Applying as EEA national married to a British citizen

[noajthan]

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However, I think I could get lucky on the private medical insurance aspect. I checked the PR application and point 9.11 states.

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Now, does anyone know if it's any private insurance? Or the type of coverage it needs to be? Or how I can find out?

The European Commission noted in its own guidelines on the implementation of Directive 2004/38 that:

Any insurance cover, private or public, contracted in the host Member State or elsewhere, is acceptable in principle, as long as it provides comprehensive coverage and does not create a burden on the public finances of the host Member State.

In protecting their public finances while assessing the comprehensiveness of sickness insurance cover, Member States must act in compliance with the limits imposed by Community law and in accordance with the principle of proportionality.

You could do worse than start here:
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/compreh ... -needs-it/

For a steer on how a caseworker may weigh up someone requiring CSI, see internal HO guidance on this vital question:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... issued.pdf
- see paragraph C.4.

[paulie12]

Hello,

I am an EEA national married to a British citizen and would like to apply for my PR card. I will be applying as a self sufficient person (bit of background - I am from a formally A8 country but did not apply for my WRS hence can only go back to 30/04/11 as years spent in the UK. I was in full time employment up until July 2014, then was on maternity leave for 1 year and quit my job in July 2015 to be a stay at home mum). I have never purchased CSI but am covered under my husband's private health insurance. I have three questions if anyone could be so kind and answer them for me:
1. How can I find out if the private health insurance is sufficient enough to be used instead of CSI?
2. I will only be able to use my 3 years of employment + 1 year of maternity leave (is that correct? Or am not allowed to include maternity leave?) as a qualified person and the last year as a self sufficient person?
3. I understand I need to provide proof of income if applying as I self sufficient person and that means providing banks statements - do I need to provide monthly banks statement, or quarterly (or annual?)?

Also, does anyone know what the processing time for PR applications is at the moment? I will be travelling in June and will have to have my passport back (and since I'm applying as a self sufficient person I can't use the passport return service).

Thanks for all your help!

[noajthan]

1) See https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... issued.pdf

2) You could have retained worker status whilst on maternity leave.
Its a bit of a grey area if you didn't return to work.

See also FreeMovement blog post for a steer on this:
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/eu-citi ... d-reasons/

4 or 6 months or more.
See timeline thread.
Your mileage may vary.

[paulie12]

Thanks for coming back to me. I think I should be ok under 1) and I was also covered under my husband's health insurance during the time I was on maternity leave so even if I can't use that time as a qualified worker I should be able to use it as a self sufficient person. On point 3) - what proof of income do I need to provide? Is it monthly statements for the past 3 years? I'm assuming I can't just print them off, they will have to be originals provided by the bank?

[noajthan]

Thanks for coming back to me. I think I should be ok under 1) and I was also covered under my husband's health insurance during the time I was on maternity leave so even if I can't use that time as a qualified worker I should be able to use it as a self sufficient person. On point 3) - what proof of income do I need to provide? Is it monthly statements for the past 3 years? I'm assuming I can't just print them off, they will have to be originals provided by the bank?

Dig into such vital questions here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf

Yes, original bank statements would be good. Perhaps quarterly unless there were rapid fluctuations in the balances/s.

Any other bank printouts would have to be officialyy stamped by the bank (some branches are more helpful at doing this than others).

[LaLeLu85]

Re the passport, you can request this back early through their website (there's a return of documents form somewhere). Got mine back within a couple of weeks from submitting the request.

[paulie12]

Oh, that's great! So I can request the passport back even if applying as a self sufficient person? Would you mind posting the link to the form? I searched the website but I couldn't find it anywhere.

[LaLeLu85]

Oh, that's great! So I can request the passport back even if applying as a self sufficient person? Would you mind posting the link to the form? I searched the website but I couldn't find it anywhere.

Yep - form is here: https://www.gov.uk/visa-documents-returned

I think you need to wait a couple of weeks before requesting them back though I waited a couple of months.

[LaLeLu85]

Oh - and they even sent my passport back as signed for, had to collect from the Post Office. I only asked for my passport back at the time and all other documents were returned when I received my card.

[paulie12]

Thanks so much for the line LaLeLu85!