EEA Permanent Residence - Absences

[e-migrant]

Hello,

I'm currently in the process of preparing for my application for EEA Permanent Residence.

I'm Italian and I came to UK on 11th Sep 2011. I have been continously employed since 12th Sep. 2011 up to now. However, I'm having challenges in interpreting Section 5 of the EEA(PR) application, where it states that we need to list all the absences from the UK.

2 years ago I joined a consultancy company that does business with clients in Europe and world-wide, so I ended up travelling for business quite often.

My main concerns are now:
- Do we also need to list short absences for holidays or work (e.g. between 1 and 15 days)?
- Do business travels break the continuity of Permanent Residence?

I have attached below the list of all the travels I have done for personal or business reasons over the past 5 years. Please can you help me understand if this will cause any issues with the application?

I'm also thinking of getting my current employer confirming in writing the reasons for my business travels and attach it to the PR application. Will this be a good idea?

Code: Select all Country VisitedDepartureReturn# of daysReason Italy22/09/1127/09/114PERSONAL Italy23/12/1102/01/129PERSONAL Italy04/04/1211/04/126PERSONAL Italy21/06/1201/07/129PERSONAL Italy21/07/1225/07/123PERSONAL Ireland30/11/1202/12/122PERSONAL Italy20/12/1206/01/1316PERSONAL Italy16/02/1318/02/131PERSONAL Italy27/04/1328/04/130PERSONAL Italy01/06/1308/06/136PERSONAL Ireland13/06/1317/06/133PERSONAL Italy24/09/1330/09/135PERSONAL Italy05/12/1311/12/135PERSONAL Italy13/03/1417/03/143PERSONAL Italy17/04/1428/04/1410PERSONAL Norway20/05/1423/05/142BUSINESS Spain02/06/1406/06/143BUSINESS USA04/08/1410/08/145BUSINESS Italy06/09/1414/09/147PERSONAL Switzerland05/10/1410/10/144BUSINESS Germany20/10/1423/10/142BUSINESS Italy24/11/1427/11/142BUSINESS Sweden10/12/1411/12/140BUSINESS Italy21/02/1523/02/151PERSONAL Italy03/04/1512/04/158PERSONAL USA19/04/1524/04/154BUSINESS Belgium27/04/1530/04/152BUSINESS Netherlands11/05/1515/05/153BUSINESS Denmark17/06/1519/06/151BUSINESS Denmark21/06/1526/06/154BUSINESS India13/07/1523/07/159BUSINESS Denmark31/08/1504/09/153BUSINESS Denmark07/09/1510/09/152BUSINESS Denmark14/09/1518/09/153BUSINESS Denmark21/09/1521/09/152BUSINESS Denmark28/09/1502/10/153BUSINESS Denmark05/10/1508/10/152BUSINESS Denmark12/10/1515/10/152BUSINESS Denmark19/10/1522/10/152BUSINESS Denmark26/10/1528/10/151BUSINESS Italy19/12/1502/01/1613PERSONAL USA01/02/1607/02/165BUSINESS Italy23/03/1629/03/165PERSONAL Italy08/04/1610/04/161PERSONAL Italy20/05/1623/05/162PERSONAL Netherlands02/06/1603/06/160BUSINESS Italy25/06/1602/07/166PERSONAL Italy09/07/1612/07/162PERSONAL Italy09/07/1612/07/162PERSONAL Spain17/09/1624/09/166PERSONAL -------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 199

Thank you!

[noajthan]

List all absences from UK, whether for business or personal/vacation reasons.

Absence of over 6 months (in total) in a 12 months period breaks continuity of residence and resets the PR clock.

[e-migrant]

Thanks for your answer.

I'm still confused on how the 12 month period is calculated though.

Since my residence starts from 11th Sep 2011, will each 12 month period run form 11th Sep to 10th Sep?

Also the EEA Regulations states that:

Continuity of residence is not affected by any one absence from the United Kingdom not exceeding twelve months for an important reason such as pregnancy and childbirth, serious illness, study or vocational training or an overseas posting.

Will my travels for business reasons count towards resetting the PR clock?

[noajthan]

Thanks for your answer.

I'm still confused on how the 12 month period is calculated though.

Since my residence starts from 11th Sep 2011, will each 12 month period run form 11th Sep to 10th Sep?

Also the EEA Regulations states that:

Continuity of residence is not affected by any one absence from the United Kingdom not exceeding twelve months for an important reason such as pregnancy and childbirth, serious illness, study or vocational training or an overseas posting.

Will my travels for business reasons count towards resetting the PR clock?

My understanding is 12 months runs from anniversary of arrival in UK.

A one-off of up to one years absence is permissible for justifiable reason.
Random trips over different years contribute to the 6 months rule (per 12 months).

[olgachilds]

You dont need to explain or confirm reasons .
In fact you dont even have to list all absences, it suffices in my experience if you include a declaration that you confirm that you have not left the UK for more than short trios and holidays.
People who tell you to list all absences and count 5 years backward and days out of each 12-month period, are thinking too much about rules applied to non-EU applications.

[noajthan]

Clearly someone who is frequently out of UK needs to show not only that they have acquired the holy grail of PR but also that they have not lost it due to subsequent absence.

That is nothing to do with UK domestic law, its all about the letter and spirit of the Directive.
On top of that the innocent applicant may have to contend with how a caseworker implements the UK EEA Regs.

[e-migrant]

Okay. Thank you for the answers.
I've finally come up with the complete list of travels I've done over the past 5 years. It was a very hard task!

On average, I spent between 30 and 50 days out of UK in each 12 month period.

However, I'm unsure at this point if include the declaration or the entire list of travels, as I can't see what would make my case stronger...

[Zhonor]

I've listed every single trip out of the UK and the most was about 100 days in a year.

It was easy to track on Non-Eu passport because we get stamps everywhere we go.