Beginning of 5 years period for settled status if entered on Tier 4

Hi,
I entered the UK in October 2016 on a student Tier 4 visa. In May 2019 I got married to the EU citizen and got a pre-settled status. I wonder when I could apply for the settled status. On one hand, I will be living in the UK for a continuous 5-year period by October 2021. On the other hand, as my husband argues, I have exercised EEA free movement only after I got married to EU citizen, hence after May 2019. Therefore, the required 5 year period will elapse in May 2024 (in fact, my pre-settled residence permit will expire in June 2024).

Could you please advise me on this?

Hello

Your husband is right.

You are now on a 5-year route based on EEA right. You can't add your Tier 4 visa time to that.

So you are looking to 2024.

Yes your husband is right. They count time after you are married.

You need to have resided in the UK for five years as the family member of an EEA citizen to qualify for Settled Status. Therefore the earliest that you would qualify is your fifth wedding anniversary.

Sandra1208 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 21, 2020 10:28 pm

I entered the UK in October 2016 on a student Tier 4 visa. In May 2019 I got married to the EU citizen and got a pre-settled status. I wonder when I could apply for the settled status.

You will qualify for Settled status on or after May 2024, five years after your marriage to a EU citizen in the UK.

On one hand, I will be living in the UK for a continuous 5-year period by October 2021. On the other hand, as my husband argues, I have exercised EEA free movement only after I got married to EU citizen, hence after May 2019. Therefore, the required 5 year period will elapse in May 2024 (in fact, my pre-settled residence permit will expire in June 2024).

Your husband is correct. You can be living for 20 or 30 years in the UK, but if in all that time you have not been the family member of a EU citizen (for example, you have only held visas under the Tier system), that time does not count toward the 5 years needed for Settled Status. I have completed 10 years in the UK, but only almost 4 as the family member of a EU citizen. I have only pre-Setttled status.

In the Pre-Settled Status confirmation letter I received, they explain this:

You do not qualify for settled status because the information available to us does not show that you have completed a continuous qualifying period of five years in the UK as a family member of a relevant EU citizen, or in another qualifying category (including those categories allowing for a grant of settled status with less than five years of residence). Although you were resident in the UK between April 2014 and June 2019, you do not meet the requirements for settled status because

• You were issued with a relevant document as the durable partner of your relevant EU citizen on 01 February 2016 and therefore your UK residence as a family member of an EU citizen commenced on this date for the purposes of the scheme.

You have however been granted pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and you can remain in the UK.

Thank you all for insightful replies! I assume the fact that my husband became a British citizen in August 2019 does not change this (apart from the fact that once I get the settled status in May 2024, I can immediately apply for the Brit citizenship as a spouse of a Brit citizen, without waiting another 12 months). Is that correct?

Sandra1208 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 22, 2020 11:27 pm

Thank you all for insightful replies! I assume the fact that my husband became a British citizen in August 2019 does not change this (apart from the fact that once I get the settled status in May 2024, I can immediately apply for the Brit citizenship as a spouse of a Brit citizen, without waiting another 12 months). Is that correct?

Correct