pls someone help me, when can i apply for EEA4

[sir_c]

hello everyone,
am a non-eea married to an eea national. was given a family permit and entered into the UK on the 10th of august 2007 and got my RC on the 17th of July 2008 and it expires on the 17th of July 2013.
please when do i start counting the five years residency? is it from the time i got my EEA FAMILY PERMIT and entered into the UK or from the time i was issued a RC which is the 17-07-08.
i would really appreciate it if anyone can clarify this for me thanks.

[John]

It starts on 10.08.2007, so you should reach the 5-year mark on 10.08.2012. To get confirmation of your PR status, submit a form EEA4 a few months before that.

[sir_c]

Thanks a lot john, really appreciate the advice.

[Plum70]

It starts on 10.08.2007, so you should reach the 5-year mark on 10.08.2012. To get confirmation of your PR status, submit a form EEA4 a few months before that.

John, wouldn't a successful PR application require that the applicant meets the 5-year residential qualifying period just before applying? Submitting an application a few months before may invite a refusal.

[John]

The point is, Plum70, it takes months for EEA4 applications to be dealt with. So no problem applying say 3 or 4 months before the 5 year point is reached.

[Guerro]

if i were you, i stay in the safe side and apply exactly on 10.08.2012, not even a day before

[John]

Waiting until that date is absolutely not necessary. It will take months to get to the desk of someone who will make the decision.

[Guerro]

Waiting until that date is absolutely not necessary. It will take months to get to the desk of someone who will make the decision.

so what about about dating the application form? the date will show less than 5 years

[John]

That is of no concern. We are talking here about applications in connection with the EU Directive. We are not talking here about visa applications under the terms of UK immigration law.

Do appreciate that under the terms of EU Directive that PR status happens automatically on the 5th anniversary of starting to exercise Treaty Rights in the UK. There is no obligation to submit a form EEA3 or EEA4, as relevant, and failure to submit such a form does not stop PR status being achieved.

So why would anyone submit the form? Simply to get confirmation of that PR status. That is, the documentation that arrives back once the application has been dealt with does not actually give more rights. Instead it gives confirmation of the PR status that has already been acquired.

Especially for a non-EEA family member confirmation of PR is especially useful, but that fact does not detract from the automatic nature of the granting of PR status.

[Plum70]

I still think that it is advisable to apply just before PR is attained. Applications are now vetted before being forwarded to the casework dept. and if something doesn't 'check out' they are returned unprocessed. I strongly feel that this will be the case if a person applies months before PR is automatically attained.

[John]

I still think that it is advisable to apply just before PR is attained. Applications are now vetted before being forwarded to the casework dept. and if something doesn't 'check out' they are returned unprocessed. I strongly feel that this will be the case if a person applies months before PR is automatically attained.

As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating! I cannot recollect even one person reporting on this Board, or similar boards that I look at, of the outcome as suggested by you. Quite simply it is clearly the case that applications are not being returned in the circumstances suggested by you.

You are simply being far too cautious, and the outcome will be that the person does not get their confirmation of their PR status until months after they actually get their PR status.

[Plum70]

John, I think it is only logical that if one is applying for confirmation of a status that has not yet been acquired then such an application should be rightly returned as invalid! For a start the supporting docs at the time PR is attained will no longer be current; circumstances may have changed etc...

The reason you have probably not come across posts of premature applications being returned is because people are not lodging them 3 - 4 months before auto. acquisition of PR. I have however read of applications being returned speedily for lack of sufficient docs to support a EE2/4 application.

I rest my case on this one.

[John]

I rest my case on this one.

You can rest your case and thus get your PR confirmation months after when would have been the case.

And I add this. Even if you were right, which I do not concede for one moment, given the lack of application fee, where is the problem submitting the application for PR about 3 or 4 months before the 5th anniversary? Worse case, if you are right, the application can just be submitted later.

From the EEA4, page 2 :-

4 WHEN TO APPLY

You may apply at any time during your lawful stay in the UK. If you apply when you are here unlawfully, that will be taken into consideration in deciding your application.

[Guerro]

A final question about pr, when does the 5 year period start exactly? Is it from the day you get your family permit? The day you enter the uk? The day you apply for rc? Or the day you get your rc?
Should you have been exercising treaty rights throughout the 5 years or your eea exercising treaty rights is sufficient?

[John]

Guerro, given that you mention an EEA Family Permit it sounds like you are the family member of an EEA citizen, and that you came to the UK using that EEA Family Permit. If that is the case your 5-year period started on your date of arrival in the UK.

Should you have been exercising treaty rights throughout the 5 years or your eea exercising treaty rights is sufficient?

The important thing is that your EEA family member is exercising the Treaty Rights in the UK. There is no requirement for you to be doing anything. You could be at home being a housewife, or househusband (sorry I don't know your gender) throughout your 5-year period.

[Guerro]

Thanks john for your info. I'm a man but not a househusband