EU settlement scheme: new residence permit?

[BenS]

Hello,

I am an EU citizen living in the UK and my wife is a Chinese citizen. We both have full time jobs in the UK and have pre settled status under the EU settlement scheme. My wife received a working visa for the UK and a residence permit (Tier 2, leave to remain, restricted work), which is coupled to her current employer. She received these documents before we got married and before we were under the EU settlement scheme. She has a biometric residence card, which she is currently using to get into the UK when she is travelling. The card is valid until Jan 2022. My wife will probably soon resign from her current employer and join a new firm. As she is under the EU settlement scheme I assume this will be no problem as she doesnt need a new visa. However, I am wondering how she will be able to prove her immigration status when travelling in the future. I assume the current residence permit will be no longer valid, as her old working visa was for her previous employer? Is there a way to get a new residence permit, which proves her status under the EU settlement scheme? I had a look at the website of the home office, but this is all very confusing. It seems you can get a replacement card, but would this replacement card be for her current visa or the EU settlement scheme? Will the home office automatically send her a new card when they get notified by the old employer that se left the job? Is there anything we need to do now to make sure she will still be able to travel in and out of the UK without problems in the future?

[kamoe]

My wife received a working visa for the UK and a residence permit (Tier 2, leave to remain, restricted work), which is coupled to her current employer. She received these documents before we got married and before we were under the EU settlement scheme. She has a biometric residence card, which she is currently using to get into the UK when she is travelling. The card is valid until Jan 2022.

First (not really answering your question, but it would be important for many people here), could you clarify the below:

Has your wife been able to travel on her Tier 2 permit even after obtaining her Settled Status? I have always been curious/unsure if Tier visas get cancelled when EU Settlement Scheme statuses get issued, since these are both issued under UK law and, in theory, one cannot have two leaves under UK immigration law at the same time. If you can clarify this point, wether your wife has been able to travel using her Tier permit after obtaining her status, then this will be very helpful for answering the question of wether Tier permits get revoked by issuing of status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

My wife will probably soon resign from her current employer and join a new firm. As she is under the EU settlement scheme I assume this will be no problem as she doesnt need a new visa.

Correct, since she has status under the EU Settlement Scheme, her resigning will have no impact in her right to stay.

However, I am wondering how she will be able to prove her immigration status when travelling in the future. I assume the current residence permit will be no longer valid, as her old working visa was for her previous employer?

Correct. Assuming the Tier permit is still valid, once she resigns it will definitely not be valid after a cooling period (of 30 days I think). But definitely not for the longer term. She will need to get a new residence card under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Is there a way to get a new residence permit, which proves her status under the EU settlement scheme?

Yes, link to apply here, green button at the bottom of the page "Apply now".

Thread to share timelines and questions on this process here.

I had a look at the website of the home office, but this is all very confusing. It seems you can get a replacement card, but would this replacement card be for her current visa or the EU settlement scheme?

Don't dwell too much on the wording here, in her case it will not be a replacement card, but a new card, the first card she has ever had under the EU Settlement Scheme. The choice of words on the page is unfortunate.

Will the home office automatically send her a new card when they get notified by the old employer that se left the job?

No, she needs to apply.

Is there anything we need to do now to make sure she will still be able to travel in and out of the UK without problems in the future?

The one thing is not to assume that an electronic status is a guarantee to be allowed to travel. Read this post.
She should apply for her new card.

[BenS]

Many thanks for the reply.

So far my wife could always travel without any problems using her Tier 2 permit even after she got pre settled status under eu settlement.

Sorry, just to be clear, as I don't really know that much about the whole visa situation and I find a lot of the information on the official website fairly confusing: my wife currently had a residence permit, not residence cars and we never applied for any EEA citizen family member residence cards. So the correct approach would be to use the website to apply for a residence CARD, not residence PERMIT, right?

Another question: my wife has actually lived in the UK longer than me and could now apply for permanent residence anyway. Is there any upside to this, given that she already has pre eu settled status?

[secret.simon]

Another question: my wife has actually lived in the UK longer than me and could now apply for permanent residence anyway. Is there any upside to this, given that she already has pre eu settled status?

Has she resided in the UK for five continuous years in the same or similar (so, in her case, certain specified work visas) categories? You can't combine time spent in the UK under different categories for the purpose of ILR after five years. That is only possible if you are applying under the 10 year Long Residence pathway.

If your wife has completed five continuous years residence in the UK on the Tier 2 pathway, she should not resign her job until she gets ILR under that pathway as one of the requirements for ILR under that pathway is that the company employing her issues a letter stating that she will be employed with them for the foreseeable future. She will need to meet the salary and other (language, LITUK, etc) requirements and pay the ~£2300 fees if she plans to go down this path.

If she quits or has quit the role, she can apply for Settled Status after she completes five years in the UK as the family member of an EEA citizen resident in the UK (so either the fifth anniversary of your marriage in the UK or the fifth anniversary of the second of you to move to the UK if you married abroad). Her residence before your marriage (if you married in the UK) or before your arrival to the UK (If you married abroad) will not count for the purposes of applying for Settled Status.

[kamoe]

Sorry, just to be clear, as I don't really know that much about the whole visa situation and I find a lot of the information on the official website fairly confusing: my wife currently had a residence permit, not residence cars and we never applied for any EEA citizen family member residence cards. So the correct approach would be to use the website to apply for a residence CARD, not residence PERMIT, right?

Again don't dwell too much on the language, permit vs card, it's not important. The two drop down options that appear on that page are only definitions, and do NOT conduct to separate application forms

Again, go to the green button at the bottom.

From there, as far as I remember, the questions on the application never ask you to choose between card or permit, and it will be clear what you are intending to do (you'll have to say at one point that your wife has Status under the Settlement Scheme, and give her application number, that will be the one important thing you need to do).

Another question: my wife has actually lived in the UK longer than me and could now apply for permanent residence anyway. Is there any upside to this, given that she already has pre eu settled status?

As @secret.simon says, beyond her actually qualifying for it, you need to consider that permanent residence outside of the EU Settlement Scheme (or ILR) is a much more expensive process AND requires her to pass the Life in the UK test (the EU Settlement Scheme doesn't).

On the other hand, having ILR might actually represent savings in a few specific aspects of life, for example, if at all she wanted to pursue a degree right now (undergraduate, masters, MBA, PhD), having ILR means she pays home fees as opposed to international fees, so you need to consider if this compensates the substantial added costs of the ILR application.