What happens when continuity of residence broken?

[canuckUK]

Hi all,

According to this post, you will not break continuous residency if you are away for 6 months or less in any given year. And a year apparently is defined as anyone of the 5 years that a Residence Card gives you, from the first day it is valid.

http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... 94-40.html

So if you got you RC on June 1 2010:
• year 1 is: June 1 2010 to May 31 2011
• year 2 is: June 1 2011 to May 31 2012
• etc...

My question is, what happens if I am out of the UK for more than 6 months, for example, at the end of 5 years, I was out of the country for 9 months in year 3.

What happens then.?
Do I need to stay an extra 9 months to make a total of 5 years.?
Or will the time BEFORE the 9 month pause will not count, meaning I have to stay a few more years to have 5 years of CONTINUOUS residency.?

Thanks

[Jambo]

The latter.

Your statement regarding the start of the 5 years is not correct. The date on the RC is (in almost all cases) irrelevant to the start of the count.

Was your break a continuous 9 months? What was the reason for the break? Study, work, other reason?

[canuckUK]

The 9 month break would be for contract work abroad (Gibraltar to be more precise). Mostly continuous but with a few trips back to England in between.

And yes, you're right, I misread the statement from UKBA in the link above. They look at the 5 years from the qualifying period, not necessarily from the start of the RC.

So does that mean that I can choose the qualifying period.?
I could be decide when my 5-year qualifying period started to make sure my 9-month absence was split between 2 years.?

[Jambo]

Was the EU national also abroad?

I would argue you can split the 9months into 2 years.

[canuckUK]

Yes the EU National was with me for maybe 7 of the 9 months.

Does that impact my status and RC in some ways.?

[Jambo]

Your status is based on the EEA national activities. They will need to exercise treaty rights while in the UK and are subject to the same break in residence rules.