EEA3, EEA4, citizenship - exercising treaty rights jobseeker

My wife (non EEA spouse of EEA) had the documents pre-assessed for her citizenship application and we were advised to apply for EEA3 or EEA4 first. The conern was her application might be refused as I might fail to proof I was exercising treaty rights in 2013 due to a gap in my employment:

I would like to query which route to best go, EEA3,4 or directly the citizenship application, and how to best present the gap time.

I have been living in UK continuously since Jan 2008 and working from March 2008 - end Oct 2013.
My wife (non EEA) joined July 2008.

I ended work voluntarily end Oct 2013 and have only continued employment in Nov 2014. During this time I have been self sufficient, not registered as job seeker, and not registered as self employed.

Nov 2013 -Jan 2014: by this time I should already qualify as EEA3? I have been out of country for a course that lead to my qualification as architect in the UK. (HO advised this does not qualify as study time as the course was in the EEA. I would be happy if HO accepts that I have been out of country during this period and that this would be deducted from the time I have been looking for work).

From January 2014 to March 2014 I worked on an open competition (HO advised this would not qualify as looking for work so I am considering not to mention it)

I was selective about finding new work and because I did not feel in a rush I have not sent out many applications, most by post and often without receiving a written response back.

Only in September 2014 I stepped it up a notch and started to send out email applications, first interview was in October.

In order to have exercised my treaty rights I would have to show I have been looking for work and have a real chance of finding work in 6months or in some cases longer. No idea how frequent I would have to do that, and if copies of letters sent would be accepted as proof.


To recap, is there a favourable route to ultimately achieve citizenship status for her?

- would it be best to apply for EEA3 first (covering Jan 08 - Jan 13; I assume I should at least qualify for that if not I already automatically have been granted PR )

- or EEA4 (would this be covering the time my wife has been here from July 08 - JuLy 13, or my time as above), proof of jobseeking required)

- or does she have a chance to apply directly for citizenship (July 08 - July 14); would it be hard to proof I have been looking for work, would it be more difficult since the period was longer than 6 months and how much would the refusal depend on a personal view of the case officer.

Not sure who pre-asssessed her application and advised you but if you have worked (as PAYE employee) for 5 continuous years, I don't see a problem with your gap in employemt after that as it is not relevant once you obtain PR status.

She should apply based on her residence (July 2008-July 2014) but use you treaty rights from March 2008-March 2013. There is no need for your treaty rights years to be the same ones as her residence years. You can qualify for PR before her she completes her residence years.

Thank You for your response Jambo,

pre-assess might be the wrong term, it was a paid service by a local governmental organisation (not sure their name) that validates and takes copies of submitted documents and passes them on to HO.

unfortunately I got the later years mixed up so here clearly and corrected in bold:

01/2008 came to UK
03/2008 started employment
11/2008 accepted voluntary redundancy and registered as jobseeker
03/2009 started new employment
10/2012 quit employment, left country for 2month training, and was looking for work after that
11/2013 started new employment

I assume the approach is still the same (EEA3), however since I have not been in continuous employment over the period 03/08 - 03/13 I will have to proof I have been exercising treaty rights, in this case as jobseeker. I therefore wonder how the training period should be presented and what would be sufficient and reasonable evidence of having looked for work, considering I have not registered as job seeker or with any job agency.

I think you still got some of the dates mixed.

There is no need to exercise treaty rights while you are abroad.

thanks again.

Dates are correct in recent post. I found out that the service my wife used is called "Nationality checking service". I think that they should not have asked for me to provide evidence of job seeking throughout all of 2013, but only provide evidence up to January 2013.
we have another appointment coming up to clarify. my wifes opinion is she could still go ahead with the citizenship application based on above.

What is the reason she use my treaty rights from March 2008 only and not from January 08 when I came to look for work?