Post
by bbqstream » Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:39 pm
Dear All,
This forum is pretty helpful so today I am putting some of my enquiries. Hope that I can get help from you, my friends!
I am a non-EEA national. My husband is an EEA national and he has got his permanent residence (PR) in the UK in 2008.
I list my situation below:
Entered the UK and living as a student: Mar 17, 2005
Started living together with my husband (at that moment, boyfriend) since: June 2005
Got married with my husband: Mar 2006
Applied for EEA2 and got the Residence Card on: Oct 12, 2007 (I always had a valid student visa so I did not apply for EEA2 until 1 year after marriage)
Up to date, I have been living with my husband in the UK for 4 years and 10 months, and we have been married for 4 years.
I called home office last week to ask them whether I am legal to apply for the PR this year. The advisor seemed not very confident to answer my question, but he said if I have lived with my EEA-national family (my husband) for 5 years in the UK, then I can apply using EEA4. I emphasized that I am only married with my husband for 4 years but not 5. I said this because before calling them I have got some information from this forum and I know that it should be after my 5 th marriage anniversary to apply for the PR. However, the Advisor persist in his opinion that no matter how long I am married, if I have lived with my husband for 5 years (1 year before marriage), then I can apply for PR.
Then recently I started to look at the documents required for PR application. Today, I got information from the intnet, saying that health insurance is required for students. Both my husband and I are always students in the UK. We are doing PhD research and got income from the university. However, we never bought medical insurance before. When my husband applied for his PR, he was asked to provide the medical insurance. We had to ignore this because we did not have any one. My husband obtained his PR in 2008 anyway. I am worried the insurance may affect my application this time, so I called home office again to ask.
However, the home office advisor who answered my call this morning gave me some very superising information. Firstly, he said I am not legal to apply for PR this year because I obtained my Residence Card on Oct 12, 2007. I will have the right to apply for PR 5 years after the day when I got the Residence Card (which is Oct. 2013…..but don't the non-EEA family members get the right of residence automatically after marriage?!).
Secondly, health insurance is necessary for EEA student and their family members. The advisor had no idea why my husband could get the PR without providing the health insurance but he said there can be some issue for my application if without such insurance.
In a word, I am fully confused by the home office advisors. Now I have no idea when I am legal to apply for PR. Should it be 5 yeas after living with my husband, or 5 years after marriage, or 5 years after I got the Residence Card? The health insurance is another issue now. Could anyone give me some help?
I am really grateful!
Best Wishes to you all!