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Dear all,

I have always found this forum really helpful, now I am in need of specific advice regarding the situation below:

EEA wife and non EEA husband entered UK together and started working immediately. Non EEA husband got EEA RC. EEA wife worked for 2 years then took maternity leave for 52 weeks (~1 year) while still being employed by her company for the period of her leave. She is considering of quitting the job when her maternity leave comes to an end in order to look after the child for another year. Her employer offers to extend her maternity leave for an extra year of unpaid leave, while still keeping her as an official employee with the right to return to her previous role.

Meanwhile non EEA husband became a self-employed while his wife was on maternity leave and his earnings increased. He is now providing his wife with a significant regular financial support.

In this case, can wife be considered self-sufficient?
If wife decides to extend her maternity leave but still be employed by the same company, would she still count as "qualifying person"?

Would non EEA husband qualify for EEA PR if EEA wife had worked 2 years, was on maternity leave for 1 year and then was self sufficient from husband"s earnings for another 2 years?

Thanks in advance for your help.

mmalinconia wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 01, 2017 1:53 pm

If wife decides to extend her maternity leave but still be employed by the same company, would she still count as "qualifying person"?

She needs to either return to work or to start looking for jobs, i.e she needs to be economically active within 52 weeks of the start of the maternity leave. Maternity leave counts as working if the person returns to work within 52 weeks. Otherwise, that period does not count.

Self-sufficiency requires the EEA citizen and all non-EEA family members to have CSI (aka private health insurance) for the entire period that self-suifficency is claimed for.

All forms of exercising treaty rights, such as working and self-sufficiency can be aggregated for PR, so long as they were continuous and more than five years.

Thanks for your reply. The quote from the tribunal seems a bit dubious as it refers to women quitting her job before going on maternity.

In the case I mentioned above, wife is still legally employed with the same employer while on maternity and continue receiving her salary as company has an enhanced maternity scheme. So why would this period not be counted if she decides to become a self sufficient afterwards?