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Hi All,

So here is the situation....I m an indian citizen who is married to a Polish citizen (who also has German nationality). We both have EEA resident cards, she got hers completing the EEA 1 form and I got mine by completing EEA2 form. My wife's five years are coming to an end in Aug 2011, but my five years come to an end in Aug 2013.

However last year we had to relocate for my job and since my wife was on maternity leave we moved as she still was employed. Her employment carried on till oct 2010.But after that she decided to leave that job as it was impossible for her to go there (commute wise). So she was not earning anything from Nov 2010 till April 2011.

However I was working all this time supporting us. But she was looking for jobs and applying on daily basis. After lots of interviews she finally got
the break in April 2011.

Meanwhile she signed up to Job Seekers allowance from 21st Jan 2011 till 31st April 2011, this gave her enough money for herself, job search, interview travel, stationary etc

So looking ahead in 2013, when I will be applying for permanent residency using EEA4 form....the question is what can happen?

- wife had a total of 6 months of no work
- She registered with job seekers in Jan-April 2011, which leaves her Nov and Dec Doing nothing, but she was job hunting and it was only bcoz she could not find anything suitbale she decided to approach the job centre
- we did not take any comprehensive cover for the time she was out of work, as i was not aware of this rule as well as we felt we had sufficient funds coming from my income to support us. Although during this time we had European Health insurance card as well as Sickness cover from my bank (only for myself)

So the question is will I get Permanent residency in 2013 by completing EEA4? if not then on what basis will I stay here with my wife, who is actually in job again.

Will really appreciate any help in this matter.

thanks

mittersm

...anyone please help

mittersm wrote:...anyone please help

As far as I know, you are not obligated to meet any requirements apart from Legal residence in the UK for five years when applying for a permanent residence permit card!

I am in the process of applying for a permanent residence permit and I contacted the EU commission and they explained to me that the UK and Ireland are in breach of the EU free movement act by asking for proof of employment, comprehensive health insurance etc when applying for a permanent residence card. All those documents are only required when you are making the initial 5 year residence permit.

Essentially, the only proof they legally need from you in order to process your permanent residence application is evidence you have legally lived in the state for five years with your EU spouse!

EUspouse82 wrote:

mittersm wrote:...anyone please help

As far as I know, you are not obligated to meet any requirements apart from Legal residence in the UK for five years when applying for a permanent residence permit card!

I am in the process of applying for a permanent residence permit and I contacted the EU commission and they explained to me that the UK and Ireland are in breach of the EU free movement act by asking for proof of employment, comprehensive health insurance etc when applying for a permanent residence card. All those documents are only required when you are making the initial 5 year residence permit.

Essentially, the only proof they legally need from you in order to process your permanent residence application is evidence you have legally lived in the state for five years with your EU spouse!

The Commission may well say this but until a case is referred to the ECJ, the UK will continue to require evidence of exercising treaty rights during the 5 year period and will continue to refuse applications where applicants do not provide such evidence as per the domestic regulations.

A recent Court of Appeal case addresses this issue and they did not consider a referal to the ECJ to be appropriate as they considered that the Directive has been correctly transposed into UK law and that 'legally resident' refers to Community Law - and with that the exercise of treaty rights.

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2011/552.html

Greenie wrote:

EUspouse82 wrote:

mittersm wrote:...anyone please help

As far as I know, you are not obligated to meet any requirements apart from Legal residence in the UK for five years when applying for a permanent residence permit card!

I am in the process of applying for a permanent residence permit and I contacted the EU commission and they explained to me that the UK and Ireland are in breach of the EU free movement act by asking for proof of employment, comprehensive health insurance etc when applying for a permanent residence card. All those documents are only required when you are making the initial 5 year residence permit.

Essentially, the only proof they legally need from you in order to process your permanent residence application is evidence you have legally lived in the state for five years with your EU spouse!

The Commission may well say this but until a case is referred to the ECJ, the UK will continue to require evidence of exercising treaty rights during the 5 year period and will continue to refuse applications where applicants do not provide such evidence as per the domestic regulations.

A recent Court of Appeal case addresses this issue and they did not consider a referal to the ECJ to be appropriate as they considered that the Directive has been correctly transposed into UK law and that 'legally resident' refers to Community Law - and with that the exercise of treaty rights.

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2011/552.html

( I have not fully read the case you put up there, but a cursory look suggests that the Non-EU spouse had divorced their spouses and were seeking residency based on acquired rights which we all know is a very grey area in terms of cooperation from estranged spouses).

You are correct that it is open to interpretation by individual countries but the reality is that they are incorrectly applying the law in the UK. For instance in France, there are no requirements to present all those documents when applying for permanent residence cards.

If anyone is in doubt of their situation, just go to this site

http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/citizens ... nts_en.htm

fill out a form and explain your situation and they will get back to you explaining what the correct application of the law should be in each individual case.

In my own case, I applied and my application was returned 3 days later explaining I need to bring all sorts of documents, I swiftly returned it explaining they were in breach of the EU law- quoting the relevant aspects from the response I got from the EU. I have not got a response in 5 weeks and my application has not been returned either.