iknownothing wrote:Hi,
can somebody please clear up a question I have.
My partner has been here for nearly 5 years as a temporary UK resident. She's a Thai. I am English\Irish. I was wondering is the 5 year requirement for her to become a permanent UK resident actually dependent on me and how long I have been exercising my EU treaty rights and not my partner?
I have been working for the same company for almost 6 years but I did not apply for her to come here with me until about a year later as there was a lot of difficulty and misinformation in us being able to use the EEA route.
I am keen for her to become a permanent resident card holder as soon as possible so that she will always have this right.
I can prove that I have been with my company for over 5 years but she received her Temporary UK resident status in around October 2011. 9 months short of 5 years at this time.
Thank you in advance.
In principle, yes, it's the EEA national
exercising treaty rights by virtue of EU free movement that counts towards their & their dependent's PR clocks.
The activity of the non-EEA national, in UK, is actually immaterial (as long as its legal).
However, there's a couple of complications as you are
1) a dual national (including British nationality)
and
2) from what you've said, you are an unmarried couple.
If you have not exercised treaty rights in a.n.other EU country, ie not including UK & Eire, (via
Surinder Singh) then even as a dual national (Irish) you will
not be recognised as an EEA national in UK.
So (
usually) you cannot exercise treaty rights in UK and so cannot sponsor a non-EEA national under EU rules.
There is an exception to this gotcha: if your partner had a RC on a certain date in 2012.
In that case, under the
McCarthy transitional arrangement, you can be considered as an EEA national.
So does your partner have such a RC?
Ref:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... w_v2_0.pdf
- see page 20
As an unmarried couple your partner is an
extended family member not a
direct family member (assuming you can be considered an EEA national).
However, I am not sure if that transitional arrangement applies to unmarried couples.
It ought to but you will have to dig into that too.
In summary,
if you can be treated as an EEA national, then, yes, its
your exercising of treaty rights in UK, continuously for
5 years, that acquires your partner her PR.
She just has to reside in UK with you.
You will also have to provide proof of a
durable & sustained relationship '
akin to marriage'.
And, as an
extended family member, your partner will need to have held an EU RC for her residence to be legal.
Any absences (by partner) from UK will have to have been within prescribed limits to maintain continuity of residence too.
A bit of background on this here:
https://eumovement.wordpress.com/2012/0 ... y-british/
Good luck.
