EEA national applying for PR, consfused about WRS

[boglarka]

Hello,

Thank you for your replies in advance!

I am an EEA national who arrived in the UK (from Canada) in May, 2009. From September 2009 to September 2010 I was a full time student and lived on my partner's income. In September 2010 I started working, however, I did not register under WRS as I remember being told by my employer that I was exempt due to the fact that I'd been a full time student exercising my treaty rights. Could someone please confirm that this is within the rules?

I worked from 09/2010 to 30/07/2011, interrupted for 21 days and started a new job on 22/08/2011. I was employed there until 05/2013 ( with the last year being maternity leave) and started a combined Master's and PhD degree in September 2013 for which I receive a bursary. Since August 2012 I have been covered by my husband's private health insurance plan through his work.

Now I am applying for PR and I am wondering if I qualify or whether there may be problems.

Thank you very much.

[noajthan]

Hello,

Thank you for your replies in advance!

I am an EEA national who arrived in the UK (from Canada) in May, 2009. From September 2009 to September 2010 I was a full time student and lived on my partner's income. In September 2010 I started working, however, I did not register under WRS as I remember being told by my employer that I was exempt due to the fact that I'd been a full time student exercising my treaty rights. Could someone please confirm that this is within the rules?

I worked from 09/2010 to 30/07/2011, interrupted for 21 days and started a new job on 22/08/2011. I was employed there until 05/2013 (with the last year being maternity leave) and started a combined Master's and PhD degree in September 2013 for which I receive a bursary. Since August 2012 I have been covered by my husband's private health insurance plan through his work.

Now I am applying for PR and I am wondering if I qualify or whether there may be problems.

Thank you very much.

You have a couple of choke points to dig into...

1) 2009 - 2010: did you have health cover as a student - CSI (or foreign-issued EHIC)

Your student time will not count towards PR without CSI/EHIC.
That is unless you can avail of a transitional arrangement based on having a RC issued to you as a student in or before 2011.

Alternately you may be able to claim self-sufficient status at this time, but again only with CSI.

2) WRS only applies if you are an A8 EEA national.

Assuming you are an A8 national, the exemption from WRS for a worker 'based on being a student' is invalid.

If you registered late (but did register properly in the end) your PR clock will have started late.
If you did not register properly for WRS your PR clock won't have been running whilst working.
For a worker, it could only start in early/mid-2011 when WRS was terminated.

If that is the case you could/should acquire PR by mid-2016 (assuming current health cover covers you as a student now).

[Obie]

If you were genuine student and exercising treaty right with CSI, then you can exercise a right to 20 hrs work during term time and unrestricted work during holidays.

That does not make you a worker , as you were still Subject to the transitional provision.

You may in any event qualify after May 2011 in worst case.

[boglarka]

Hello,

Thank you for your replies in advance!

I am an EEA national who arrived in the UK (from Canada) in May, 2009. From September 2009 to September 2010 I was a full time student and lived on my partner's income. In September 2010 I started working, however, I did not register under WRS as I remember being told by my employer that I was exempt due to the fact that I'd been a full time student exercising my treaty rights. Could someone please confirm that this is within the rules?

I worked from 09/2010 to 30/07/2011, interrupted for 21 days and started a new job on 22/08/2011. I was employed there until 05/2013 (with the last year being maternity leave) and started a combined Master's and PhD degree in September 2013 for which I receive a bursary. Since August 2012 I have been covered by my husband's private health insurance plan through his work.

Now I am applying for PR and I am wondering if I qualify or whether there may be problems.

Thank you very much.

You have a couple of choke points to dig into...

1) 2009 - 2010: did you have health cover as a student - CSI (or foreign-issued EHIC)

Your student time will not count towards PR without CSI/EHIC.
That is unless you can avail of a transitional arrangement based on having a RC issued to you as a student in or before 2011.

Alternately you may be able to claim self-sufficient status at this time, but again only with CSI.

2) WRS only applies if you are an A8 EEA national.

Assuming you are an A8 national, the exemption from WRS for a worker 'based on being a student' is invalid.

If you registered late (but did register properly in the end) your PR clock will have started late.
If you did not register properly for WRS your PR clock won't have been running whilst working.
For a worker, it could only start in early/mid-2011 when WRS was terminated.

If that is the case you could/should acquire PR by mid-2016 (assuming current health cover covers you as a student now).

Thank you very much for your quick reply. I did not have CSI during 2009- 10 so I imagine this time will not count towards my PR clock. I am indeed an A8 national and did not register for WRS at the time I took up employment in 2010. I clearly remember my employer telling me I did not need to do this- but I can't remember what reason they gave. Either the fact that I had been a student for a year before and exercised treaty rights or because of my husband who was (and still is) legally residing in the UK on a work permit (which he changed for a Tier 1 Visa at some point and then got ILR in 2013 independent of my status as an EEA citizen). (He's a non-EEA national). Could this be possible a basis for exemption?

As for being a student from 2013 onwards, I have been covered by my husband's private health insurance plan through his work so I hope that would be sufficient basis for an application for PR.

Thank you very much for your reply again!

[noajthan]

Thank you very much for your quick reply. I did not have CSI during 2009- 10 so I imagine this time will not count towards my PR clock. I am indeed an A8 national and did not register for WRS at the time I took up employment in 2010 because I was told by my employer (it seems incorrectly) that because I had been in the UK for over a year before as a student exercising my treaty rights, WRS regulations did not apply to me.
As for being a student from 2013 onwards, I have been covered by my husband's private health insurance plan through his work so I hope that would be sufficient basis for an application for PR.

Thank you very much for your reply again!

If it's any consolation you weren't the first, won't be the last, to be caught out by CSI &/or WRS.

As a longshot you could see in your files if you had a student RC in 2011 or before.
But, unfortunately, by ending your student phase in 2010 & transitioning to be a full-time worker yet not registering for WRS still breaks your continuity.

As mentioned above...
If you did not register properly for WRS your PR clock won't have been running whilst working from 2010 - early 2011.

For a genuine worker qualified person, your PR clock could only have started in early/mid-2011;
(ie when WRS was terminated).

If that is the case you could/should acquire PR by mid-2016 (as you believe your current health cover counts as CSI for your recent student period).

Good luck.

[boglarka]

Thank you very much for your quick reply. I did not have CSI during 2009- 10 so I imagine this time will not count towards my PR clock. I am indeed an A8 national and did not register for WRS at the time I took up employment in 2010 because I was told by my employer (it seems incorrectly) that because I had been in the UK for over a year before as a student exercising my treaty rights, WRS regulations did not apply to me.
As for being a student from 2013 onwards, I have been covered by my husband's private health insurance plan through his work so I hope that would be sufficient basis for an application for PR.

Thank you very much for your reply again!

If it's any consolation you weren't the first, won't be the last, to be caught out by CSI &/or WRS.

As a longshot you could see in your files if you had a student RC in 2011 or before.
But, unfortunately, by ending your student phase in 2010 & transitioning to be a full-time worker yet not registering for WRS still breaks your continuity.

As mentioned above...
If you did not register properly for WRS your PR clock won't have been running whilst working.
For a genuine worker qualified person, your PR clock could only have started in early/mid-2011;
(ie when WRS was terminated).

If that is the case you could/should acquire PR by mid-2016 (as you believe your current health cover counts as CSI for your recent student period).

Good luck.

Thank you very much for your quick reply. Indeed, there must be many others who had the rules misinterpreted. To be perfectly honest, I am really surprised, though, because my employer at the time (I was part of a graduate program with a well known company) explicitly checked the rules for WRS and told me I did not need to register. Is it possible that the basis of my exemption was the fact that my husband was (still is) legally residing in the UK on a work permit? (However, he's not an EEA or Swiss national). I seem to remember that this was the basis on which my employer decided that I did not need to register.

In any case, mid-2016 is not that far away, thankfully. I just hope that the health insurance I have will be sufficient.

Thank you for your reply in advance!

[noajthan]

@donatasgem, to avoid confusion & jumbled responses, I have moved your question to its own thread:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... 02736.html