EU pensioner // New arrival // Pre-settled status

[dapto10]

Hey guys,

I searched the forum extensively before posting. Apologies if I've missed any topic that matches this one.

My Mum, who is an EU national and currently residing on the Continent will be permanently moving to the UK to join my father (EU national as well, with ILR) who has been living here for years.

All this in an attempt to arrange her status before the government closes the EU permanent migration routes.

She is a pensioner, will be living here in a self-sufficient capacity (her pension is rather generous), will probably take some part-time work and my father is in full-time employment as well.

My question is, when would be the right time for her to formally apply for pre-settled status? Has anyone tried applying right after arriving and obtaining NiNO?

Our plan is to open a bank account for her, arrange a NiNO interview, etc. which should (in theory) give us enough evidence to support a pre-settled status application under the scheme.

Does all of this make any sense? Shall we wait for a few months or apply a month or so after her arrival? She is flying to the UK in late September / early October.

Also, if anyone had been in a similar situation before, would transferring her pension payments from the tax authority in her country of origin to the UK (via HMRC) help support any application? Would it be neccesary at all? It's a lenghty process but can be arranged I hear.

Many thanks in advance.

[alterhase58]

EU national must be resident in the UK by 31. December 2020 (end of transition period) and pre-settled status has to be applied for by 30. June 2021.
Link to the guidance: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-ci ... atus-means.
No sure what you mean by transferring the pension payments to UK HMRC - presumably it's a state pension scheme? She can continue to receive the payment from her home country scheme. When she is resident in the UK the income needs to be declared to HMRC which will be taxed here, subject to adjustments due to any double-taxation agreement between the home country and UK, in case pension payments are taxed at source.

[dapto10]

Thank you alterhase58.

I have read the guidance on gov.uk very carefully before posting here.

My question was more specifically in relation to the pretty much fully computerised decision making process with regards to the EU settlement scheme. The guidance is vague when it comes to more specific cases - no menion of self-sufficient persons and pensioners in particular. For example, the algorithm will be looking at NiNO records, in her case these will be very fresh or non-existent. What I meant by 'transferring' pension payments was having her payments made into a UK bank account from her original tax authority and then the pension declared here and indeed adjusted in accordance with the double-taxation treaties.

I haven't been through this process myself as I am lucky enough to be British but my partner did the whole thing last year and her decision arrived in a few hours overnight which tells me it's a computerised and case workers are being assigned only in some cases.

It's all the legislation which I have read very carefully but my enquiry was more about personal experiences of members here and their advice on whether it will 'work' to: a) move to the UK, get the supporting evidence in place as soon as possible and apply as soon as possible or b) move to the UK, get things going and wait for a few months before she applies (before the June 2021 deadline). More to do with the chronology.

The A-levels scandal just goes to show that legislation is one thing but reality is another and that is why I wanted to ask members here for their experiences, if anyone had been in a similar situation.

[alterhase58]

Personally I recommend to start the ball rolling as soon as possible - I wouldn't want to allow for slack time and then rushing towards the deadline.

no menion of self-sufficient persons and pensioners in particular.

Note that "(pre-)Settled Status" is under UK immigration regulations (Appendix EU) and not under EU rules. The concept of EU treaty rights doesn't figure in the rules, such as self-sufficiency. It's about residency.
Clearly there will be other members with experience of the scheme (thankfully I didn't need it).

[Zerubbabel]

a) move to the UK, get the supporting evidence in place as soon as possible and apply as soon as possible

I vote for this one. Most of the process around the EU Settlement Scheme is automated. When they can cross-check with National Insurance/HRMC records, everything goes smooth. It doesn't mean that people who fail that automated crosscheck will see their application denied. It will just take more time and the casewoker may contact them to ask for pieces of evidence. So rather than the application taking days, it may take weeks and it will require some documents. So get them sorted and prepared. Then by the time they get to the application and ask for documents, you can send them.

[dapto10]

Thank you both! Very much appreciated!

I never thought it'll come to this but hey... and you know mums and dads (after a certain age), they don't take things serious until they get really serious.

Many thanks again guys. This has been really helpful advice and reassurance.