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I am a Dutch national who arrived in the UK in September 2008 and in 2009 I got my residence certificate (EEA1) in Croydon. I have never applied for Permanent Residence / ILR / EEA4 because I found it a lot of work to obtain a right I already had. But now with the Brexit I decided to apply anyway.

Now my question: I will send the documents this weekend and as I understand it, this takes about 6 months (maybe quicker) to issue an ILR. My employer has however asked me to work as an expat in Russia for a period of three years. Does this mean I will again lose the ILR after 2 years (Article 13 (4) (a) of Immigration Law) or is an annual 1 day visit to the UK enough to keep my ILR in which case I'll simply go to a few pubs and pay by credit card to have some receipts?


Relevant text
"[...](4) Leave which does not lapse under paragraph (2) shall remain in force either indefinitely (if it is unlimited) or until the date on which it would otherwise have expired (if limited), but—

(a)where the holder has stayed outside the United Kingdom for a continuous period of more than two years, the leave (where the leave is unlimited) or any leave then remaining (where the leave is limited) shall thereupon lapse [...]"
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/1161/made

No - if you return not intending to reside as you plan ILR will be lost.

Gerkema wrote:I am a Dutch national who arrived in the UK in September 2008 and in 2009 I got my residence certificate (EEA1) in Croydon. I have never applied for Permanent Residence / ILR / EEA4 because I found it a lot of work to obtain a right I already had. But now with the Brexit I decided to apply anyway.

Now my question: I will send the documents this weekend and as I understand it, this takes about 6 months (maybe quicker) to issue an ILR.

You cannot apply for ILR as you in the UK on the EU free movement route. ILR is for those on the UK immigration route.

You need to apply for confirmation of your PR by applying for a DCPR. PR is EU laws.

Gerkema wrote:My employer has however asked me to work as an expat in Russia for a period of three years. Does this mean I will again lose the ILR after 2 years

Like ILR, your PR is lost if you reside outside the UK for more than two years, You will be residing in Russia.

If you apply for British citizenship and are granted that, then there is no limit to how long you can reside outside the UK.

You would need to have 1 year on PR before you can apply for British citizenship. When you apply for your DCPR, show proof of exercsing treaty rights that started at least 6 years ago, so that you can apply for British citizenship straight away. You would also need to meet all the requirements for BC, Pass the Life in UK test, pass the English test, be of Good Character etc.

Cheers Wanderer and Petaltop. I'll submit my DCPR application this weekend and will ask my employer for a 2 year stay in Russia instead of 3.

Being a Dutch citizen I would lose my Dutch passport when applying for a British passport so that's not an option as I still want to be able to work in the EU.

Petaltop wrote:Like ILR, your PR is lost if you reside outside the UK for more than two years, You will be residing in Russia.

I believe there is an important difference between ILR and PR in this respect. Whereas what you say is true for ILR, for PR it is absence, not non-residence, that leads to loss. Occasional visits should lead to it being retained.

Richard W wrote:

Petaltop wrote:Like ILR, your PR is lost if you reside outside the UK for more than two years, You will be residing in Russia.

I believe there is an important difference between ILR and PR in this respect. Whereas what you say is true for ILR, for PR it is absence, not non-residence, that leads to loss. Occasional visits should lead to it being retained.

As this is potentially a life-changing issue, I believe that this advice should be confirmed before proceeding.

I thought Dutchies could acquire dual citizenship if both are EU ones?

An application for a lost PR card refers to 'residence' not 'absence'.
Proof of residence (if required)
If your permanent residence document was issued more than 2 years ago, you must also send
proof that you have not spent more than 2 years outside the UK, such as:
 evidence of your residence in the UK (see notes for section 5 below for guidance on the
documents you can submit)
 stamps in your passport(s) if they clearly show you have not spent more than 2 years outside
the UK.

Richard W wrote: Whereas what you say is true for ILR, for PR it is absence, not non-residence, that leads to loss. Occasional visits should lead to it being retained.

Richard W is correct in his reference to absence and not non-residence leading to loss of PR.

Permanent right of residence (Section 15 of the EEA Regulations) wrote:(2) The right of permanent residence under this regulation shall be lost only through absence from the United Kingdom for a period exceeding two consecutive years.

It has been argued on these forums (it is an old post/thread and I can't locate it) that as the EEA Regulations are literal in their interpretation and not necessarily amenable to logic, a single day's or even a few hours' presence in the UK prevents PR from expiring.

The Home Office's interpretation cited by Casa may be a case of them treating PR as being on par with ILR, just as a durable relationship under the EEA Regulations is treated as the equivalent of "a relationship akin to marriage" under the UK Immigration Rules, even though the basis for the two are completely different.

Wanderer wrote:I thought Dutchies could acquire dual citizenship if both are EU ones?

It appears that there is no such exception for Dutch citizenship.

http://www.dualcitizenship.com/countrie ... lands.html

Thanks all. So looks like indeed following EU regulations I should be able to keep my PR if every 2 years I spend some time in the UK (absences versus residence).

Having said that when Article 50 is invoked and the UK does leave the EU I'm not sure how much that's going to be worth, so to be safe I think I will go for the two years only. Starting end of this year (just in time for the Moscow winter ) that should enable me to be back in London around Christmas 2018 which would be ahead of the 2 year negotiation period if the PM invokes Article 50 somewhere next year.

Gerkema wrote:Thanks all. So looks like indeed following EU regulations I should be able to keep my PR if every 2 years I spend some time in the UK (absences versus residence).

Having said that when Article 50 is invoked and the UK does leave the EU I'm not sure how much that's going to be worth, so to be safe I think I will go for the two years only. Starting end of this year (just in time for the Moscow winter ) that should enable me to be back in London around Christmas 2018 which would be ahead of the 2 year negotiation period if the PM invokes Article 50 somewhere next year.

IMHO a wise decision.

Deleted. I should have read the OP's latest post as they worked this out for themselves.

Casa wrote:An application for a lost PR card refers to 'residence' not 'absence'.
Proof of residence (if required)
If your permanent residence document was issued more than 2 years ago, you must also send
proof that you have not spent more than 2 years outside the UK, such as:
 evidence of your residence in the UK (see notes for section 5 below for guidance on the
documents you can submit)
 stamps in your passport(s) if they clearly show you have not spent more than 2 years outside
the UK.

Note the 'such as'. The Home Office's acceptance of the EU directive is shown on p47 of the PDF currently linked to from European Economic Area nationals qualified persons:

If an EEA national has the right of permanent residence in the UK they will only lose this right if they are absent from the UK for more than two consecutive years. There are no other conditions they must satisfy in order to continue to have this right.