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My partner is an EU citizen, and by May next year will have been in the UK for six years, i.e. long enough to satisfy the PR + 1 requirements.

Obviously the first step would normally be to apply for PR at some point after May this year, but my questions are the following:

– Is it worth holding off with the PR application until the government finally introduces the “settled status” application process, since the latter is supposed to be a much simpler process?

– Does anyone know if this “settled status” would also be considered a first step on a pathway to citizenship, in the same way as PR currently is? I.e. could one start the AN application on the basis of having acquired settled status, rather than PR?

I suppose no one knows for sure, but perhaps someone has an informed idea of what is likely to be the case?

At this stage, with just over a year to go to 29 March 2019, I would go straight for the PR card, the "settled status" is supposed to be a formality and free for PR card holders. Without any definite news I recommend you act now and apply for PR. One would expect "settled status" to be replacement for PR and that it's the pre-cursor for AN.

Thanks alterhase – your assumptions seem reasonable.

I suppose we'll wait a few months to see if there's any more concrete news on when the settled status application process goes live (the Home Office website states "We expect the online application form to go live in late 2018" ) and whether it removes the need for PR. And if there's still nothing new on the horizon we'll start the PR process five months or so before she reaches her sixth year in the UK, so that we don't lose time before moving on to the AN form.

Again, all speculation, the main issue will be whether the new systems will cope with the demand. If you start now applying for PR, and it might take around six months, you will still have a head start, and you probably save some money. For AN you will need PR, or other settled status, ILR, etc anyway.

I agree. The only reason we found the settled status route attractive is that there were media reports that you wouldn’t need to collect and provide all the employment and residence evidence and that there would just be an app or something that would cross-check the application with DWP and HMRC records more or less instantly. Although I’m highly sceptical that they could manage to do this!