Treaty Rights start time

[Ishjon]

Dear gurus, first of all I'm grateful for all of your helps in this forum for people like me. I have a question, me and my EU Latvian wife got married in 2010 November then we came to the UK in December 2010 and it was her initial residence period in the UK and she started working in March 2011. My question is do we qualify for PR in December 2015 or do we have to wait for her 5th anniversary as a worker i.e March 2016? I am not sure if initial 3 month residence is exercising of a treaty right or not? Thank you very much

[sheraz7]

Initial right of residence (3 months) applies once for an unbroken period of residence in the pursuit of PR after 5 years. In this perspective if the EU national has not broken its residence by being absent from UK for more than 6 months and have continuously exercised its treaty rights then you & EU national will be eligible for PR in December 2015. However, since the latvian nationals were A8 nationals, therefore, they must have been registered under WRS scheme for their first year (if worker) for the period before May 2011. Hope it clarifies you.

[Ishjon]

Thanks for your reply, she started working in march and we was going to apply for her wrs but her employer said that its no longer needed as end of march scheme will be scraped, does this mean we will be eligible only from the date when the wrs scheme were scraped?

Thanks alot

[sheraz7]

Wrs scheme was abolished in may 2011, therefore, better to wait until may instead march unless the EU national can prove to have excerised alternative mode of treaty rights such as self sufficiency/student/self employement etc during march-may.

[Ishjon]

Thanks shear7, is maybe self sufficient is the other option? Basically i was working all the time can i act as being her sponsor from December until May the periods that she worked but did not have WRS, i had comprehensive cover for me and my family from insurance company which is based in my home country, however is states my name and spouse and 1 child if you have is covered and does not give her name will that be ok? Or does the health insurance provider has to be one in the UK?
Thanks again

[Ishjon]

Hi, can anyone please advice me if my non uk health insurance is acceptable by home office in order to qualify as self sufficient for the period that my wife did not work and was not registered with WRS. Thanks alot

[sheraz7]

As long as the private medical insurance policy covers in majority of circumstances in UK to whole family then it should be acceptable regardless of the insurance provider even based outside UK. And as far as your claim towards the self sufficiency is concerned then you need to be aware that what funds/income you are earning is not important unless its access/control is not available to EU national partner in order to meet the criteria. For this purpose joint account (not mandatory) or regular transfer of funds into EU national account can demonstrate that.