Settled Status, UK Citizenship, CSI needed for student years?

kammak · Post by **kammak** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 4:35 pm

Hi All,

I'll have lived in the UK for 5 years in a few weeks' time and hoping to get settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme soon.

From September 2014 - June 2018, I was here as a student and since June 2018 I've been working full-time. As many others, I wasn't aware of the requirement to have comprehensive sickness insurance as a student until around the referendum, so I managed to get EHIC cards from my home country to cover me for approximately the last two years of my degree, but not the first two. Luckily, CSI is not a requirement under the EU Settlement Scheme so it shouldn't be an issue.

However, I'm wondering what happens if I decide to apply for British citizenship sometime next year after I've had my settled status for at least a year.

Let's say I apply in September 2020 (so exactly a year after getting my settled status) and will need to provide evidence of lawful residence during the last 5 years so September 2015 - September 2020. I will be able to provide a letter from my university confirming my student status until June 2018 and then I'll be covered by payslips, P60 etc., but if the Home Office asks me for proof of CSI during my time as a student, I won't be able to provide it for 2015 and part of 2016.

The Form AN: Guidance doesn't mention the requirement to prove CSI, but it mentions you need to provide evidence for lawful residence and by lawful residence, they probably mean you should have held CSI during your years as a student for these years to count towards your lawful residence?

Has anyone had experience applying for citizenship in a similar situation? Did Home Office ask for a proof of CSI or did they not check it? I know settled status is a relatively new thing, so there might not be too many examples around, but I'd appreciate any help and advice. Thank you!

sfljiaf · Post by **sfljiaf** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 7:14 pm

My understanding would be that you were still lawfully resident without CSI. It's just that you wouldn't meet the requirements for the old EEA-rules permanent residence, but that isn't required for naturalisation, any route toward freedom from immigration time restrictions is fine. Further, I don't think they would check the EEA requirements again during naturalisation. As far as I have heard, the entire point of introducing the DCPR requirement for naturalisation was precisely so that the naturalisation caseworkes wouldn't have to deal with the intricacies of EEA rules.

That said, everything is a little uncertain around Brexit and the settlement scheme, so can't be 100% sure. I don't think many people would have even been able to apply for naturalisation with settled status yet.

Minor point, but did you not have a EHIC card for the previous years because you didn't think to apply for one at the time, or because you actually were not insured in your home country then? If it's the former maybe you were still covered, you just don't have evidence in the form of the EHIC card, but perhaps you could provide alternative evidence if needed. Just in case you do need to show CSI in the future.

kammak · Post by **kammak** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:34 pm

sfljiaf wrote: ↑
Thu Sep 05, 2019 7:14 pm
My understanding would be that you were still lawfully resident without CSI. It's just that you wouldn't meet the requirements for the old EEA-rules permanent residence, but that isn't required for naturalisation, any route toward freedom from immigration time restrictions is fine. Further, I don't think they would check the EEA requirements again during naturalisation. As far as I have heard, the entire point of introducing the DCPR requirement for naturalisation was precisely so that the naturalisation caseworkes wouldn't have to deal with the intricacies of EEA rules.

That said, everything is a little uncertain around Brexit and the settlement scheme, so can't be 100% sure. I don't think many people would have even been able to apply for naturalisation with settled status yet.

Minor point, but did you not have a EHIC card for the previous years because you didn't think to apply for one at the time, or because you actually were not insured in your home country then? If it's the former maybe you were still covered, you just don't have evidence in the form of the EHIC card, but perhaps you could provide alternative evidence if needed. Just in case you do need to show CSI in the future.

Thank you so much for replying, sfljiaf.

I really hope that's the case and the caseworker won't ask for proof of comprehensive sickness insurance after I submit the statement of student status from my university to cover the first few years of my residence in the UK. You're very right not many people would have applied for citizenship with their settled status yet, so it will be difficult to know how strict Home Office is when it comes to the student-CSI requirement until some time has passed.

Yes, I was still insured in my home country when I was a student in the UK on the basis of being a student and a family member of someone paying national insurance contributions (i.e. my parents) - that's the rule in my country. I don't have evidence in the form of the EHIC cards for all the years I was a student - in my home country, you need to renew your EHIC card every six months, which is annoying, because if they were valid for 5 years as they are in the UK, it would be more likely I would have one. However, back then I didn't realise it would be something I might need to provide in the long run, so I don't have EHIC cards for the first 3 years of my studies. Once I found out I might need them (around the time of the Brexit referendum), I made sure to apply for them regularly, and I have two that cover the period from around May 2017 - June 2018. The last card expired the month I graduated from university, and I've been wondering... nowhere on the card does it state when it is valid from. Of course, I don't want to lie to the Home Office and pretend I had this card for the whole duration of my studies, but do you think they might accept it as a proof I was insured between 2014-2018? To answer your other question - YES! I have a letter from my home country's equivalent of the NHS (the same department that issues EHIC cards) stating I was insured between the day I started university and the day I graduated - I got it when I first went back home after the Brexit referendum as I've read they might accept a letter in place of EHIC cards. I remember doing some research on it a few years ago, I need to find more stories on whether submitting a letter in place of EHIC cards works.

Thank you again!

kammak · Post by **kammak** » Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:48 pm

kammak wrote: ↑
Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:34 pm

sfljiaf wrote: ↑
Thu Sep 05, 2019 7:14 pm
My understanding would be that you were still lawfully resident without CSI. It's just that you wouldn't meet the requirements for the old EEA-rules permanent residence, but that isn't required for naturalisation, any route toward freedom from immigration time restrictions is fine. Further, I don't think they would check the EEA requirements again during naturalisation. As far as I have heard, the entire point of introducing the DCPR requirement for naturalisation was precisely so that the naturalisation caseworkes wouldn't have to deal with the intricacies of EEA rules.

That said, everything is a little uncertain around Brexit and the settlement scheme, so can't be 100% sure. I don't think many people would have even been able to apply for naturalisation with settled status yet.

Minor point, but did you not have a EHIC card for the previous years because you didn't think to apply for one at the time, or because you actually were not insured in your home country then? If it's the former maybe you were still covered, you just don't have evidence in the form of the EHIC card, but perhaps you could provide alternative evidence if needed. Just in case you do need to show CSI in the future.
Thank you so much for replying, sfljiaf.

I really hope that's the case and the caseworker won't ask for proof of comprehensive sickness insurance after I submit the statement of student status from my university to cover the first few years of my residence in the UK. You're very right not many people would have applied for citizenship with their settled status yet, so it will be difficult to know how strict Home Office is when it comes to the student-CSI requirement until some time has passed.

Yes, I was still insured in my home country when I was a student in the UK on the basis of being a student and a family member of someone paying national insurance contributions (i.e. my parents) - that's the rule in my country. I don't have evidence in the form of the EHIC cards for all the years I was a student - in my home country, you need to renew your EHIC card every six months, which is annoying, because if they were valid for 5 years as they are in the UK, it would be more likely I would have one. However, back then I didn't realise it would be something I might need to provide in the long run, so I don't have EHIC cards for the first 3 years of my studies. Once I found out I might need them (around the time of the Brexit referendum), I made sure to apply for them regularly, and I have two that cover the period from around May 2017 - June 2018. The last card expired the month I graduated from university, and I've been wondering... nowhere on the card does it state when it is valid from. Of course, I don't want to lie to the Home Office and pretend I had this card for the whole duration of my studies, but do you think they might accept it as a proof I was insured between 2014-2018? To answer your other question - YES! I have a letter from my home country's equivalent of the NHS (the same department that issues EHIC cards) stating I was insured between the day I started university and the day I graduated - I got it when I first went back home after the Brexit referendum as I've read they might accept a letter in place of EHIC cards. I remember doing some research on it a few years ago, I need to find more stories on whether submitting a letter in place of EHIC cards works.

Thank you again!

I did some more research on Immigration Boards and found quite a few other topics where members reported a letter confirming CSI being accepted in place of EHIC. This was of course for the permanent residence applications that required CSI from students, but still, it gives me hope the letter I have will be accepted if they ask for proof of CSI (hopefully not

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Settled Status, UK Citizenship, CSI needed for student years?

Settled Status, UK Citizenship, CSI needed for student years?

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