worker who ceased activity and pre-accession

[sagareva]

Hi folks, this is one for the real connosseurs of The Directive. All this stuff was a bit before my time in the UK, and tbh my exerience and wisdom both fail to give a definitive answer, and I cannot find any case law on this specifically.

Given:
A citizen of A8 state
Resided in the UK since 1999 as an ASYLUM SEEKER (legacy/never determined)
no right to work = not working
2004 -- accession
enters self-employment for a year (all duly documented and kosher) and
in 2005 issued with a cardboard "residence permit" for 5 years with validity date till 2010 (I assume it lost meaning when 2006 regs come into force next year)
lo and behold, 2005 this person reaches pension age
signs up for pension credit and been there since

Claim
(a)became worker who ceased activity in 2005 upon reaching pension age,
(b) became permanent resident as of 2005, on 30th april 2006 (regs come into force)

All requirements are on the face of it satisfied -- 12 month activity, three residence prior, immediately prior for avoidance of all doubt

But I have doubt about the pre-accession period of residence (because it was in asylum seeking status)

I know that for 5 years PR< pre-accession period can be counted if it was under domestic regulations with valid leave, and on conditions that would otherwise qualify as excercise of treaty rights (eg economic acitvity). Under this test, my subject fails on both.

However.

We apply this test because, notionally, 2006 regs tell us that 5 years residence for PR need to be residence "undeer these regulations"

BUT
regulations 15 does NOT say anything about what sort of three years' residence one needs to satisfy

so the subject reckons he qualifies

my first reaction was that yes he qualifies but I'd love to at least make sure there isn't case law that defines pre-accession residence for worker who ceased activity more narrowly

I don't imagine there is a lot of case law on this specifically, because unlikely there are a lot of people out there who managed to be asylum seekers from states that were about to joint the EU, but there you have it ))

[sagareva]

sorry typo I mean regulation 5 does not say anything about what sort of residence (not 15)