EEA (PR) - Section 16 - Public funds (state benefits)

[donald_f]

I am a spouse of an EEA national excising treaty rights as a worker for the last 5 year. Have P60 and payslips to prove.

My question is about "Section 16: Public funds / state benefits"
Is the "Section 16 - Public funds (state benefits)" compulsory to complete where the EEA national who is a worker ?
From another source I have come across this statement below...
"Section 16: Public funds (state benefits)

This section does not need completing unless you are applying on the basis of self sufficiency or studies, in which case you may need to complete it. This is because for those routes you need to show that you have been able to support yourself without reliance on welfare benefits.

You can choose to strike through these questions if you wish."

Thanks.

[NikiGio]

Hi Donald,
I applied for EEA (PR) as a worker, and I did answer that question.
So yes, generally on the EEA (PR) application you need to complete Section 16 to declare if you or your sponsor have received benefits.
It looks like your other source is the Free Movement blog, which does seem to give the advice that you could strike through/not answer this question unless you're a student/self-sufficient.
I am part of another immigration forum on Facebook, where they advise to answer this question - it's a compulsory question on the online form also.
The form asks for all benefits since you came here - under EU law, the requirement is to provide evidence and answers only for your minimum 5 qualifying years. Your choice is whether you wish to follow the question exactly as posed in the Home Office form or else if you prefer to answer the question in accordance with your obligations under EU law.
If you claimed benefits outside your 5 qualifying years, you don't need to give details.
So you can either answer 'No' in the application and then explain in a cover letter that you did claim benefits outside of your qualifying period, but that you're not giving details since you did so outside of your qualifying period so this is irrelevant to the EEA (PR) application.
Or you can answer 'Yes' and give as much details as you can remember/have paperwork for.
We're going to send an EEA (PR) application for one of my parents who did claim benefits, but this was before the qualifying period - so we're going to answer 'Yes' on the form and then write 'Please refer to covering letter for details'. And in the covering letter we're going to explain what benefits my parent received and roughly during which years - and we're going to say that we haven't provided further details/evidence as these were claimed outside the qualifying period and are therefore irrelevant to the EEA (PR) application.