EU citizen supported by British husband applying for British

[Demare]

Hello - I was thinking about a recent development in UK immigration law and I would like your opinion. As since November 2015 a EU citizen who wishes to apply for British citizenship must be in possession of permanent residency certificate issued by the Home Office to prove his/her residency status under EU law, and this can be issued if the person has been working/looking for work/studying/self-sufficient, does it it mean that let's say, a French national who has been living in the UK for well over the 5 years threshold, married to a British national and currently supported by him as she was raising their children, would not be able under any circumstance to apply for British citizenship? According to the guidelines she would not be able to get the permanent residency certificate as she would not have been in paid work, looking for work, self-sufficient or studying. Is this true???

I am waiting to get my permanent residency certificate and I have been working part-time to spend more time with my family so hopefully it won't be a problem for me, but I am thinking about friends from other EU countries who gave up high flying careers (in the UK) to be with their small children who might be unable to get residency under the EU Treaty. Do I understand it right? Are some EU nationals prevented from applying for British citizenship even if they have been contributing to British society through previous work, voluntary work and participation in society and married to British citizens by birth? It seems very bizarre.

[ohara]

I don't think the actual qualifying criteria for naturalisation changed in 2015, only the need for the PR certificate. I think the key wording is that you need to be free of immigration time restrictions. Before November 2015, you would send all of the evidence with the AN form when you applied, to prove that you had PR status. The November 2015 changes just meant you had to do this part separately; presumably this was to take some of the workload off the team who processes the AN forms. Also, naturalisation falls purely under the British Nationality Act, whereas the PR thing is part of the EEA regulations, so it makes sense having people trained in each field only doing what they know.

In your situation, you could maybe claim you were self sufficient; you would have to show you had the funds to support yourself and not be a burden on the state. You would need to have held comprehensive sickness insurance for the whole period, though.

You mentioned that you are waiting for your PR certificate though - which route did you go down to apply for it?

PS. it's worth noting that ANY 5 year period of continuously exercising treaty rights is sufficient to acquire PR. So if someone from EU moves to UK in say 2003, works full time with no gaps from 2005-2012, then quits job to raise children full time, they will still have acquired PR in 2010.

[Demare]

Thank you - I didn't think about the possibility of going back in time.

As I said, I don't believe it is a problem for me as I have worked full time and then continued to work part-time for the past 16 years...It was just a thought that came to my mind about individuals who may have not been working or studying but at the same time without being a burden to the welfare system. It just happened that I kept working part-time but I may have decided to stop working all together at the time...The idea that I would not be able to apply for citizenship would be absurd to me as I have a British husband and children born in the UK who are British and I have been fully integrated in British society since 1998!

I am thinking about people who might be in this situation as I have friends from other EU countries who gave up work to look after their children fully supported by their British husbands and it seems they would not be able to apply for British citizenship. There is an amount of discretionary power given to the HO when looking at citizenship applications that is just not there for EEA PRs which are now a compulsory requirement.

[ohara]

The idea that I would not be able to apply for citizenship would be absurd to me as I have a British husband and children born in the UK who are British and I have been fully integrated in British society since 1998!

Don't worry, I'm sure a lot of people think the same thing. Unfortunately the criteria for naturalisation is set in stone, and no amount of cultural or family connections will add weight to an application.

I have been in the UK my whole life, my mother was British, my sister is British, I have two aunts here who are British all with British children. But I am not afforded any 'special treatment' because of this. Indeed, I could get a speeding conviction and then not be able to apply for a couple of years.

We are all in this ride together, and I wish you good luck

[secret.simon]

If you "have been fully integrated in British society since 1998", that suggests that you entered the UK before 1998. At the time (before 2000), it was possible for an EEA citizen to get ILR on the spot by merely requesting it. You may wish to look at your earlier passports to see if you have not already got ILR. If you have ILR stamped in any of your passports and do not have an absence of more than two years from the UK, you can immediately apply for British citizenship without a PR card.

As regards the requirement for having either ILR or PR, that has been the case since 1983. All that changed last year was that the proof of having acquired PR was to be evidenced by a PR Card or certificate rather than a whole raft of documents being sent to the Naturalisation team. Ohara has cogently explained the possible rationale for such a move.

The idea that I would not be able to apply for citizenship would be absurd to me as I have a British husband and children born in the UK who are British and I have been fully integrated in British society since 1998!

I have been in the UK my whole life, my mother was British, my sister is British, I have two aunts here who are British all with British children.

In this age of equality, we have left the wholly sexist notion that a spouse (typically a wife) can acquire citizenship on the basis of a marriage wholly behind.

I see (adult) naturalisation as a case of signifying allegiance to the ideals and culture of a nation-state, whether embodied in a flag (the US), a motto (France) or a person (the UK). For that reason, it is obvious that naturalisation is an individual act and not based on that of your family.

The argument above does not hold in places where family and/or tribal allegiances are stronger than national allegiances, such as the Middle East. In such places, it stands to reason that the family and/or tribe is naturalised together.

[noajthan]

... does it it mean that let's say, a French national who has been living in the UK for well over the 5 years threshold, married to a British national and currently supported by him as she was raising their children, would not be able under any circumstance to apply for British citizenship? According to the guidelines she would not be able to get the permanent residency certificate as she would not have been in paid work, looking for work, self-sufficient or studying. Is this true???

I am waiting to get my permanent residency certificate and I have been working part-time to spend more time with my family so hopefully it won't be a problem for me, but I am thinking about friends from other EU countries who gave up high flying careers (in the UK) to be with their small children who might be unable to get residency under the EU Treaty. Do I understand it right? Are some EU nationals prevented from applying for British citizenship even if they have been contributing to British society through previous work, voluntary work and participation in society and married to British citizens by birth? It seems very bizarre.

No, your analysis & conclusion is incorrect.

Don't forget it's the EU treaty & Directive that defines the concept of a qualified person exercising treaty rights.
UK has simply transposed this into national law.

Yes, UK has, recently & somewhat controversially, made a confirmatory document (the 'confirmation of PR' card) a mandatory prerequisite for citizenship.
But citizenship is governed by national law & it has always been mandatory to be free from immigration time restrictions.

For EEA nationals & dependents that means acquiring PR. (This has been the case since 2006 & there were different laws governing this before the Immigration Regulations, 2006 were brought in).

Mothers, wives, house-husbands, or any other economically inactive person (on the EU route into UK) can become free from immigration time restrictions if they can show they are 'self-sufficient' (& thus are not an undue burden on the state).

It is not new that EEA nationals have to have acquired PR as a qualified person.
EEA nationals (/dependents) who are not economically active are not shut out by default, they can acquire PR through self-sufficiency.

[Demare]

LOL...no one is advocating 'tribal allegiances'.... but the simple fact that marrying and living in a country over a long period of time, having children there, speaking the language at mother tongue level, having university degrees (undergraduate and post-graduate) acquired in that country (obviously we are talking about Britain here) etc, working in unpaid volunteering jobs, for example on the school governing body, volunteering for well known charities etc would still prove that an individual has shown commitment to Britain without, in certain cases, ever having had PAID work if supported by family members (it could be a husband or a blood relative with British citizenship). The HO has discretionary powers. The EEA team doesn't.

I say it again - it is NOT my case as I have been working in the UK for over 15 years, but the Nov 2015 changes have indeed changed the game.

Anyway...thanks everyone.

[ohara]

the Nov 2015 changes have indeed changed the game.

I don't think you understand, it hasn't changed the game at all. The only difference is you have to separately apply for a document which you must have been eligible for before the changes anyway. Instead of sending all of the evidence with the naturalisation application, you send it to a different team separately. As I said, UKVI made these changes as the PR certificate is based on EEA legislation, and naturalisation is based on British nationality law. It makes sense having teams specialising in each, only dealing with what they know.

[noajthan]

Stop press: there does now appear to have been a step-change in HO policy - DCPR is no longer mandatory when applying to naturalise:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... l#p1377475

Settled status is ofcourse still required when naturalising.

DCPR may still be advisable though, not only in order to reduce potential delays during processing but also to 'test the water' before shooting for citizenship (and putting a considerable application fee at stake).

[secret.simon]

and this can be issued if the person has been working/looking for work/studying/self-sufficient, does it it mean that let's say, a French national who has been living in the UK for well over the 5 years threshold, married to a British national and currently supported by him as she was raising their children, would not be able under any circumstance to apply for British citizenship? According to the guidelines she would not be able to get the permanent residency certificate as she would not have been in paid work, looking for work, self-sufficient or studying. Is this true???

Even assuming that the DCPR is no longer required, the OP's (presumably hypothetical) question must be answered in the negative.

An EU citizen who is married to a British citizen and who has not exercised the specified treaty rights (working, seeking work, studying with CSI or non-UK EHIC card or being self-sufficient with CSI) has not acquired PR under EU law.

PR or other settled status is a pre-requisite for naturalisation.

Therefore such a person is not eligible for naturalisation.

If the EU citizen has not worked, but had CSI (Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, essentially private health insurance), s/he can be considered to be self-sufficient under EU law and hence would have acquired PR after five continuous years of treaty rights. As the spouse of a British citizen,s/he could then immediatly apply for naturalisation.

A British citizen can not sponsor his wife under the EEA Regulations because he is not an EEA citizen within the meaning of the EEA Regulations.

To guide the OP, the law regarding acquisition of PR has not changed since 2006 and the requirements are the same as laid out in the Directive 2004/38/EC of the EU.