Pension credits permenant residency

[euq3537]

Hello everyone
I have a question. My parents are Portuguese nations living in the UK since Jun 2013. They were retired (30 years work experience gained while working in the UAE). In 2014 they applied for pension credit and their application was successful and have been receiving the money since 2014 backdated to when they arrived in the UK. They have been living with my brother and his family depending on them for housing and day to day living and contributing to some of their living expenses.
I wanted to apply for PR - permanent residence, given Brexit end date March 2019, for them however am confused whether it is possible as i don't know under what category would they fall under as exercising treaty rights and if they are indeed exercising them.
Secondly, if they don't qualify .. how could we assist them in excersing these rights.. would it be by gaining employment or starting a business ? ofcourse by giving up pension credit immediately. Would this qualify them for a settled status application when it is due?

[NikiGio]

Would this qualify them for a settled status application when it is due?

They definitely qualify for Settled Status as long as they've been living here for the last five years. That would be the easiest route for them - wait for Settled Status to be in place. That's much more straightforward than PR.

Those applying under the Settled Status scheme will only need to complete 3 key steps: they will need to prove their identity, show that that they live in the UK, and declare that they have no serious criminal convictions. The Home Office will check the employment and benefit records held by government which will mean that, for many, their proof of residence will be automatic.

If you haven't already read about Settled Status, have a look at other threads in the forum and at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home ... u-citizens

https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families

[NikiGio]

The only reason for them not to wait for SS and proceed witha PR application would be if they want to/need to apply for British citizenship quickly for some reason.