EEA PR - ID, CSI and absences

[peterkaml]

Hello,

I have a few questions in relation to the EEA(PR) applications:

1. The Home Office guidance at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 4_0EXT.pdf says:

"All applicants claiming to be a qualified person must provide evidence of their
nationality by providing either:
• a valid passport from an EEA state
• a national identity (ID) card from an EEA state
The passport or ID card must show the applicant has been an EEA national for the
whole of the 5 years. "

Both my current ID card and my passport were issued after the beginning of the 5-year period I want to rely on, i.e. they do not show that I have been an EEA national for the whole of the 5 years. Obviously I don't have previous ID cards or passport (you have to return them). I cannot imagine that they would require you to have an ID that is at least 5 years old but can someone please confirm if you had a successful application with more recently issued ID documents? If not, do you think supplying a certified copy of my birth certificate would help?

2. I need to provide evidence of CSI while I was a student. I have two Czech EHIC cards for two consecutive periods but they do not have 'valid from' date on them. I also received an S041 form in respect of my Czech insurance which clearly confirms the date when I was insured in the Czech Republic. I asked them for an S1, S2 or S3 form as per the guidance but they were only able to issue me with the S041 form (which is not listed as acceptable evidence). Does anyone have experience with that being accepted by the Home Office?

3. I have 2-4 weeks' gaps between studies and/or employment. Do I need to account for those in section 9 of the form or would that be considered an irrelevant gap? Would it work to only insert months (rather than full dates) in the end and start dates in section 9?

4. I am quite close to the 6 months of permitted absences in some years. I haven't put together my list of absences yet. Page 41 of the guidance suggests that if I specify my 5 year relevant period as say 1 September 2011 to 1 September 2016, they will be checking the absences within each year commencing 1 September (i.e. 1 September 2011-1 September 2012, 1 September 2012-1 September 2013). In that case, I should be fine. However, can they divert from that and say that I was away for more than 6 months in any other rolling period of 12 months? I understand that you don't need to fill in your absences if you haven't been away for more than 6 months (page 8 of https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... tes-v3.pdf). I would be tempted to conclude that based on their interpretation of years I haven't been away for more than 6 months, I don't need to include the details and I would just state in the cover letter that I haven't been away for more than 6 months. Do you think that should work?

Thank you very much!