adham1990mizo wrote: ↑Sun Nov 27, 2022 2:24 pm
I moved to the UK in 2017 and held a Tier 2 visa. In 2020 I switched from Tier 2 to EU settlement pre-settled. I applied to settled status this year because I thought that I had 5 years continuous resident in 2022 because I moved in 2017!
Yes, this is a very common misinterpretation of the text from the EU Settlement Scheme page. It does not hep that the way it is worded assumes anyone reading is a EU citizen, you have to dig deep to find the non-EU family member section in the
EU case worker guidelines (page 82), where it explicitly says the 5 years have to have been completed as a family member of an EU citizen:
they have completed a continuous qualifying period of residence in the UK and Islands of 5 years which (unless they are the dependent relative of a specified relevant person of Northern Ireland) began before the specified date as such a family member
Note the "as such a family member". That means, your time effectively starts when you were first recognised as your partner's family member, e.g. when you got your civil partnership.
The home office refused my settled status and said:
"Although you are the family member of a relevant EEA citizen and you were in the UK
between 2017 and 2022, you have not been a family member of a
relevant EEA citizen for a continuous qualifying period of five years because your
continuous qualifying period began 2020 when you entered into a civil
partnership with the EEA citizen."
Yes, that is the rule. The decision is correct. I received that too, even after paying UK taxes for almost 8 years.
So basically, they disregarded all the history prior to the civil partnership!
Since it's a family route, there is no provision within the EU Settlement Scheme to include immigration history prior to the family relationship. Why would it be? Before your relationship, you were not the family member of your partner. They have not disregarded anything, they have simply followed the rules.
As if I was NOT paying tax and being a normal resident since 2017!!
I know. I feel your pain there, this is the experience of many of us here.
Me too, I was a long-term tax payer, and had to wait much longer than just 5 years to qualify for Settled Status, because time spent under Tier visas does not count toward your 5 years. These should be spent as an EU family member. That is the way it is, and I am sorry you had different expectations.
Now I have to wait 3 more years to apply!
In the great scheme of things... 3 years fly by. Seriously.
Any advice? Is there another route we can do?
There is nothing you can do to accelerate your qualifying for Settled Status. The only route that counts all your immigration history combined is the 10-year route for ILR. But it will actually take you longer, and is expensive. So stick to the Settlement Scheme and be patient.
How is this fair?!
Well... it's not. But that's life.
I too had to accept the fact that other people with less UK residence than me qualified for Permanent/Settled Status before me, but that's just how EU privilege worked. You were not born a EU citizen, you qualified for the EU route later, after you contracted a civil partnership with a EU citizen.
My posts express what I believe are the facts, based on the best of my knowledge, about the topics discussed in this forum. They do not constitute immigration advice.
