.

My mother has also exercised citizenship rights and has had indefinite leave to remain for longer than 5 years. Could she be my sponsor even though she isn't an EEA national?

I also have a brother who has British citizenship (through making an application as an EEA national together with my father), but he's underage.

Could any of that information be used to help my application?

On a side note: When I was 18 I went to a refuse for domestic abuse, which they could confirm. I would be able to prove that I was resident in Britain when I was a child through asking my local learning trust for a confirmation letter, and the refuge could confirm that I was estranged from my father at least for that period (which was 8 years ago).

This is so complicated!

psot2 wrote:My father was an EEA national and he applied for British citizenship successfully. I don't know if that means I can apply as a family member of a British citizen, but I'm estranged from my father in any case and he would refuse to be my sponsor. It also means that I would not be able to get confirmation of exercising citizenship rights when I was underage, as all of the documents were registered to his name and, once again, he would not do any of that for me.

My mother has also exercised citizenship rights and has had indefinite leave to remain for longer than 5 years. Could she be my sponsor even though she isn't an EEA national?

I also have a brother who has British citizenship (through making an application as an EEA national together with my father), but he's underage.

Could any of that information be used to help my application?

On a side note: When I was 18 I went to a refuse for domestic abuse, which they could confirm. I would be able to prove that I was resident in Britain when I was a child through asking my local learning trust for a confirmation letter, and the refuge could confirm that I was estranged from my father at least for that period (which was 8 years ago).

This is so complicated!

Mom and brother can't really help or sponsor you.
Unless they can dig out supporting evidence that they used in their cases.

Your best case is historical dependency on father.
Co-habitation is/was not required.
If under 18 just proof of relationship to sponsor.
And proof of sponsor's residence in and exercise of treaty right in UK.
(Mom may have some of this).

There are ways and means to persuade HO to extract such information from an estranged sponsor.
And see what mom/bro have filed away regarding father's case history (copy of passport, work details & etc)

Then its a case of you proving your id (passport), relationship to father (birth certificate) and your residence in UK.
Good luck.

noajthan wrote:

psot2 wrote:My father was an EEA national and he applied for British citizenship successfully. I don't know if that means I can apply as a family member of a British citizen, but I'm estranged from my father in any case and he would refuse to be my sponsor. It also means that I would not be able to get confirmation of exercising citizenship rights when I was underage, as all of the documents were registered to his name and, once again, he would not do any of that for me.

My mother has also exercised citizenship rights and has had indefinite leave to remain for longer than 5 years. Could she be my sponsor even though she isn't an EEA national?

I also have a brother who has British citizenship (through making an application as an EEA national together with my father), but he's underage.

Could any of that information be used to help my application?

On a side note: When I was 18 I went to a refuse for domestic abuse, which they could confirm. I would be able to prove that I was resident in Britain when I was a child through asking my local learning trust for a confirmation letter, and the refuge could confirm that I was estranged from my father at least for that period (which was 8 years ago).

This is so complicated!

Mom and brother can't really help or sponsor you.
Unless they can dig out supporting evidence that they used in their cases.

Your best case is historical dependency on father.
Co-habitation is/was not required.
If under 18 just proof of relationship to sponsor.
And proof of sponsor's residence in and exercise of treaty right in UK.
(Mom may have some of this).

There are ways and means to persuade HO to extract such information from an estranged sponsor.
And see what mom/bro have filed away regarding father's case history (copy of passport, work details & etc)

Then its a case of you proving your id (passport), relationship to father (birth certificate) and your residence in UK.
Good luck.

I do have a birth certificate with his name on it... would that be enough, or would he need to provide other evidence from him such as his French passport?

psot2 wrote:I do have a birth certificate with his name on it... would that be enough, or would he need to provide other evidence from him such as his French passport?

Your birth certificate proves your relationship. You need your passport ofcourse.

You need father's passport (or copy of it) or EU id (or copy) to prove dad was an EEA national at the time he was your sponsor.
Maybe mom can help get this.

And then, as mentioned, if really stuck there's a way to get HO to track down such information. But you have to make some good efforts on this front in first place.