This means that if you are a citizen of an A8 (Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Czech Republic) or A2 (Bulgaria, Romania) country and you are now and have been living in another member state (such as the UK) for more than 5 years, and during that whole time you have been working or studying or self-sufficient, then you (most likely) now have Permanent Residence.ECJ wrote:2. Periods of residence completed by a national of a non‑Member State in the territory of a Member State before the accession of the non‑Member State to the European Union must, in the absence of specific provisions in the Act of Accession, be taken into account for the purpose of the acquisition of the right of permanent residence under Article 16(1) of Directive 2004/38, provided those periods were completed in compliance with the conditions laid down in Article 7(1) of the directive.
Read the full decision at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex ... 24:EN:HTML Read it and enjoy!
If you apply for a PR Card from UKBA, make sure to include a cover letter that refers to the case and print out and include a copy of the case with your application.
Merry Christmas!