Periods of unemployment and naturalisation

[roomeleven]

Hi to all,

I have a question that has been posted here a few times before but hasn't really been answered properly.

I am an EEA national that's been living in the UK since 2004 and this year I decided to apply for naturalisation as a British citizen. I worked pretty much all the time during that time - apart from short brakes when I was travelling abroad or looking for a job.

Although I can prove my presence here in the country during the periods when I was employed, I do not know how to prove it when I was looking for a job; the longest I was out of work was 4 months.

Also, as I did not have any insurance while I was looking for a job, will my application be rejected?

I would appreciate any input that will help me with my questions.

Thank you.

[Jambo]

Your question is more about EEA regulations than BC and similar cases have been discussed in the EEA section of the forum.

After 5 years of exercising treaty right under the EEA regulations one obtains a Permanent Residence status. After holding PR for one year, you can apply for BC. Up to 6 months of absence per year are allowed without breaking residency so you should be fine. With regards to the unemployment, then this depends on your circumstances.

Could you detail from 2004 till 2009 the periods of employment, travel and unemployment? If you are from the A8 countries did you register with WRS?

With regards to residence evidence, then utility bills can also be used.

[roomeleven]

I have P60s, P45s as well as payslips and letters from the employers stating my employment during that time. Two times I was away from the country for longer than a month; once for about 6 weeks and the second time for over 4 months. My absences are within the limit set by the Home Office so I am sure I am OK with that.

The problem is that I quit employment before going travelling and, apart from keeping my bank account, I had no connection with the UK. Well, I always intended to come back but apart from that, I have nothing. Isn't that breaking the Treaty Rights then? Or am I allowed to be away from the country without maintaining any connection for the periods specified by the HO?

Why would I need to detail my employment from 2004 till 2009? I thought I need to do it for the last 5 years, ie. 2007-2012?

I did register with WRS.
I have no utility bills as I was staying with my friends when I was unemployed and looking for jobs.

Please help or maybe recommend a cheap immigration advisor/solicitor.

Thanks again.

[Jambo]

Under EEA regulations absences upto 6 months are allowed (even 1 year in certain cases). You don't have to maintain connections with the UK during this period. In fact, for your unemployment periods it is better to be abroad than in the UK as you don't need to prove your activities in the UK during that time.

When examining an application for naturalisation by EEA national, it is done in two stages:

First, the HO needs to establish if the applicant has obtained PR status at least one year before the application. The reason for that is there is a requirement for naturalisation to hold a PR for at least 12 months before becoming eligible. For PR, any continuous 5 years are fine so any 5 years between 2004 - February 2011 could be used.

Second, if the PR requirement has been met, the HO examines the residential requirements (5 years in the UK, less than 450 days absent in the 5 years including less than 90 days in the last year). This period is the 5 years leading to the application so that would be 2007-2012.

Good lawyers are not cheap however I don't think there is a need to professional help if your application is straight forward (and it sounds it is). Just get the relevant documents needed. You will also need to pass the Life in the UK test before applying.

If you wish, you can test your evidence by applying for PR confiation from the HO using form EEA3. Application is free and takes about 2 months. The HO will only confirm your status on the day the application is examined even if the evidence relates to older periods (so even if you submit evidence to cover 2004-2009, the PR date will be 2012). This means that unless you wait for another year from receiving the PR confirmation, you will need to submit the evidence again when applying for naturalisation but at least you will feel confident the evidence you provide is good enough.

You don't need to provide evidence to cover your whereabouts for every single day in those 5 years periods (for PR and naturalisation). If you have evidence to cover most of your stay in the UK, you should be fine.

[roomeleven]

Thank you for your answer. I was also thinking about applying for PR first just to make sure everything is fine. I don't want to spend over £800 for nothing...