Student for nearly 5 years - but do we need to start over?

[dga]

Hey all,

I'm a British Citizen, and my partner is an EEA national who has been in the UK since October 2011, studying for an undergrad between October 2011 - June 2014, working at an studentship with a research group June 2014 - August 2014 (payment was exempt from income tax and NI), studied for an MPhil at a different institution September 2014 - August 2015 and has been studying a PhD since September 2015 from the same institution as the MPhil, due to be completed in September 2019.

We were recently spooked by the Brexit result and want to make a move to ensure that we can build our life together once she has graduated. She has sufficient evidence to cover her status as a student between October 2011 -> October 2016 at the earliest, including proof of residency, and sufficient funding.

We've been optimistic so far. However, when collecting documents we noticed the Comprehensive Sickness Insurance requirement for students in particular. She has held an EHIC which will be up to date when she applies in October, however my interpretation indicates that this is not good enough as the HO insists on coverage by some kind of private scheme. She will undoubtedly take out private coverage as soon as possible.

My questions are as follows:

1) What kind of coverage is accepted by the CSI requirements? Has anyone taken out any policies which was okay as evidence for a successful PR application?

2) Given the CSI predicament, has the last 5 years of her residence here in the UK counted for nothing at all? An EHIC card is valid if your stay is "temporary". However, obviously it's in our interest to stay here permanently, but my partner is estranged from her family back in her home country so they won't be providing any assistance what-so-ever, which complicates some things further.

3) If this is the case, what are our options here? Is it really just starting from the beginning with private health coverage until she graduates?

Thank you all so much for your help!

[LilyLalilu]

She'll be fine, I suggest she does the following:
- Buy CSI now.
- Apply for PR in Oct 2016 using her non UK-EHIC as a CSI substitute (up until now) and CSI from now til October 2016.
- Submit a written statement with her application saying that she was only intending to stay temporarily and has now changed her mind and would like to stay long-term (hence why she has now purchased CSI).
Cancel CSI after the first year as she no longer needs it once she has acquired PR.

All policies which are comprehensive (i.e cover the insured individual for the majority of circumstances) are accepted. I had Aviva and others had policies from Bupa, WPA etc.

[noajthan]

Statement of intent type letters are required from students for intermediate RC applications when based on holding a foreign EHIC rather than CSI.
It is not a requirement when applying for the holy grail of DCPR.
However a cogent cover letter may help bolster your case.