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Hi all,

I am a non-EU and my partner is an EU-citizen. She has settled status and I have pre-settled status based on our relationship.

I moved to the UK in 2017 and held a Tier 2 visa. In 2020 I switched from Tier 2 to EU settlement pre-settled. I applied to settled status this year because I thought that I had 5 years continuous resident in 2022 because I moved in 2017!

The home office refused my settled status and said:

"Although you are the family member of a relevant EEA citizen and you were in the UK
between 2017 and 2022, you have not been a family member of a
relevant EEA citizen for a continuous qualifying period of five years because your
continuous qualifying period began 2020 when you entered into a civil
partnership with the EEA citizen."

So basically, they disregarded all the history prior to the civil partnership! As if I was NOT paying tax and being a normal resident since 2017!!

Now I have to wait 3 more years to apply!

Any advice? Is there another route we can do? How is this fair?!

It's just the rules UKVI enforces and laid out?

The majority of routes to settlement for people in the UK involve a 5 year route of staying on a certain type of visa. When you change most of the routes to settlement, your ILR clock goes to zero and you start the qualifying period all over again. There are some faster ways and visas where you can combine time spent in the UK already (eg GTV), but this is not the case here.
According to what you posted, you started the relationship with your EU partner in 2020 and switched to EUSS route; if you would've kept with your Tier 2 visa, you'd be eligible for ILR in 5 years since you arrived, as long as you adhered to conditions.

Your situation is straightforward as it is; wait 3 more years and get settlement, don't see any shortcuts for you.

I think they are correct. The start of your qualifying period for settled status under EU11 is when you became a family member of a relevant EEA national.

They are correct, I'm was in the same boat. I only had few months left I had 4 years and 6 months and they still refused my settled status and they grant me another pre settled and they asked me to wait.

I have proves that living with my partner since September 2016.

Got residence card on January 2018.

In ur case is from the date when u received your pre settled.

adham1990mizo wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 27, 2022 2:24 pm

I moved to the UK in 2017 and held a Tier 2 visa. In 2020 I switched from Tier 2 to EU settlement pre-settled. I applied to settled status this year because I thought that I had 5 years continuous resident in 2022 because I moved in 2017!

Yes, this is a very common misinterpretation of the text from the EU Settlement Scheme page. It does not hep that the way it is worded assumes anyone reading is a EU citizen, you have to dig deep to find the non-EU family member section in the EU case worker guidelines (page 82), where it explicitly says the 5 years have to have been completed as a family member of an EU citizen:

they have completed a continuous qualifying period of residence in the UK and Islands of 5 years which (unless they are the dependent relative of a specified relevant person of Northern Ireland) began before the specified date as such a family member

Note the "as such a family member". That means, your time effectively starts when you were first recognised as your partner's family member, e.g. when you got your civil partnership.

The home office refused my settled status and said:

"Although you are the family member of a relevant EEA citizen and you were in the UK
between 2017 and 2022, you have not been a family member of a
relevant EEA citizen for a continuous qualifying period of five years because your
continuous qualifying period began 2020 when you entered into a civil
partnership with the EEA citizen."

Yes, that is the rule. The decision is correct. I received that too, even after paying UK taxes for almost 8 years.

So basically, they disregarded all the history prior to the civil partnership!

Since it's a family route, there is no provision within the EU Settlement Scheme to include immigration history prior to the family relationship. Why would it be? Before your relationship, you were not the family member of your partner. They have not disregarded anything, they have simply followed the rules.

As if I was NOT paying tax and being a normal resident since 2017!!

I know. I feel your pain there, this is the experience of many of us here.

Me too, I was a long-term tax payer, and had to wait much longer than just 5 years to qualify for Settled Status, because time spent under Tier visas does not count toward your 5 years. These should be spent as an EU family member. That is the way it is, and I am sorry you had different expectations.

Now I have to wait 3 more years to apply!

In the great scheme of things... 3 years fly by. Seriously.

Any advice? Is there another route we can do?

There is nothing you can do to accelerate your qualifying for Settled Status. The only route that counts all your immigration history combined is the 10-year route for ILR. But it will actually take you longer, and is expensive. So stick to the Settlement Scheme and be patient.

How is this fair?!

Well... it's not. But that's life.

I too had to accept the fact that other people with less UK residence than me qualified for Permanent/Settled Status before me, but that's just how EU privilege worked. You were not born a EU citizen, you qualified for the EU route later, after you contracted a civil partnership with a EU citizen.

Tiktok wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 27, 2022 4:58 pm

I have proves that living with my partner since September 2016.

Got residence card on January 2018.

In ur case is from the date when u received your pre settled.

If applying as unmarried partner, having proved common cohabitation of 2 years by application date, clock starts on issue of EEA residence card/pre-settled Status.

If applying as civil partner/married, clock starts on partnership ceremony or wedding date.

The OP doesn't specify exact application route, but assuming as civil partner, as per the wording of the answer they received.

kamoe wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 27, 2022 5:58 pm

Tiktok wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 27, 2022 4:58 pm

I have proves that living with my partner since September 2016.

Got residence card on January 2018.

In ur case is from the date when u received your pre settled.

If applying as unmarried partner, having proved common cohabitation of 2 years by application date, clock starts on issue of EEA residence card/pre-settled Status.

If applying as civil partner/married, clock starts on partnership ceremony or wedding date.

The OP doesn't specify exact application route, but assuming as civil partner, as per the wording of the answer they received.

Thanks for your reply, I applied for eea residence card on January 2018 and I got it in January 2018 as unmarried partner. And then I'm April 2019 I registered the marriage. We got married.

I got pre settled on May 2019.


I applied for settled in September 2022 , they grant me new pre settled and said u need to wait . Applied again in November 2022 and I got it.

Tiktok wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 27, 2022 6:36 pm

Thanks for your reply, I applied for eea residence card on January 2018 and I got it in January 2018 as unmarried partner. And then I'm April 2019 I registered the marriage. We got married.

I got pre settled on May 2019.


I applied for settled in September 2022 , they grant me new pre settled and said u need to wait . Applied again in November 2022 and I got it.

All I'm saying is, don't mix up your case with the OP.

You applied as an unmarried partner, and as such your clock started in 2018, when you proved a two-year cohabitation period and you were issued a EEA residence card.

The OP's case might be different. They seemed to have applied as a civil partner, and as such, their clock would start on the civil partnership ceremony date, not their pre-settled status date. That's all I'm saying, I'm not trying to comment on your timeline at all.

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge, guess I will have to wait 3 years.

Good to know that others are sharing the same pains!

Hi,

My spouse just went through the same pain. I called the home office and they said they will accept the proof of cohabitation before our marriage as proof of continuous relationship with me (from EU) in the last five years. We have three years after marriage and two years before marriage in the UK. After reading these posts, I am not completely sure if they would accept utility bills or tenancy agreements for my spouse's settled status application.

rishi04 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:12 pm

I called the home office and they said they will accept the proof of cohabitation before our marriage as proof of continuous relationship with me (from EU) in the last five years.

One thing is the first day of the period you can show you have been living together in a relationship, with the purpose of proving durable partnership, and another very different thing is the point in time when you officially start to be considered as a family member. They are not the same thing. As you have been repeatedly advised, simply moving-in together doesn't make you instantly a family member of someone else, you need to do the time. And the 5-year clock for Settled Status doesn't start before you are officially a family member of the EU sponsor. So rule of thumb is that you need to add at least two years from "moving-in together" date (plus application processing time) to obtain the date when the clock actually starts.

We have three years after marriage and two years before marriage in the UK. After reading these posts, I am not completely sure if they would accept utility bills or tenancy agreements for my spouse's settled status application.

As I said in your other post, the EUSS helpline is known for giving wrong advice. Take what they told you with a pinch of salt and, I suggest you refrain from sharing your experience as a success story until you have a first-hand successful outcome you can refer to. If it turns out your spouse can get settled status by virtue of all your time living together (which would be very surprising), then great, but until then, suggesting you can count all cohabitation time before marriage in the 5-year clock for Settled Status, purely based on what a very unreliable helpline told you, can be very misleading for other people. Please be careful.