PR requirements for citizenship via EEA route

UKAus · Post by **UKAus** » Wed Oct 22, 2014 11:12 pm

Hi,

I was hoping someone would able to confirm my understanding of obtaining UK citizenship via the EEA route:

My partner is a French citizen and has been exercising his treaty rights in the UK since November 2009.

I am a classified as a Family Member of an EEA National and have a Residence Card that expires in January 2018.

In order to obtain UK citizenship, my understanding is that:
- I personally do not have to do anything until November 2015, as my Residence Card confirms my right of permanent residency since November 2009. At that time, I will apply directly for UK citizenship.
- Similarly, my partner does does not have to do anything either, as his permanent residency is automatically acquired after 5 years (i.e. living and working in UK). My understanding is that if he were to apply for his permanent residency via EEA3 application, he will have to wait 1 year from the point of being granted PR. Therefore, it is best to do nothing.

In summary, can you please confirm/advise that neither of us have to do anything until November 2015, at which point, we will simply apply directly for UK citizenship.

Thank you for your help,
Luc

chaoclive · Post by **chaoclive** » Wed Oct 22, 2014 11:50 pm

UKAus wrote:Hi,

I was hoping someone would able to confirm my understanding of obtaining UK citizenship via the EEA route:

My partner is a French citizen and has been exercising his treaty rights in the UK since November 2009.

I am a classified as a Family Member of an EEA National and have a Residence Card that expires in January 2018.

In order to obtain UK citizenship, my understanding is that:
- I personally do not have to do anything until November 2015, as my Residence Card confirms my right of permanent residency since November 2009. At that time, I will apply directly for UK citizenship. NO; your residence card does NOT confirm permanent residence. It only confirms your right to reside in the UK as an EEA family member. It is not PR at all. You don't need to do anything as such as it is your partner's rights that need to be exercised for you both to be eligible for PR (should you decide to apply for it) and then, on that basis, for UK citizenship.

- Similarly, my partner does does not have to do anything either, as his permanent residency is automatically acquired after 5 years (i.e. living and working in UK). My understanding is that if he were to apply for his permanent residency via EEA3 application, he will have to wait 1 year from the point of being granted PR. Therefore, it is best to do nothing. The first part is correct. He will automatically acquire PR at 5 years of exercising treaty rights. He can apply for PR if he likes but it is NOT true that the date on his EEA3 PR certificate will affect the date at which he can apply for British citizenship. He'll be able to apply for British citizenship a year after he has been achieved PR in the UK (i.e. 5 years of treaty rigths+1 year of holding PR).

In summary, can you please confirm/advise that neither of us have to do anything until November 2015, at which point, we will simply apply directly for UK citizenship. True, apart from him exercising treaty rights, of course.

You will have to provide quite a few documents when you apply for UK citizenship. That's probably why many people would prefer to apply for their PR on EEA3 and EEA4 as a lot of the documents will be checked at this stage.

Thank you for your help,
Luc

Nimitta · Post by **Nimitta** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 12:11 pm

EU citizen automatically becomes a permanent resident in a member state if and only if she has been exercising her Treaty Rights during 5 consecutive years. If she hasn't, she does not become a permanent resident. HO has no way of telling which is true unless your partner presents the documents showing that she has been a worker, a student, self-employed or self-sufficient.

This is pretty much like Schrödinger's cat experiment. It's state is uncertain, meaning the cat is both alive and dead until you open the box, or in our case your partner both a permanent resident and not a permanent resident until the HO looks at your papers.

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PR requirements for citizenship via EEA route

PR requirements for citizenship via EEA route

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Re: PR requirements for citizenship via EEA route