UK residence card on surinder singh route, shall I apply for presettled/settled status

Hi,
I'm British and Mrs is Pakistani national. We lived in Ireland for 18 months and then moved to UK back in 2016.
We apply for residence card through surinder singh route which was refused in 2017 then we took home office to court and mrs was granted residence card.
The card was issue in Feb 2018 and is valid until 2023.
We just came back from our holidays and there is too much talk with Settled status and Brexit.

So do we need to apply for this new settled/pre-settled status? if we don't apply, will the home office again start to threaten her to go outside etc.?

What time shall I apply for her PR? She spent nearly 16 months in Ireland on residence permit and then we came to UK and although initially rejected got BRP since 2018 Feb
Can we apply early for PR? its only her in the family that's not British, all 3 children and myself are British citizen.

Thanking you.

Hello

The answer is YES.

It's not relevant that she got the EEA card under Surinder Singh. It's still an EEA card. The previous issues you had with the Home Office are not relevant neither.

Go through the settlement scheme and see what you get from there.

If you don't apply, you are not going to protect your rights after the Brexit. The card she has will expire in December 31, 2020 even if 2023 is written on it.

Under EEA route, she needs 5 years to apply for PR. Under the EU Settlement Scheme it's called "Settled Status" but at the moment she is going to get a Pre-Settled status.

Do it asap please. It won't take you more than 20 minutes. You can't just ignore it due to your previous issues with the Home Office. It's something you can't avoid but it's really easy.

I was planning to avoid it but since you explained, I think I better do it quickly.
They make our lives miserable and I'm sick of dealing with them but what can I say.

2 questions which come to my mind.

Shall I apply for pre-settled status or go with the spouse visa married to British or parent of British children, we easily cater for £18600 salary requirement and since we have 3 children together, I don't think we need to prove much. Any advantages of one over the other?

Lastly, will her period on irish and UK residence count or not once we changed status to any of these? I hope it counts because otherwise we are waiting for another 6 years for her passport?

Many thanks for replying the first query.

Spouse visa costs £1033 plus £1000 immigration health surcharge and will reset her clock to zero for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) after 5 years on a spouse visa (2 X 2.5 years visas paying fees each time) ILR costs £2389 currently. You would still be dealing with the home office, no change there. She cannot count time under the EEA EU rules for this option.

Pre settled status is free. She needs 5 years residence in the UK for settled status. Time spent in Ireland doesn't count.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 22, 2020 7:01 am

Spouse visa costs £1033 plus £1000 immigration health surcharge and will reset her clock to zero for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) after 5 years on a spouse visa (2 X 2.5 years visas paying fees each time) ILR costs £2389 currently. You would still be dealing with the home office, no change there. She cannot count time under the EEA EU rules for this option.

Pre settled status is free. She needs 5 years residence in the UK for settled status. Time spent in Ireland doesn't count.

Thanks. Your reply clear my confusion. Despite paying money, we would be in loss time wise. The current route is way better because i only need to deal with home office 1 time before settlement.

Many many thanks both of you. These forums help people a lot. Kudos to all people behind this.

Thank you.