Resided legally in UK for 7 yrs,can I get EU residence card?

[kera]

Dear all

I have been residing in UK for 7 years now, lawfully, not overstaying, on different visas none of which count towards 5 years ILR. At the moment I am reading a lot of info on European residence. It would be great if I could use these 7 years residency in UK to help with EU now

Is it possible at all? Or have to begin from the beginning again in EU?

Would appreciate your knowledge

K

[CR001]

If you leave the UK to go to any other EU country, you start from scratch again. You cannot 'transfer' your time in the UK to elsewhere.

What visas have you held during your time in the UK?

[secret.simon]

Periods of stay in the UK under the UK Immigration Rules (domestic UK visas) do not count for any type of residence under EU law.

If you leave the UK to reside in the EU, the time you spent in the UK be not counted towards permanent residence in the other EU countries. You may also break your continuity of residence in the UK, meaning that your 10 year ILR clock will also stop running.

[kera]

Thank you for your replies

I have come across this:

"An EC permanent residence permit may be issued to a third-country national:
[...}
who has lawfully resided in the territory of any Member State of the European Union continuously for at least five years"

As far as I know UK is one of the MS thus this applies to me?

[secret.simon]

Where have you got the quote from? Ideally, always link to the documents so that we can give an informed opinion.

I googled the specific quote you provided and am guessing that it is from Directive 2003/109/EC — status of non-EU nationals who are long-term residents. If so, that does not apply to the UK or Ireland.

(25) In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland, annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and without prejudice to Article 4 of the said Protocol, these Member States are not participating in the adoption of this Directive and are not bound by or subject to its application.

[kera]

Simon

Thank you for the useful info.
I have re-read carefully the whole paragraph and the sentence I quoted was actually referring to Blue Card holders.. (Immigration website of Hungary)
Sorry

[secret.simon]

No need to apologise. It helps if you link to what you are talking about so that we are on the same page.

The UK, Ireland and Denmark have opted out of a whole swathe of EU legislation as regards justice and home affairs. So a lot of EU-wide legislation for non-EEA migrants, such as Blue Cards, is not in force in these three countries. EU immigration comes under free movement of labour in the EU, not a part of the JHA pillar, so that is why it applies to the UK (and Ireland and Denmark) anyway.