Post
by friendinneed » Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:46 am
You need to remember that the EEA forms are not asking for permission but instead are asking for recognition of your rights. Your PR is therefore automatic after 5 years of being resident in the UK and exercising treaty rights.
It is therefore up to you if you want to complete EEA4 to get the PR card/stamp and thus in 12 months time (or more likely 6-8 by the time you actually get the PR stamp) you can apply for BC only having to demonstrate you meet the standard requirements (5 years resident, 1 year free of immigration control, good character, sound mind, not too many absences)
Alternatively you can effectively do the two together after having been here 6 years but you then have to include the paperwork for proving you are eligible for PR at the same time as applying for BC.
There isnt a "best" route, in my opinion. EEA is free but you lose your documents for a while but you are likely to have issues at immigration if you tried to come back into the country with just an expired visa and a bunch of documents proving exercising treaty rights.
