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I have some questions regarding the EEA route for family members.

Our background:
I moved from an EEA-country to UK to work full time in July 2010 and got my document certifying permanent residence in December 2015. In April 2012, I met my girlfriend who is originally from a non-EEA country but was living and working in UK on a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work). We moved in together in January 2013 and in March 2013, she changed her status to Tier 2 (General). In November 2015, she got a residence permit for EEA National Extended Family based on us being unmarried partners in a durable relationship.

My questions relate to the time between now and her applying for permanent residency under the EEA route:

1. Can I apply for British citizenship before she applies for EEA permanent residency? In this document, it says that a person with dual citizenship (EEA/British) cannot sponsor EEA family members, is this valid even after they have got their EEA residence card but before permanent residency?

2. In this document, it says that for the permanent residency qualifying period of 5-years, extended family member are not considered as such until they have a residence card. Does this specifically refer to the EEA extended family member residence card or any UK residence card. We have been unmarried partners since April 2012 and living together since January 2013 and she already had a UK residence card at that point. Are we able to count all that time or only since November 2015 when the EEA residence card was issued.

3. There is a high chance that we will get married in the near future, do we need to switch her status from extended family member to direct family member (spouse)?

4. For direct family member, there is no residence card requirement (as per question 2) for the purpose of counting the 5-year qualifying period for permanent residency. If we get married and she becomes a direct family member, from what time does the qualifying period start:
a) She moved to UK in January 2010 on a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work)
b) We got together in April 2012
c) We moved in together in January 2013
d) She got the Tier 2 (General) visa in March 2013
e) She got the EEA unmarried partner residence card in November 2015
f) The date we get married

Apologies for the large amount of questions but would be very grateful if you could answer some of them.

1. I would suggest waiting for her to get PR before you apply for British citizenship.

2. The UK Immigration Rules and the EEA Regulations are completely unrelated and are under two unrelated laws. Time spent under one does not apply to the other. So, any time that your partner has spent under any leave to remain under the Immigration Rules will not count towards any status under the EEA Regulations. She will need to spend five years on the EEA Residence Card before automatically acquiring PR under the EEA Regulations.

3. No. If she has already got an EEA Residence Card based on her relationship with you, that should not b affected by marriage.

4. e. (Explanation above under 2)