Applying for settled status few month before 5 years

Hi everyone,

I want to ask if anyone been in this situation.

I'm non EU family member with pre settled status, was married to an EU citizen for more than 3 years.

I'm going to apply through retaind right to reside.

Basically I reach 5 years of residency in November.

Can I apply before that or has it got to be 5 years exact ?

Thank you

Numidian wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 13, 2021 10:58 pm

Hi everyone,

I want to ask if anyone been in this situation.

I'm non EU family member with pre settled status, was married to an EU citizen for more than 3 years.

I'm going to apply through retaind right to reside.

Basically I reach 5 years of residency in November.

Can I apply before that or has it got to be 5 years exact ?

Thank you

You have to apply for it when your 5 years continuous residency elapse not before.

You can apply for settled status, but if you don't meet the requirements, you'll just be issued pre-settled status anyway (which you already have).

That's what I wanted to ask a week ago. We have all read home office guidance which specifies how to calculate 5 continuous years.

However, it takes months for Home office to process your application (and we are 3 people in the same family). For instance, let's say you completed your 5th year today and applied for Settled status (today), so once you received your new card, is there any gap between the day you applied and the issue day on the actual card?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

imbik wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 15, 2021 2:37 pm

However, it takes months for Home office to process your application (and we are 3 people in the same family). For instance, let's say you completed your 5th year today and applied for Settled status (today), so once you received your new card, is there any gap between the day you applied and the issue day on the actual card?

Settled Status is, unlike Permanent Residence under EU law, only prospective from the date of grant by the Home Office.

Crucially, it is a grant by the Home Office, not the certification of an automatically acquired state as the old DCPR/PR Card used to be.

Till the grant is made, by the issue of the card and the accompanying letter, you remain on pre-settled status.

I understand what you are trying to do and the answer to your question is, it's a gamble and it's up to you when to apply:

• Apply too early and you might get Pre-Settled status again, further delaying things as you'll need to apply yet again to get Settled Status.

• Apply on the appropriate date, and you might wait a while before you are granted status.

Such is life.

Again, the official instruction is to apply when you are eligible, not before.