Permanent residence despite shortish period of unemployment?

Dear All,

I hope you can help.

I am an EU national and I was wondering I have acquired the permanent right to reside.

For the past 5 years I have either been working or self employment apart from a short period of 2.5 months when I was voluntarily unemployed. I believe that I did not retain my worker status during that period because I was not enrolled on a vocational course.

Do you think there is a risk of my EEA3 application being rejected because I have not been continuously exercising my treaty rights for the past 5 years?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Many thanks!

If during those 2.5 months you got CSI then can claim self sufficiency or if you be able to get a doctor letter confirming your illness or sickness which prevented you to carry on working then it may work. Otherwise if you attach P60s and if by luck the caseworker do not trace deeply those non-working months then it may work. But more importantly you have to segregate the period of employment and self employment during the last 5 years but don't mix it.

sheraz7 wrote: if you be able to get a doctor letter confirming your illness or sickness which prevented you to carry on working then it may work.

OP was not ill was he?

If OP was registered Self Employed, them he may be covered.

Medical letter cannot be obtained for Voluntary Unemployment.

Medical letter can only be relevant to Regulation 6(2) (a).

That does not seem to be the case here.

Obie wrote:

sheraz7 wrote: if you be able to get a doctor letter confirming your illness or sickness which prevented you to carry on working then it may work.

OP was not ill was he?

If OP was registered Self Employed, them he may be covered.

Medical letter cannot be obtained for Voluntary Unemployment.

Medical letter can only be relevant to Regulation 6(2) (a).

That does not seem to be the case here.

At the moment the op written not very clearly regarding employment and self employment history and we even not know the reason of that 2.5 months gap. Once it clear then maybe your reply fit in. At the moment you assume to the reply given above as generic.

Hello,

Many thanks for your replies.

No, I was not ill during those 2.5 months. I was actually a student at university and I quit my job to concentrate on my studies. However, I don't believe that I can show that I had CSI during that period - that's why I wanted to rely on worker/ self employed status.

To be a bit more precise, I got a copy of my employment history from HMRC showing that my employment ended on 27 December. I registered as self employed on 11 March.

I was hoping that such a relatively short gap might not break continuity or might be overlooked but it seems that's not the case

was the course related to your last employment.

Not really Although I did two work placements (unpaid) and some voluntary work that was related to my course before I quit my job. But that doesn't fit the definition of "employment".

Or had you got at least EHIC from your country , if so then it can help too.

Ruby_R wrote:Not really Although I did two work placements (unpaid) and some voluntary work that was related to my course before I quit my job. But that doesn't fit the definition of "employment".

But it does seem to fit the definition of worker under EU law.

I don't think it fits easily into worker definition as op did work placement and voluntary work which is related to her course but not related to her previous job and subsequently quit her job. But the relevant regulations regarding worker requires that in case of voluntarily leaving the job one must embark on vocational training that relates to its previous employment.

I see. The CJEU has ruled in several cases that work placement can be considered as work in certain circumstances.

Unfortunately it does not fit in here because regulations 6(2)(d) very clearly state that upon voluntarily leaving the job if EU national embark on some vocational training which relates to its previous employment then the worker status won't be lost. But in op's case she/he already did work placement (if it is equivalent to vocational training) before leaving the job voluntarily. I personally will not believe on any single judgment /case reference where the relevant regulation even not near to the actual circumstances.