Residence requirement for EEA national who is also married

[annawhit]

Hi,
I have a question about section 2 on Form AN - residence requirement.
I am an EEA national who has been living in the UK for 17 years. I acquired permanent residence status in 2006. I have been married to a British citizen for 16 years.
Do have I have to fill in my absences for the whole 5 years, or only 3 years? It says if you are married, you only have to fill in 3 years.
But if I fill in for only 3 years, does that mean that I automatically apply based on my marriage?
And if so, do I have to provide a copy of my husband's passport?
Many thanks
Anna

[secret.simon]

There are two separate requirements you will have to demonstrate.

a) that you have not been absent from the UK for any continuous period exceeding two years between 2006 (when you acquired PR) and now. Any continuous period of absence for two years or more will cancel your PR.

b) Absences in the past three years if you are applying on the basis of your marriage to your British citizen. You can list the absences for the past five years if you want to be considered on the basis of that requirement. That is to say, as the spouse of a British citizen, you can choose to apply under either Section 6(1) - five years requirement - or Section 6(2) - three years requirement.

If applying on the basis of having a British spouse (Section 6(2)), you will need to attach some proof that your spouse is indeed a British citizen.

[annawhit]

Many thanks for your reply secret.simon.

On this topic - where in Form AN does it say on which basis you are applying?

I might as well attach both a copy of my husband's passport AND a list of all my travels for 5 years. Which is a bit time-consuming as I do tonnes of short trips for work, but nothing near the critical number of days absence. Belt and braces!

[secret.simon]

I might as well attach both a copy of my husband's passport AND a list of all my travels for 5 years. Which is a bit time-consuming as I do tonnes of short trips for work, but nothing near the critical number of days absence.

A very sensible solution.

Belt and braces!

A very British expression

[annawhit]

Haha, yes isn't it!