Comprehensive Sickness Insurance

[anyax]

We are EU/EEA nationals (from Poland). My mum is 55, and we moved to the UK 10 years ago. She has never worked here, my dad works full-time, so she has never claimed any benefits or anything like that.

I was under the impression she automatically became a permanent resident after being here for 5 years, but after spending some time searching through this forum I found out that may not be the case. She doesn't have Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, which apparently is required if you are unemployed.

I'm not going to lie, this is a bit of a shock to me, as I've never even heard of it before. I'm now slightly worried for her right to be here, because of Brexit of course. She is going to get CSI now, however since she hasn't had it for the past 10 years, does that mean she isn't a permanent resident? And she will only become one in 5 years time (of getting her CSI)? My dad, myself and my siblings are permanent residents, and me and my dad are in the process of applying for British Citizenship (I don't know if that changes anything).

Can I get some advice/info on this? Thanks a lot!

[secret.simon]

Was your mother resident in the UK at the same time as your father, who was exercising treaty rights? If so, she will have acquired PR as the spouse of an EEA citizen exercising treaty rights. She should apply for a DCPR in that capacity.

[anyax]

Was your mother resident in the UK at the same time as your father, who was exercising treaty rights? If so, she will have acquired PR as the spouse of an EEA citizen exercising treaty rights. She should apply for a DCPR in that capacity.

Thanks for your reply. That made me feel better.

My dad moved here in 2007, my mum joined him a year later. My dad has been in continuous legal employment from day 1 of arriving here.

On the gov website, it says this:

Before the new scheme is in place, you only need to apply for a document certifying permanent residence if you are an EEA or Swiss national and:

you want to apply for British citizenship
you want to sponsor your partner’s visa application under the Immigration Rules

Neither of the two points apply to her. Am I right in thinking the DCPR is going to be useless after Brexit? Should we be worried about her being able to stay here?

[Richard W]

Am I right in thinking the DCPR is going to be useless after Brexit? Should we be worried about her being able to stay here?

No-one really knows about the DCPR. The government is saying it will be fairly useless, but that may change. It would, for example, probably be essential if the EU27 proposal on the status of EU citizens were accepted.

Yes, you should worry that she will need specific documents and not apply for them. The only major documentation issues you can address now is ensuring that she has evidence of living in the UK, ideally covering the last five years. You should also check that your parents have a marriage certificate, just in case her residence rights do continue to depend on her husband.

There is one worrying trend though. At present, in a regulation that came into force this year, non-EEA nationals applying for a DCPR have to produce a valid passport or national ID card for any relevant current or past sponsor. I don't see anything that stops this being extended to family members who are EEA nationals. If this happened, and a DCPR then became necessary, your mother could have an insoluble problem getting her first DCPR if your father had died. The UK cancels the passports of the deceased - I don't know whether Poland does the same.

[anyax]

Am I right in thinking the DCPR is going to be useless after Brexit? Should we be worried about her being able to stay here?

No-one really knows about the DCPR. The government is saying it will be fairly useless, but that may change. It would, for example, probably be essential if the EU27 proposal on the status of EU citizens were accepted.

Yes, you should worry that she will need specific documents and not apply for them. The only major documentation issues you can address now is ensuring that she has evidence of living in the UK, ideally covering the last five years. You should also check that your parents have a marriage certificate, just in case her residence rights do continue to depend on her husband.

There is one worrying trend though. At present, in a regulation that came into force this year, non-EEA nationals applying for a DCPR have to produce a valid passport or national ID card for any relevant current or past sponsor. I don't see anything that stops this being extended to family members who are EEA nationals. If this happened, and a DCPR then became necessary, your mother could have an insoluble problem getting her first DCPR if your father had died. The UK cancels the passports of the deceased - I don't know whether Poland does the same.

This explain a lot. She will make sure she has all the documentation she can get, and apply for a DCPR as soon as possible.

Is there anything else you would advise her to do to help her case? Do you think she should get CSI now, or only worry about it in case she's refused DCPR?

Thank you for all your help

[Richard W]

This explain a lot. She will make sure she has all the documentation she can get, and apply for a DCPR as soon as possible.

I wish I could confidently advise against doing so, as the probably unnecessary applications for DCPR (and residence certificates) are causing long delays for everyone requesting EEA documents.

Is there anything else you would advise her to do to help her case? Do you think she should get CSI now, or only worry about it in case she's refused DCPR?

If she's refused DCPR, the document she would need is a residence certificate. Only when that is refused or clearly unavailable should CSI even be considered.

If she's going to apply for DCPR, I would recommend that your parents apply together.

[tmonaghan]

Mrs May set out in her Policy paper on safeguarding the position of EU citizens living in the UK

Let's imagine the worst case scenario your mother would be able to apply for this new Settle Status even though she might never had a CSI during her stay in the UK.

The application process will be a separate legal scheme, in UK law, rather than the current one for certifying the exercise of rights under EU law. Accordingly we will tailor the eligibility criteria so that, for example, we will no longer require evidence that economically inactive EU citizens have previously held ‘comprehensive sickness insurance’ in order to be considered continuously resident;


https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -in-the-eu

I would advise you to read through above proposal from Mrs May that may become Law if both the UK and the EU agreed upon it.