Appl. for ILR for my wife (nonEEA family member of EEA)-EEA4

[svtj]

A bit of background:

I am a Danish Passport holder and working in the UK. My wife, Asian nationality, will be eligible to apply for permanent residency ‘ILR’ as she and I have stayed in UK for +5 years. I understand that the application form we need to use is the EEA4 ‘Application for permanent residence -To be used by non-European Economic Area (EEA) or non-Swiss nationals family members of EEA or Swiss nationals residing in the UK’, which must be submitted by post to the Liverpool Home Office.

In the ILR application pack the Home office has requested for 'you must provide either a private comprehensive sickness insurance policy document that covered for medical treatment in the majority of circustances, or a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) that covered the 5-year period of residence in UK' - Can I apply for sickness insurance just upfront to applying for ILR, as my wife currently does not have a sick insurance policy document? She is registered with the NHS and nobody has in the past requested that sickness policy must be in place to apply for ILR? I f I would have known that it is a must to have a sickness insurance I would have applied when we entered the UK!!

Can you please provide some insight to what we need to do?

Thanks a lot

[Jambo]

CSI (health insurance) is not required if the EEA national is working so if you work, there is no need for it (I agree this is not clear from the application form).

[svtj]

Thanks a lot for the prompt response. Really appreciate your help.

The application form should have highlighted that the sickness insurance policy for my wife is not require, If I am employed. Do you know whether it is stated anywhere else on their website, so I can refer to it once applying for ILR for my wife?

Unfornately the EEA4 form has to be submitted by post to the liverpool home office - are you aware if it is possible to go to liverpool office and submit the package at the office? I realized that it is not possible to make appointments for ILR at the liverpool office . - which is really a pain.

Great forum - keep up the good work

[Jambo]

The proper term under the EEA regulations is PR (Permanent Residence) and not ILR although the bottom line is similar.

It is difficult to find a written statement on what is not required. Normally, you only state what is required. However, if you check this document EEA Application Checklist you can see that CSI is listed under student and self-sufficient but not under worker and self employed.

You can also read the regulations and see that CSI is only required for students or self sufficient.

You can't just drop the package at Liverpool. Send it Special Delivery. This way it is delivered the next day, you have a proof of posting and compensation in case it gets lost.

[svtj]

Excellent, the checklist is more clear and states that the sickness insurance policy is only required for self sufficient or students.

You have made it a lot eaier, as the EEA checklist is good. It does not state that tenancy agreements are required for the 5 years proving residence in UK for people who are workers. I would have had a problem in finding tenancy agreements for the full 5 year, as I have lived in 3 differnet properties during the period and furthermore the tenancy agreements are in my name.

By the way if a EEA national (lived in UK for 5 years) want to apply for british citizenship, do you know which form needs to be used - I suspect it is the AN form? Is this true.

Many thanks

[Jambo]

As the checklist states it is not definitive. It is missing the evidence required to prove residence. However it doesn't need to be tenancy agreement. Annual council tax bills or other utility bills or bank statement can be used.

For naturalisation, form AN is the correct one. You should be aware that you need to hold PR for one year before applying so it means you can apply after 6 years in the UK. I suggest you also apply for PR confirmation (form EEA3) together with yor wife. The application is free and will flush out any issues if exist without risking the naturalisation £850 fee. As you need to send your documents with your wife's application any way, in practice this just means filling in an application form and attaching two photos.

Also unless the law was changed recently, Denmark doesn't allow dual nationality so you will lose your Danish nationality if you apply for BC.

[svtj]

Many thanks again.

I entered the UK in Jan 2007 and thought that I can apply for BC from Jan 2012. That is what I was informed by the Home office back in 2009, when we called them.

Subsequent to your reply and reading in more detail about the AN procedure - the best thing is to apply for the PR together with my wife (EEA4) and myself incl. the three children (EEA3) this month to ensure that the next year application for BC goes more smooth and trouble free.

I presume we can apply for BC from the date that PR was applied, but not sure? Do you know what the regulations are in that respect?

I have actually booked the life in the UK test for my self, do you know for how long such a test is valid for?

I am aware that DK does not allow dual nationality.