Overstaying as EU national

[chrisnorth]

If EU national went to UK and overstayed for 6 months (not being a burden, not asking for any money from UK), then on his own bought the ticket back before October 2012, wasn't issued any papers, wasn't stopped at the airport. Will a person be able to get back to UK and allowed to exercise treaty rights if more than 12 months have passed since he was out of UK?

Will this past overstay mean that it will be impossible to get IRL even if a person goes back to UK and then lives 5 years legally?

[sheraz7]

An EU national can never become/called as an overstayed even for not exercising its treaty rights. An EU national can leave/enter UK anytime.

[chrisnorth]

An EU national can never become/called as an overstayed even for not exercising its treaty rights. An EU national can leave/enter UK anytime.

Thank you sheraz7! I want to make sure that I'm reading this correctly. Only non-EU nationals who require visas can be called overstayed, but if EU national comes to UK and lives 9 months without even registering anywhere (without exercising his treaty rights), he will not become overstayed? And in this case said EU national can go back to UK and be totally clean and can exercise treaty rights and get IRL after 5 years without any problems?
All correct?

[chrisnorth]

The rules in this document under "General requirements for indefinite leave to remain" only apply to non-EU nationals?
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... rt_5v2.pdf
I might have gotten very confused by this document then. It's difficult for me to understand whom these rules apply to exactly. I'd like to know what did I miss so that I can understand similar documents in the future.

[sheraz7]

Yes. Your understanding is correct.

[chrisnorth]

Yes. Your understanding is correct.

Thank you. Can I ask at which moment EU citizen officially starts to exercise treaty rights? What's the requirement to start?

[LilyLalilu]

Well, you are exercising your treaty rights if one of the following applies to you:

- you are in employment (min. hours are 15 or so I think)
- you start studying and have private health insurance
- you are self-employed
- you are self-sufficient (i.e. have sufficient funds not to become a burden on the UK system and have private health insurance)
- you are a job-seeker (usually for no longer than 6 months)

[chrisnorth]

Well, you are exercising your treaty rights if one of the following applies to you:

- you are in employment (min. hours are 15 or so I think)
- you start studying and have private health insurance
- you are self-employed
- you are self-sufficient (i.e. have sufficient funds not to become a burden on the UK system and have private health insurance)
- you are a job-seeker (usually for no longer than 6 months)

Yes, by the way, that's why I was worried, as like I've asked in my original question, EU citizen wasn't registered as self-sufficient and didn't have private health insurance in those 9 months of being in UK, therefore based on the gov.uk materials I have read I understood that it would be a breach of the law. But from what I've been answered here it's not a breach for EU national and it's OK for EU national to not be exercising treaty rights for any length of time. In this case in my opinion gov.uk could do a better job explaining this difference. Confusing to me as it is.

[LilyLalilu]

It's not a problem in this regard, as in reality no one cares atm (and unless you actually read the legislation, CSI is not mentioned or asked for anywhere...) The time without CSI just would not count towards permanent residence should you want it to.

[chrisnorth]

An EU national can never become/called as an overstayed even for not exercising its treaty rights. An EU national can leave/enter UK anytime.

Thank you sheraz7! I want to make sure that I'm reading this correctly. Only non-EU nationals who require visas can be called overstayed, but if EU national comes to UK and lives 9 months without even registering anywhere (without exercising his treaty rights), he will not become overstayed? And in this case said EU national can go back to UK and be totally clean and can exercise treaty rights and get ILR after 5 years without any problems?
All correct?

Yes. Your understanding is correct.

To be precise here, in this last question I have asked "can exercise treaty rights and get IRL after 5 years without any problems", but as I've learned IRL is not the same as Permanent Pesidence. ILR applies to people who resided in UK for 10 years whereas PR applies to EEA citizens who exercised treaty rights for 5 years. Right?. So if that's the case, then what I wanted to ask is about PR in this case, not ILR. So will failing to exercise treaty rights in the past (as described in my comments above) in any way interfere with qualifying for PR in the future?