Settled status in 4 years

[imbik]

Hi, this might be a silly question but how someone can obtain settled status in 4 years

Basically, my wife's cousin and her son (both EU citizen) applied for settled status exactly when they completed 4th year in the UK and received a conformation email saying they got it. There is nothing special with them, they applied the same way I applied before, I do know the exact date they arrived in the UK (because they stayed with us for the first 2 months).

Any thoughts

[kamoe]

Hi, this might be a silly question but how someone can obtain settled status in 4 years

If by that you mean 4 years of total UK residence, this is not usually possible. As far as I know, this is possible for children for EU citizens who have Settled Status, but not for any other joining family members, who need to accrue their own 5 years, and can't piggy back on the sponsor's years.

Basically, my wife's cousin and her son (both EU citizen) applied for settled status exactly when they completed 4th year in the UK and received a conformation email saying they got it.

Did they actually get Settled Status, or did they just received notification saying that it looks like they are eligible for it? Different thing.

When one has accrued more then 5 years in the UK, but less than 5 years as a EU national or as the family member of a EU national, one received such a notification on application. But on outcome of the application, the HO confirmed it was just Pre-Settled Status, since residence years previous to one become the family member of a EU national did not count. I have seen more than one post here of people claiming they "got Settled Status" when actually they had just received this sketch of a message post-application. (I see this does not look like their case though).

There is nothing special with them, they applied the same way I applied before, I do know the exact date they arrived in the UK (because they stayed with us for the first 2 months).

If none of the above explains the situation, well... there are always strange cases of mistakes in the favor of the applicant. I have seen one of two of these around here (e.g., Settled Status after 2 years in UK, with no prior UK residence, which is clearly a mistake). Not very common, but happens. If this is the case, this is usually not considered for correction (even if the person concerned asks for it) and they can just enjoy the added benefit.

The one thing is that, if they want to apply for British Citizenship, they will need to prove they were physically present in the UK exactly 5 years before the date of application. If that is their intention, they will need to wait the extra year anyway.