Immigrationboards.com

Hi, I am a non-EU living in the UK with my EU husband (Irish). I initially entered the UK on an Aust. working holiday visa (Dec 07-Dec 09), applied for the EEA resident card May 09 (took 14 months to get back!), got a 6 month EEA FP from Aust to re enter UK as decision not yet made by HO (Feb 10-Aug 10). My 5 yr resident card is valid July 10-July 15. When can I count 5 continuous yrs from? I don't think I can count from the working holiday, but can I count from the 6 month EEA FP issued in Aust from British consulate, or do I need to wait until the 5 yr resident card expires? Thanks so much for any advice; HO call centre has given me 2 different answers to date so a bit confused.

Your qualifying period started from when you were married and in the UK.

When did you marry?

Hi, we were only actually married in May 2013; however we have been in a defacto relationship since 2005. When I first applied for the EEA FP we were unmarried.

If you were unmarried, then the clock starts ticking either when the Residence Card was issued OR when you entered the UK with your partner after the EEA Family Permit was issued.

So do you think the 6 month EEA FP I was first issued to re-enter the UK is when I can start counting from, or should I just wait for the 5 year one to expire? Thanks so much for your comments so far also.

You may qualify next year February.

Thanks so much, will give next Feb a shot!