Permanent residency for an EEA national with British partner

So here is the situation. My fiancee came to the UK from Poland to study 5 years ago, and we met a few weeks after she arrived, have been together since. She would like to apply for British citizenship, which we were hoping she would be able to do as soon as we were married next year. To make this process a bit quicker we thought we would get cracking with the document showing permanent residency straight away. Unfortunately it seems she may have fallen foul of the CSI requirement while a student and, briefly after graduating, as a jobseeker. This means she hasn't been exercising treaty rights and therefore doesn't qualify for permanent residency through this route .

We were wondering however whether she might qualify for permanent residency on the basis of our relationship. In theory I can see no problem with this: we fill out the form with me as her EEA sponsor as an unmarried partner. The form for doing this however doesn't really seem set up for this particular eventuality as it asks for a document showing permanent residency. Can I just put my British passport down for this and submit the form as normal? Has anyone completed an application like this before and was it accepted or rejected?

We would really appreciate any help we can get with this as we've been stressing out big time over the application (and this one isn't even the big one yet!)

I don't think you can be her sponsor as you are British and therefore cannot exercise treaty rights in the UK and she therefore cannot gain permanent residence in the UK on the basis of your activities.
Did she have a non-UK EHIC whilst she was a student? She could use this as a CSI substitute.

So if I was of another EEA nationality my partner could become a UK citizen (assuming I met CSI requirements), but since I'm British she can't... I suppose railing against the illogicality of this really acheives nothing though.

While she was a student the Polish health service would have paid her medical bills as there is an agreement there, although she never actually had an EHIC. I don't think they cover her for the 2 months spent jobseeking though. She did have health insurance through her family in Poland, but this didn't cover her for care in the UK (and it frustratingly expired about a month before she obtained her current job).

Can anyone think of anything we might have possibly missed which could help us here? We honestly had no idea about the CSI requirement, and she's always been eligible for NHS care

Yes, I believe that's correct, it all has to do with the fact that an EU national cannot exercise treaty rights in their country of nationality (unless going via the Surinder Singh route but that's another story...) Don't really see how that's unfair/illogical, it's the same for any EU national.

If she can get a letter from the Polish Health Service/government stating that she was covered by their insurance whilst studying in the UK this should do the trick.

As a job seeker she does not need CSI, all she needs do demonstrate that she was exercising treaty rights as a job seeker, e.g. by providing evidence such as job application letters/emails, invitations to interview/rejection letters etc.

Good luck.

Thanks for the reply - my comment about the illogicality was just pointing out that if all the facts of our case remained the same and I was, for instance, German rather than British then my fiancee could become a British citizen, but since I am British she might not be able to become a British citizen. Seems bizarre to me.

For some reason I was under the impression that you had to have CSI when you were a jobseeker. Not sure where I read this and I haven't found it again so I will assume that was a mistake. So that's not a problem. I think the success of the application then rests on whether a letter from the Polish Government can be obtained, and whether this would be accepted as evidence (it isn't on the list unfortunately).

Only one other question: she studied as a student at two seperate institutions, undergrad then masters. Obviously there was a small gap between these two courses (during which she did do a bit of work as a summer job, although not for the entire duration). Would she maintain student status throughout this? She had jsut graduated one course and held a valid offer for another beginning shortly after.


Thanks again for all the great help.

d_swordfish wrote:So here is the situation. My fiancee came to the UK from Poland to study 5 years ago, and we met a few weeks after she arrived, have been together since. She would like to apply for British citizenship, which we were hoping she would be able to do as soon as we were married next year. To make this process a bit quicker we thought we would get cracking with the document showing permanent residency straight away. Unfortunately it seems she may have fallen foul of the CSI requirement while a student and, briefly after graduating, as a jobseeker. This means she hasn't been exercising treaty rights and therefore doesn't qualify for permanent residency through this route .

We were wondering however whether she might qualify for permanent residency on the basis of our relationship. In theory I can see no problem with this: we fill out the form with me as her EEA sponsor as an unmarried partner. The form for doing this however doesn't really seem set up for this particular eventuality as it asks for a document showing permanent residency. Can I just put my British passport down for this and submit the form as normal? Has anyone completed an application like this before and was it accepted or rejected?

We would really appreciate any help we can get with this as we've been stressing out big time over the application (and this one isn't even the big one yet!)

A BC is not treated as an EEA national in UK (except for Surinder Singh cases).

No, jobseekers do not need to hold CSI.

There is a transitional arrangement on CSI such that IF a student was issued a RC on basis of being a student, & RC was issued in/before 2011, they are exempt from CSI requirement.
This is because long-standing requirement for CSI (for students) was not enforced until 2011.

So does fiancee have such a RC from that time?

I suppose if the gap in between courses was only very small it should be fine, however, it may depend on what sort of caseworker you get...Luckily the confirmation of PR only costs £65, so not too much of a gamble money-wise...

Unfortunately she never got the residence certificate, so that way won't work. Best hope at the moment seems to be applying with a letter from Polish NFZ (National Health Fund) to say she was covered while a student. Trawling through the boards we found the case of a French applicant who did this with French Social Security and was sucessful, so fingers crossed.

Hopefully the gap between the courses isn't too big - July graduation and September start, so only one month really to worry about. Again, think we will just have to hope for the best with this one.

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement.

Hi Swordfish I am curious to know if you were successful with this, and if so who did you contact to obtain a letter from the NFZ. Thanks.