Non EEA PR Qualifying Period - Peculiar Case

[osoronga]

I am non-EEA and my EEA partner came to the UK to live with me in Nov 2011 and she started exercising her treaty rights immediately as a worker. In Feb 2012, I applied for EEA residence card and was refused for the reason that our union was neither real nor durable despite presenting additional evidence my partner was 2 months pregnant.

I challenged the decision and the judge sided with the Home Office that there was no sufficient evidence that the union was real or durable. By then my wife had delivered and we took the two-week-old baby to the court too. In the interest of the baby’s welfare, the judge allowed the appeal on Article 8 grounds but dismissed it on immigration grounds.
The HO in their interpretation of the verdict issued me a two and half year discretionary leave to remain residence permit 09 January 2016 not EEA residence card applied for. Before the residence permit expired, I married my partner and reapplied for EEA residence card; this time around I was issued from 13 June 2016 to 13 June 2021.

Last year, my wife applied for DCPR and was issued with the HO stating that she had qualified since Nov 2016 which is 5 years since she started living with me and exercising her treaty rights as a worker.
As her then partner and now husband, when do I start counting my 5 years of qualification period for myPR?

• Nov 2011 too?
  Feb 2012 when I first applied for RC?
  Sept 2012 when our son was born?
  January 2016 when discretionary leave was issued?
  August 2014 when we got married?
  June 2016 when RC was issued?

[CR001]

As her then partner and now husband, when do I start counting my 5 years of qualification period for myPR?

Date you got married if you got married in the UK.

[secret.simon]

Your right to reside in the UK under EU law only started when you became the spouse of an EEA citizen (assuming that you married in the UK). You need to have completed five continuous years of residence under EU law in order to acquire PR under EU law.

Therefore, as CR001 has stated, assuming that you married in the UK, you will acquire PR on your fifth wedding anniversary (assuming you remain married until that date).

[osoronga]

Thanks for your responses.
In the true sense of the EU law, it is the EEA member that has rights not their family members or dependents or extended family members.
The so-called right to reside and to work of family members or dependents or extended family members are expressions of the EEA member's right to be accompanied by his/her family members and dependents or extended family member.

Since this is the case, the day I got married to my EEA partner was the day I became her family member (spouse) what about prior to that that I was her extended family member (durable partner)? Why shouldn't that period too count towards my qualifying period for PR since she started exercising as right to be accompanied by her family member since November 2011 when we started leaving together and conceived a child?

[secret.simon]

Since this is the case, the day I got married to my EEA partner was the day I became her family member (spouse) what about prior to that that I was her extended family member (durable partner)? Why shouldn't that period too count towards my qualifying period for PR since she started exercising as right to be accompanied by her family member since November 2011 when we started leaving together and conceived a child?

Periods when you were an extended family member would only count when that "durable partnership" has been verified by the Home Office and recognised by the issue of a Residence Card. If you had received for the Residence Card as a durable partner and then married, you would have qualified on the fifth anniversary of the acquisition of the Residence Card.

In general, spouses and direct family members get automatic rights, extended family members only acquire rights when they are recognised by the national authorities by issue of the relevant documentation.

[osoronga]

As her then partner and now husband, when do I start counting my 5 years of qualification period for myPR?

Date you got married if you got married in the UK.

The HO has issued me the PR stating on the accompaying letter that I aquired permanent residence on 12/07/2018 which is the day the letter was written. I transitioned from being extended family member and got married in the UK on 12 August 2013. The residence card was issued on 13/06/2016.

The question is what did the HO base this qualifying period on?