Comprehensive Sickness Insurance for PR application EEA

Hello everyone,

I am looking into applying for permanent residence as an EEA national after being here for over 5 years. Only when looking though the application form did I find out about needing to have a comprehensive sickness insurance while studying in the UK - which I didn't have. I also did not apply for an EHIC equivalent in my own county. I read somewhere on the forum that this requirement for CSI was added on the 20th June 2011, which is after I started studying, so I am wondering if this would have any impact on my application. I was curious to see if anyone was in a similar situation and can share some advice as to what to do in this case? Also, can an application be rejected on the basis of not having CSI? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

My timeline is as follows

Studied at university from Sept 2010 - June 2013
Started part-time work March 2011 - Apr 2014 (made National Insurance contributions only when salary was high enough to do so)
Started full-time work Apr 2014 - Present

Many thanks!
Aura

auranoir wrote:Hello everyone,

I am looking into applying for permanent residence as an EEA national after being here for over 5 years. Only when looking though the application form did I find out about needing to have a comprehensive sickness insurance while studying in the UK - which I didn't have. I also did not apply for an EHIC equivalent in my own county. I read somewhere on the forum that this requirement for CSI was added on the 20th June 2011, which is after I started studying, so I am wondering if this would have any impact on my application. I was curious to see if anyone was in a similar situation and can share some advice as to what to do in this case? Also, can an application be rejected on the basis of not having CSI? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

My timeline is as follows

Studied at university from Sept 2010 - June 2013
Started part-time work March 2011 - Apr 2014 (made National Insurance contributions only when salary was high enough to do so)
Started full-time work Apr 2014 - Present

Many thanks!
Aura

Don't be too hard on yourself, this requirement catches a lot of people out & you won't be the last.

With no CSI & no foreign-issued EHIC you have one last longshot...

As you aware rules changed in mid-2011.

If you had the foresight to obtain a RC (issued to you as a student) in or before 2011 you can utilise the transitional arrangement;
this means you don't need proof of CSI and can count those carefree student years as exercising treaty rights.
.
Otherwise your student period won't count as exercising treaty rights & your PR clock will have been stopped.

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

A final, final longshot, see if your parents had any kind of health cover that may have extended to cover you in UK.
If so get a letter from appropriate authorities to prove this.
(Some members have saved the situation in this way).

If all else fails your PR clock may have started in 2011 with your part-time work.
That is if such work can be shown to be genuine & effective (not marginal & supplementary).
(Paying NI is not the test for that).

So it may be your PR can be acquired from 2011 to 2016 even without the student years.

If you do have that student RC, PR may have been acquired already; ie 2010 - 2015.

Good luck.

Hi noajthan,

Many thanks for the detailed and helpful response. Yes, I think when you're a student and exited to start university in a new country, the last thing you think about is insurance that you may need as proof in 5 years time!

By RC do you mean some kind of student residence card? I'm not sure what RC is, but as far as I know I have not made any applications when I came to the UK to study.

I have also asked my parents about any kind of insurance they may have covered me with and I believe I was only covered with life insurance, but I think that doesn't qualify as ICS?

Do you know what aspects would qualify my part-time work as genuine and effective ?

Many thanks!

auranoir wrote:Hi noajthan,

Many thanks for the detailed and helpful response. Yes, I think when you're a student and exited to start university in a new country, the last thing you think about is insurance that you may need as proof in 5 years time!

By RC do you mean some kind of student residence card? I'm not sure what RC is, but as far as I know I have not made any applications when I came to the UK to study.

I have also asked my parents about any kind of insurance they may have covered me with and I believe I was only covered with life insurance, but I think that doesn't qualify as ICS?

Do you know what aspects would qualify my part-time work as genuine and effective ?

Many thanks!

Yes it's a shame so many people are caught out by this.
Some universities & international student support officers do/did a great job of publicising this little secret. It seems others did not.
And CSI is not really about using the NHS - its really just for immigration.

Life insurance will not fit the bill for CSI.

RC = residence certificate / residence card

As an EAA national I think yours would have been a certificate.

You would have to have applied for it so you should know if you had one.
For some nationalities they were called 'blue card', 'yellow card' etc.

With no cover at all your best bet is to make a case from 2011 with that part-time work.
You will need adequate (if not unimpeachable) documentary supporting evidence of this.

See HO guidance to get into the mind of caseworker assessing your case:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _clean.pdf
- see pages 11-12 about assessing 'genuine' work (& an example about a student)
See pages 12-13 on topic of tax & NI too.

Fantastic, many thanks for this!

If applying for RC on the basis of my part time job from 2011, would I still not be required to state that I was also studying during this period, thus still be required to produce proof of ICR?

auranoir wrote:Fantastic, many thanks for this!

If applying for RC on the basis of my part time job from 2011, would I still not be required to state that I was also studying during this period, thus still be required to produce proof of ICR?

On the current form you are expected to itemise all dates/activities.
Also whether or not you had CSI as a student.

But you will not be punished & refused for failing to hold CSI.
You should only apply if you believe you qualify another way.

You can add a cogent paragraph in the 'additional/further info' section of the form to point out which 5-year period is your qualifying period.
In any case the caseworker should be sifting & weighing all the evidence.

Point of interest: it is not mandatory to use the current (monster) form.
You can use an earlier (simpler) version (search Gov UK archive website; there are threads in forum that mention this).
Those other forms will probably ask about CSI anyway.

You can even 'go commando' & apply for confirmation of PR by letter (but that route may be best left for seasoned/hardcore applicants).

Suggest collating all your evidence & printing off relevant parts of the form;
have a few dry runs filling it in.
See how it shapes up & hangs together.

noajthan wrote:As you aware rules changed in mid-2011.

I disagree with that statement. The requirement for CSI was there in the original EU directive in 2004 and transposed into UK law by the EEA Regulations 2006. It started being applied from 2011 when the first PR applications under the 2006 Regulations started arriving at the Home Office. But that does not mean that the rules changed in 2011.

noajthan wrote:With no CSI & no foreign-issued EHIC you have one last longshot...

The health services of some EU countries cover their citizens anywhere in Europe even without an EHIC card. I believe that there was a case on thes forums a while ago of a German student being able to claim PR on the grounds that the German equivalent of the NHS covers them everywhere in Europe even with an EHIC card. It is worth checking with the health service of your home country if such is the case and if so, can they issue a document stating that you were covered by them while you were resident in the UK for your studies.

In any case, based on your part-time work, you should be eligible for PR in March 2016.

secret.simon wrote:

noajthan wrote:As you aware rules changed in mid-2011.

I disagree with that statement.

...

That's what I meant by rules changed. Maybe I should have said the 'groundrules' or the day-to-day 'working rules' for the Rules.