Indefinite Leave to Remain for French citizen

[Marion1984]

Hi,

I am getting increasingly anxious about Brexit. I am in a long term relationship with a British national (we are in a Civil Partnership) and we bought a house together last year. Because we are worried about what impact will brexit have on our rights and freedom of movement, I have been looking at maybe applying for British Citizenship.
I understand that I need to get a proof of permanent residence prior to applying for the Citizenship. One of FreeMovement.org articles says that in order to get proof of permanent residence I need to have been working in the UK for at least five years. I moved to the UK in November 2010 to live with my partner and found a permanent position in May 2011. Since then I was made redundant twice but found new employment within three months each time and I have been in my current job for one year and six months.
My questions are:
do I need to way until May 2016 to apply for proof of permanent residence as I started to work in May 2011?
I understand that applications take a while to be processed, therefore should I wait until after the referendum in case brexit does not happen? No point in filling the lengthy forms and spending all that money if the exit does not happen.
If brexit does happen should I be worried for my employment and my right to stay in the country?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Marion

[geriatrix]

You do not qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain(ILR, under UK immigration rules) but may qualify for Permanent Residence (PR, under EU laws).
Moved topic to appropriate forum.

[ohara]

Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and Permanent Residence (PR) are essentially the same thing but for different immigration routes.

ILR is for those on the UK immigration route (usually on some sort of visa), and ILR itself is obtained through an application which costs £1875

PR is for those on the EEA immigration route (such as yourself) which is obtained automatically and for free after 5 years of continuously exercising treaty rights which it looks like you will have done by May 2016 (next month).

Once you hit the 5 year mark you should apply for a document certifying permanent residence, this does not confer any rights but simply confirms that you have permanent residence status, and you'll need this for any citizenship application you make in the future (may also be handy in the case of the UK leaving the EU).

The processing time for a DCPR is around 6-8 weeks at the moment and you are not required to use the monster EEA(PR) form - you can use one of the older forms such as EEA3 or if you're brave, simply write a letter. Regardless of how you apply, you'll still need to pay the £65 fee (the older forms may not mention this as the fee is a recent thing). If I were you I'd do it as soon as you can.

Nobody knows what will happen to existing EEA citizens in the event of an exit from the EU but it's extremely unlikely that everyone living here under free movement rights will simply be deported. The most likely scenario is that those with PR at least will be treated like third country nationals with ILR and will be allowed to remain indefinitely (with conditions).

[Marion1984]

Hi Ohara,

Thanks a lot for your reply.
I have to wait until mid-May then as I started my first job in the UK in May 2011. Then I will follow your advice and try to get the DCPR.

Thanks again,

Marion

[secret.simon]

This Telegraph article also argues that people already in the UK under the current EEA Regulations will have the right to continue under the current rules until they reach PR.

[T]he EU’s freedom of movement rights would be honoured for all those citizens who reside in other EEA nations prior to any Treaty changes....This works both ways, and the UK’s Vienna Convention obligations would prevent any government from deporting migrants who came to the UK under the old system.