EUSS pre-settled application

Hi everyone,

Quick background story for you all.
Lived in the UK from March 2017 til end of Jan 2020 before going for holiday purpose with my partner (not married) and children visit family after their birth in March 2019. Locked outside of country because of pandemic. Forgot to apply for EUSS before holidays.
My partner got accepted for Settled status as she was in the UK for longer than me. We forgot to apply for our children as we didnt know we had to and didnt thought it was relevant of we were allowed (application for my children have now been made using my partner UAN, as they should be entitled to the same right as one of the parent). Applied before the deadline but saw it refused at first because I couldn’t provide with a proof of address 6months prior to application.
Contacted HO which stated that I should redo my application stating that I wasn’t able to fly back because of pandemic and make use of my right to be outside of the country for an extra 12 months period as stated by the covid guidelines.

So application made in April 2021, refusal received end of August 2021, new application with relevant information provided mid September 2021.

Today I’ve received the following email from HO.
We were currently looking for flat in the UK to be able to come back with our children and were hoping to move back in before the end of the summer. But receiving this doesnt put me at ease if its to have a refusal on my application a day or so before flying or a day or so after arriving in the UK.

From my understanding as I still cannot prove my residency 6month prior to 30th December 2020 what should i provide them with ? Employment contract in the UK for my entire stay ? Proof of relationship with my partner ? Birth certificate of the kids ? Joint bank account ?

Im asking this because I really dont want to go through a Visa application that would require me to pay when technically i was entitled to pre-settled status.
So I’m coming to you asking what should I provide in order to make sure I do not forget anything that could be relevant to them into accepting my application.

Many thanks to you all !

PS : Sorry for format and writing style. Currently doing this from my phone.

I think you should provide:

1. Any proof to show you were UK resident between 01/06/2020 and 31/12/2020. This can be any physical transaction in UK, i.e. you used your credit card/debit card to pay at a a UK restaurant/train stations/taxi/bus... It doesn't matter if that's a UK card or foreign card so long as you can prove that transaction happened in UK and you are the card holder.
If you worked in UK between June and December 2020, any payslip/employer statement confirming your employment/bank statement showing salary received can help. If you didn't work, any bills in your name/ any dentist or GP statement confirming they have seen you in UK on a specific date can also help.
In the worst scenario, you can perhaps rely on any flight ticket booking confirmation during this period and perhaps contact the airline to confirm this ticket was used.

2. You should justify your single period of absence is due to Covid-19 or justify that absence is for another important reason such as pregnancy/study or any other reason listed as an important reason on the rules. You can find more detail on the Covid guidance/ Single period of absence guidance online and try to provide as much evidence as you can.

3. You should prove that after your permitted long absence for an important reason, you returned to UK on time and after that date, you have lived in UK continuously. The acceptable evidence is listed online.

Hopefully, they can accept it! I do feel based on the current rule, it should be fine if you prepare the evidence very carefully and reply to their enquiries on time.

Your children's status shouldn't be affected if their parents didn't apply for them on time, and they still have right to apply by themselves after the deadline. It's one of the listed reasonable grounds to miss the deadline for children.

As you have been absent from UK for more than 12 months in a row, you have to be very careful when justifying your absence. Since it's longer than 12 months, you can only justify it by proving you were prevented to come back to UK within 12 months from January 2020, and you can't say it's your choice.
But I don't think you should be too worried, as your spouse has already got Settled Status. You can apply for a family permit based on her settled status or apply for another residence permit after your children have been granted settled status.

Sorry when I wrote my first reply I didn't realize you have been absent from Jan 2020 to April 2021, so I said it shouldn't be a problem and wrote how you could provide evidence from June 2020 to December 2020.
I wouldn't disappoint you, but you may need to be very careful with this issue as they are normally more strict when you have an absence exceeds 12 months in a row. You must try really hard to get any evidence to prove it was inevitable for you to exceed the 12-month max. absence limit. As based on the original EU rule, you can't have an absence of more than 12 months neither.
As you were not in UK between June and December 2020, you should also provide residence evidence before Jan 2020. This can be useful if they accept your absence for more than 12 months from Jan 2020 to April 2021. But I feel the successful possibility might be 30-50% unless you had a close family member who tested positive right before you reached the 12-month absence limit which prevented you from coming back.
Maybe planning a family permit is not a bad idea. If it's impossible, you can definitely get a residence as custodian of your settled children.