Denied permanent residency, help!

[jellyo]

Hello,

I'm an EU citizen living here for 9 years (5 years study, and working since [2.5 years full-time, 1 year paid PhD and teaching assistant]). I've been denied permanent residency recently on the basis that I didn't have comprehensive medical insurance for the period when I was a student. When I arrived here, I was informed that I had the same rights as UK citizens and can use NHS freely. My home country entered the EU only few years before I moved here so I don't even know whether an EHIC card was issued back then or not. I wasn't aware that I had to get the EHIC card after 2011, so I never had it from my home country. And even if I wanted to, I'm not qualified to get EHIC from my home country as I've never worked/lived there since I turned 18, and neither my parents (or in another EEA state) + dirty politics ..

1st question: is there any way I can get around this? Any way I can prove I wouldn't be able to get EHIC for that period [I wasn't financially in a place to get a private health insurance]?
2nd question: do I have to get permanent residency to be able to apply for citizenship? I'm not very clear as to what's the difference between indefinite leave to remain and permanent residency?

I'm so upset that after all these years I'm in this situation partly due to my lack of understanding of legal procedures. I've made this country my home, contributed and gained so much from this country and its people - so much more than my home country. So I'd really like to be able to officially call it home and feel like I belong to this community and with the friends that became my family.

Thanks for any advice!

[kamoe]

do I have to get permanent residency to be able to apply for citizenship?

Yes. That is a requirement stated in the eligibility criteria for British citizenship:
https://www.gov.uk/british-citizenship

You can usually apply if you’ve lived in the UK for the last 5 years and:

you’ve had indefinite leave to remain for the last 12 months
you’re from the EEA and you’ve had permanent residence status for the last 12 months

Then,

I'm not very clear as to what's the difference between indefinite leave to remain and permanent residency?

I'm probably over-simplifying this, but I understand Indefinite Leave to Remain applies to non-EU citizens, permanent residence applies to EU citizens (so you only need one of the two British citizenship eligibility points above').

They are practically the same concept, and I think the main reason to call them two different things is because they are the result of two different legal immigration systems (one being EU law, the other being British law). But someone please correct me if I'm wrong!

[sandy1988]

1........when you have applied your apllication
2...... comprehensive sickness insurance is required to obtain pr if you student or not working in the country
3........ now you have to wait for new eu settlement scheme which is going to launch later this year and will fully operational next year .In this new scheme there is no requirement of CSI only you have to proof your continous residence of 5 years for more please search for eu settlement scheme for eu citizens