Settled status before 5 years of marriage

[Elderflower5]

Hello

I was wondering what the chances are of non EU spouses who have lived in the UK for 5 years or more but have not been married for 5 years being granted Settled Status? I have seen numerous posts where people who have lived here for 5 years but who been married for under 5 years being granted Settled Status. I have also seen posts of people who have been married for under 5 years but lived here for 5 years being granted Presettled Status. The rules don’t seem very clear. Is this all down to caseworker discretion?

[Elderflower5]

I’m not clear on whether it’s 5 years of marriage or 5 years of residence for non EU spouses. On the website it says 5 years of residence but other people are saying 5 years of marriage.

[secret.simon]

I’m not clear on whether it’s 5 years of marriage or 5 years of residence for non EU spouses. On the website it says 5 years of residence but other people are saying 5 years of marriage.

The requirement for Settled Ststaus as a spouse of an EEA citizen is to have completed five continuous years of residence in the UK as the spouse of an EEA citizen. So both the marriage and the UK residence should be five years or more.

See Section EU11(3) of Appendix EU of the Immigration Rules.

(a) The applicant:
(i) is a relevant EEA citizen; or
(ii) is (or, as the case may be, for the relevant period was) a family member of a relevant EEA citizen; or
(iii) is (or, as the case may be, for the relevant period was) a family member who has retained the right of residence by virtue of a relationship with a relevant EEA citizen; or
(iv) is a person with a derivative right to reside; or
(v) is a person with a Zambrano right to reside; or
(vi) is a person who had a derivative or Zambrano right to reside; and
(b) The applicant has completed a continuous qualifying period of five years in any (or any combination) of those categories; and
(c) Since then no supervening event has occurred

[Elderflower5]

Then why are some people being granted settled status before 5 years of marriage?

[Elderflower5]

My guess is that the Home Office exercises discretion in certain cases.

[CR001]

Then why are some people being granted settled status before 5 years of marriage?

They might have had an EEA EFM RC as an unmarried partner.

[kamoe]

Then why are some people being granted settled status before 5 years of marriage?

They might have had an EEA EFM RC as an unmarried partner.

From memory I think I have seen two or three such posts here. I clearly recall one person even clarifying that they had never had EEA EFM RC as unmarried partner, and even further disclosing that they had not lived in the UK for 5 years.

Our group conclusion was that the HO had issued their Settled Status in error.

As @secret.simon has said, the rule is that not only you need to be married for at least 5 years, those 5 years also need to have been spent in the UK.

Needless to say this is extremely frustrating for people like me who, with over 11 years continuous residence in the UK and over 9 years as a full-time tax payer, have to wait for the 5 years as family member to be issued Settled Status. I do not believe there is any room for applying "discretion", first because it is not mentioned anywhere, and second because I would have heard about it!

So, no, I do not have an answer other than the possibility of the HO seriously messing up sometimes... if at all those accounts of Settled Status with less than 5 years as family member are to be believed.