HELP!! EEA Residence Card/ Pre-settlement as unmarried partner

[jbeansss]

Hi all,

I would love to get some advices from you guys.

- My partner is an EU national who got his settled status, we have been together for 5 years and lived together for over 2 years in the UK.

- I am in the middle of EU settlement application, submitted the application online recently and waiting for UKVCAS centres open again and make the biometrics appointment. Meanwhile, I realised I need a EEA Residence Card first so that the application can go though. Hence, I have been gathering info to make the residence card application asap

- As I have prepared my EU settlement application, so evidence to proof our relationship are ready to go : tenancy agreement, official letter to our address, our money transfer to share finance, photo of life events and flight tics of our recent trip

My questions base on EEA Residence Card are:

1. Do my EU partner need to apply the residence certificate too?
I have read from this forum it says basically it is very straight forward for my partner to apply, just fill in the other form, passport photos and pay the fee. But except that it will go along with my application, what does the certificate do for him?

2. We are applying through 'EU partner is a qualified person' since we are lacking some evidence to apply PR so want to be safe - my partner was job searching before March 2020 and started his job in mid March, so we don't have 3 months pay slips to supply yet, can I combine his 'job seeker' evidence to make up for 3 months as qualified person?

3. I am aware the process time will be 6 months for residence card, along with the closure of UKVCAS for biometrics.. so it is very likely I will only get this approved after 31 Dec 2020... does that means I will fail to meet the deadline of EU settlement scheme?

4. Minor question- anyone try putting Visa debit card as payment method on the application? I always opt for postal order since the application form only stated visa 'credit' not 'debit' while it is best to avoid going to the bank at this time.

5. Any advices on this will help!! e.g. tips for a faster application, organisation of the document


I truly appreciate your replies and time!!
Thank you and stay safe xx

[hbond17]

My thoughts on your questions:

1. Yes, your partner will need to apply for a Registration Certificate. The Qualified Person registration certificate proves that he has right to reside in the UK, and thus is eligible to sponsor you. Other than the formality of it and that its needed for your application, there is not much use for him to have it.

2. I would read the guiding document carefully: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... orm-eea-qp
It says on pg 3 "The evidence should cover at least the last three months before the date of your application. If you’ve been working for the employer for less than three months, the evidence should cover the entire period of employment."
This suggests to me that it is ok that your partner has not been working for 3 months, as long as you show all the evidence you can from when he started/offer letter etc.
If it were me, I might also include a couple months' of evidence for the job-seeker category as well prior to then, to be on the safe side, as you suggested. However, I believe he will only be considered in one category, and it makes more sense to be within the Worker category.

3. It is true, there may be a long wait, but if I were you, I would send it in now anyway. I expect many people will end up having this problem, so the government will have to come to some kind of solution for people caught in between with their applications.

4. I also found this confusing! But you can use Visa Debit cards (the payment just came off mine today from my application so I can confirm it works). On the Payment form, fill in 6. Debit or Credit Card, then in 8. select Visa/Electron.

I hope this helps

[jbeansss]

My thoughts on your questions:

1. Yes, your partner will need to apply for a Registration Certificate. The Qualified Person registration certificate proves that he has right to reside in the UK, and thus is eligible to sponsor you. Other than the formality of it and that its needed for your application, there is not much use for him to have it.

2. I would read the guiding document carefully: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... orm-eea-qp
It says on pg 3 "The evidence should cover at least the last three months before the date of your application. If you’ve been working for the employer for less than three months, the evidence should cover the entire period of employment."
This suggests to me that it is ok that your partner has not been working for 3 months, as long as you show all the evidence you can from when he started/offer letter etc.
If it were me, I might also include a couple months' of evidence for the job-seeker category as well prior to then, to be on the safe side, as you suggested. However, I believe he will only be considered in one category, and it makes more sense to be within the Worker category.

3. It is true, there may be a long wait, but if I were you, I would send it in now anyway. I expect many people will end up having this problem, so the government will have to come to some kind of solution for people caught in between with their applications.

4. I also found this confusing! But you can use Visa Debit cards (the payment just came off mine today from my application so I can confirm it works). On the Payment form, fill in 6. Debit or Credit Card, then in 8. select Visa/Electron.

I hope this helps

Thank you so much, helps a lot indeed!

If anyone else have further tips or experiences, please don't shy away and share xx I will really appreciate Xx