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Hi,

I need some advice regarding qualified person status:
1. EEA national claiming to be a jobseeker but not having registered with the Jobcentre plus
2. EEA national claiming to be working but only on a part-time basis

I (non-EEA, non-visa national) have been working full-time since entering the UK with my EEA spouse. We basically moved from my spouse's country to the UK because I got a job here. Although I've been supporting my spouse all this while, I only got CSI for both of us 2 years ago as I wasn't aware my spouse needed this to claim self-sufficiency. I am hoping to apply for PR next year based on my spouse exercising her treaty rights for 5 years (since I got my FP and entered the UK). However, I am trying to decide whether my spouse will be considered a qualified person for the first 9 months of our residence in the UK. She found FT work after 9 months, so I'm not worried about her status after this period.

First 4 months
My spouse: actively sent out e-mails looking for jobs / not registered as jobseeker at Jobcentre Plus / no CSI
Me: sent off RC application at the end of this 4-month period

Next 5 months
My spouse: found part-time work paying approx £250-300p.m. (zero-hour contract)/ sent out emails looking for other jobs / not registered as jobseeker at Jobcentre Plus / no CSI
Me: got RC 4 months into this period

My question is this: If I got my RC 8 months after entering the UK, does this mean that at the time they processed my RC, the UKBA deemed my spouse to have been a qualified person for the entire 8 months? Or was this based on the evidence presented in my RC application (first four months). I need to know this in order to decide the appropriate start date for the 5-year qualifying period. I know for a fact that the UKBA called up my spouse's employers the week I was issued my RC.

Any advice on this would really be appreciated.

An EU national is not required to exercise its treaty rights during its 1st three months since arriving. Therefore, now you can reduce the gap of 9 months to 6 months and it will be more wiseable to wait until further 6 months.

sheraz7 wrote:An EU national is not required to exercise its treaty rights during its 1st three months since arriving. Therefore, now you can reduce the gap of 9 months to 6 months and it will be more wiseable to wait until further 6 months.

Thanks for your reply sheraz7.

Good to know about the 1st three months. I have some questions:
1. Could I ask why you said it would be advisable to wait a further 6 months. Is this because her part-time work doesn't give her a strong case for exercising treaty rights?
2. Can you have two statuses in any one period (ie. working part-time + jobseeker)?
3. Does the "jobseeker" status mean that you are necessarily registered at a jobcentre, or could it mean that you are simply sending out emails to prospective employers. She did register with some specific private recruitment agencies for her line of work.

My current residence card expires in May 2017. I could apply for PR in Oct 2016, five years after we entered the UK (Oct 2011). However, if I wait 9 months and apply for PR in June 2017, my current residence card would have expired. So if I wait 9 months, I would need to apply for another 5-year RC in April 2017 and then apply for PR in June 2017. I don't necessarily want to spend money on two applications that are technically just 2 months apart.

I read somewhere on this forum of someone who applied for PR but was given RC instead (maybe because the EEA spouse wasn't considered a qualified person for the entire 5-year period). Should I chance it and simply apply for PR in Oct 2016? Or does a rejection of one PR application have an impact on future PR applications?

Any comments would be appreciated.

1. Part time work can also make an EU national a qualified person as long as the work is an effective & genuine activity ( usually 24 hours per week/£150 per week).
2. An EU national can certainly exercise its treaty rights with more than one mode.
3. Although an EU national can enter as a job seeker but it won't convince to case worker so easily because caseworker usually accept job seeker if an EU national has already worked for at least one year.

For PR application the EU national must have been a qualified person for 5 years and since applying residence permit is not compulsory for non-eu national therefore, let the existing RC to expire which won't affect your PR application.

sheraz7 wrote: since applying residence permit is not compulsory for non-eu national therefore, let the existing RC to expire which won't affect your PR application.

Hi Sheraz, thanks for your reply. But I didn't quite understand why you said a residence permit is not compulsory for a non-eu national? I thought it was. I imagine that's a typo?

Hello,

I am an Non EEA national married to a EEA national. I have applied for my EEA FM permit along with his EEA QP. He was a student when we submitted the application in July 2015. His student status has come to an end in October 2015 and he has been looking for job since then. He has in the mean time worked for BFI (he is a film maker) and currently doing a paid internship. He receives financial support from his parents. We had previously stated in his EEA QP application that he does not intend to claim any benefits. To be qualified now for the application ( jobseeker) he went to job center plus and he was told that if he registers apparently he will have to claim JSA. He does not want to claim benefits as he receives support from his parents. So shall we write to the Home office saying he is a job seeker without registering with job center plus? and provide evidence of the work he has done since his end of University (October 2015). Or should he register ? will it affect the applications if he claims benefit now?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read. We would be much obliged if we could get some advice.