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I am a EU citizen and wish to apply for British citizenship.

The first 6 months I was in the UK, I was working as an expatriate on an Italian contract, and was paying taxes to both Italy and the U.K.
I have the following documents:

• bank statements showing activity in the UK
  
  Italian pay slips showing London as the work location (shall I have them translated?)
  
  UK tax returns and comments from my accountant at the time (paid for by my employer), explaining my situation as an Italian expatriate

I do not have a P60 nor a P45 as clearly my Italian employer cannot issue them.

I am trying to get a letter from my employer confirming I was working in London but am not sure if I can get it (Italian bureaucracy is a nightmare!).

I am hoping that all that counts is that I was working and paying taxes in the U.K., and that the facts that I had an Italian contract and that I was also paying taxes to Italy are irrelevant. Is this correct? Or had I better wait a bit more and start counting the 5 years of exercising treaty rights since the day I joined a British company on a British contract (i.e. 6 months after I first arrived in the country)?

Thanks a lot!

I have just found this document on the UKBA website:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

Section 6.2.1.1 on page 4 defines 'worker' quite broadly; there doesn't seem to be any requirement to be employed under a UK, and not for example an Italian, contract, but it would still be nice to hear an expert opinion, or the story of someone who was in my same position.

Might be a good idea if you continued here

Please refrain from opening multiple thread.

Obie wrote:Might be a good idea if you continued here

Please refrain from opening multiple thread.

I opened multiple threads because I consider them two genuinely separate issues:
1) does working in the UK on a non-UK contract mean exercising EEA treaty rights?
2) do employment gaps after acquiring permanent residency hinder an application for British naturalisation?

There does not seem to be material difference between that thread and this, but i am prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt by not closing this thread if you think there are.

The first question cannot be confidently answered in the affirmative, as you cannot be described as frontier worker, as you were not moving from UK to Italy to undertake work, and return back to the UK at least once a week.

You don't seem to have been under supervision of anyone, in actual fact, you were your own boss.

You were filing tax returns, this indicates you were a self-Employed person. Employee tend to get wage slips and P60 at the end of the tax year.

The answer to the second question is a no.

Obie wrote:There does not seem to be material difference between that thread and this, but i am prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt by not closing this thread if you think there are.

Don't get me wrong: I am grateful for the help you and the others in the forum are giving me. You are the moderator. If you want to merge the two threads, fine; that we disagree on this is not the end of the world

Obie wrote: The first question cannot be confidently answered in the affirmative, as you cannot be described as frontier worker, as you were not moving from UK to Italy to undertake work, and return back to the UK at least once a week.

You don't seem to have been under supervision of anyone, in actual fact, you were your own boss.

You were filing tax returns, this indicates you were a self-Employed person.

Not necessarily. There can be plenty of reasons why employees who have never been self-employed file tax returns.

Obie wrote: Employee tend to get wage slips and P60 at the end of the tax year.

No, I was absolutely not a self-employed person. Apologies if I may have been unclear. I was an employee of the Italian branch of an American company, hired with an Italian contract. They sent me to London to work for their UK branch for a period of 6 months. I was part of a specific team, with specifically designated tasks and goals, and reported to a specific manager that directed and oversaw my work. I had regular monthly Italian pay slips and the Italian equivalent of a P60; I was never issued British pay slips nor a British P60 because I was working on an Italian contract.

My employer paid Ernst & Young tax accountants to assist me in filing my UK tax returns. The employment section of the tax return shows the income I received from my employer.
In 'residence status', the box 'come to the UK to live or to remain here for an extended period' was ticked.
I was taxed on the remittance basis, i.e. excluding foreign income not remitted to the UK, but that made little difference as the only foreign income was peanuts (interest on savings in Italy).

Obie wrote: The answer to the second question is a no.

Brilliant, this is great news for me. Thanks!

Well in place of the P60, you can submit the tax returns and the accountant letter, and i believe you will be fine, as there was economic activity and taxes were paid. You could also get the equivalent of Italy p60 and translate it, as well as your contract of employment.

I believe this will suffice.

I wish you all the best, and thanks for clarifying things.