Unmarried partner - lived in UK for 5 years ILR application?

[girlspeed1]

Hello,

I entered the country 5 years ago on an ancestry visa; (it was a 4 year visa last year i had to extend it FLR and this was approved for 5 years £500 later).

This year i am eligible for ILR and next year a passport this is what i would like to become a british citizen;I have recently found information on EEA. There is a lot of information for settlement if you entered the country on a marriage visa etc but nothing for if you entered the country on an ancestry visa;

I am already living and working here legally; I have been with my partner for 4.5 years he is british and would like to exercise his EEA treaty rights to enable my stay to remain here and settle here;

It is difficult to tell from the little information on ukba website whether this would be permitted or not - you can apply as unmarried partner;

questions i have are:

1. Can i apply for ILR through my partner exercising his EEA treaty rights? From a read of the guide that goes with form EEA4 it says they would just stamp your passport for 10 years ( this is not the same as ILR and ILR is required before you can apply for a passport at 6 years )

2. If i can apply for settlement through EEA does this mean next year when i have lived here for 6 years i would be able to apply for citizenship through EEA?

[vinny]

If your British partner has been in the UK with you for quite a while, then he hasn't been working or self-employed in an EEA State, other than the UK. Therefore, it's unlikely that he is able to exercise his EEA treaty rights in the UK, since section 9 is not satisfied.

[girlspeed1]

Hi

Thanks for pointing this out; I have looked at the legislation you have sent me and i wouldn't be applying as a family member but as an unmarried partner so where does that fit into the clause you sent me? I have a friend also a kiwi who applied through this route ( but as a married partner ) and her husband had lived and worked here the whole time they have been together; perhaps the clause you send me is not for a PR application but for an entry application or something? your help is appreciated please advise me further;


On the UKBA website it seems quite possible that i am able to apply as an unmarried partner for permanent residence http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucit ... ropeanlaw/

And in the guide this is all you have to do to proove the partner is exercising his treaty rights; And what it asks in the ukba website is easy enough to provide;

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... de-eea.pdf

2. EVIDENCE THAT YOUR EUROPEAN FAMILY MEMBER IS EXERCISING TREATY RIGHTS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
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If they are working: If your EEA family member is working, you need to provide us with proof of their employment. This can be by providing pay slips, a letter from their employer or an employment contract. These documents must show that they are currently exercising treaty rights, so need to be dated within six weeks of the date of your application. If your European family member is a national of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia or Slovenia and is working, you need to provide us with documentation which shows that they have been in 12 months’ continuous employment whilst registered on the Workers Registration Scheme. This can be by providing pay slips, a letter from their employer or an employment contract. These documents must show that they are currently exercising treaty rights so need to be dated within six weeks of the date of your application. You also need to show that they were registered with the Workers Registration Scheme whilst they completed this employment, by providing their Workers Registration Scheme cards and certificates. You should provide these for each employer they had during the 12-month period.
•
If they are self-employed: If your EEA family member is self-employed, you need to provide us with documents to show that they are self-employed. Documents that would support this include evidence of paying national insurance contributions, bank statements which show income earned or accountants’ letters.
•
If they are a student: If your EEA family member is a student, you need to provide a school, college or university letter confirming enrolment and the completion date of the course. You will also need to provide a statement from the student confirming that the student has sufficient resources during the period of study to support him or herself and any family members during the period of study, along with supporting evidence such as a bank statement or evidence of a grant or scholarship. Please note that a Residence Card application can generally only be accepted from the spouse, civil partner or child of the student, or the child of the spouse or civil partner, when the European national is exercising
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treaty rights as a student. Other family members will generally not automatically qualify for a Residence Card.
•
If they are economically self-sufficient: If your EEA family member is economically self-sufficient, you need to supply evidence of comprehensive sickness insurance and funds sufficient to maintain themselves and any family members included on your application during the time you intend to reside on this basis. The comprehensive sickness insurance must include emergency cover.



This is the extract from the legislation you provided;



Family members of United Kingdom nationals

9.—(1) If the conditions in paragraph (2) are satisfied, these Regulations apply to a person who is the family member of a United Kingdom national as if the United Kingdom national were an EEA national.

(2) The conditions are that—

(a)the United Kingdom national is residing in an EEA State as a worker or self-employed person or was so residing before returning to the United Kingdom; and

(b)if the family member of the United Kingdom national is his spouse or civil partner, the parties are living together in the EEA State or had entered into the marriage or civil partnership and were living together in that State before the United Kingdom national returned to the United Kingdom.

(3) Where these Regulations apply to the family member of a United Kingdom national the United Kingdom national shall be treated as holding a valid passport issued by an EEA State for the purpose of the application of regulation 13 to that family member.

[girlspeed1]

Man, i have been reading so much and you can never quite grasp it all.

Its PR as an unmarried partner of an EEA national exercising his treaty rights that i would be applying for under EEA laws, the other option for me is ILR (through ancestry) as per the title of this posting (its wrong).

[vinny]

Note that an EEA State for a British citizen does not include the UK. If your British partner does not satisfy section 9, then you cannot use the EEA route.

If you switched to unmarried partner of a British citizen under the immigration rules, then it will be another two years before you may apply for ILR.

I think that ILR through UK ancestry may be quicker.

[girlspeed1]

Hi Vinny,

Thanks for responding to my posts; Its just that this Section 9 you are referring to and the details on UKBA website appear to be quite different;

If i had not had this pointed out by you - who obviously in into this law and knows a lot about it and was applying solely on what information is available on ukba website then to me it seems that i can apply using the EEA4 form and that my partner exercising his treaty rights as above ( exert from ukba website guidelines ) would be suffice;

The thing is the migration office have made it now a very very expensive process and i have several complaints about having to pay loads of money for them to take forever in processing etc. because they changed the law about lengths of time you must live here before applying for ILR the 4 year ancestry visa i entered in just cost me £500 and ILR then naturalisation going to cost another £2K at least. If applying through EEA is possible its going to be free to gain PR ...

[Obie]

It sounds a bit difficult to grasp, but a Unitied Kingdom National who has never exercised his/her right of free movement in another memberstate, cannot claim right of resident or Permanent resident, for his or her non-EEA family members in the UK.

The situation of these peopel (immobile/stationary) United Kingdom national falls under a category called " Purely Internal Matters", which is outside the scope of community law. Therefore they are excluded under the freemovement legislation.

An EEA state under the UK legislation = State other than the UK

EEA national= Nationals of an EEA state.

United Kingdom National = A person who falls to be treated as a UK national for the purpose of the community treaties.

If, and only if, the United Kingdom nation falls into the category of Regulation 9, as correctly pointed out by Vinny, would their non-EEA national family member be treated as if they are family member of an EEA national.

Based on the information you provided, you can only claim rights under UK national law, and even though it is expensive, it is pretty quicker that the EU route.

Besides, even if your family member qualifies, you would be expected to have lived in the UK for 5 continuous years under EU rules, before you will be eligible to apply for PR.

It is pretty expensive, as you pointed, but in your circumstance it is the best avenue.