Permament Residence - going away for more than 6 months

[warfo09]

Hi everyone. I'm a UK resident with an EU passport living in the UK since 2009.

I am employed at a UK company and I have an option to go to Australia as an expat for 6-8 months.

The EEA application guide notes say that you need to be a 'continuous resident' of the UK, which means "you should not be absent from the United Kingdom for more than six months each year."

If I do decide to go, does it mean I will lose my right to apply for a PR? I will still be on the UK contract, employed for UK company, just seconded for work to Oz.

Thank you.

[secret.simon]

I'm a UK resident with an EU passport living in the UK since 2009.

If you have exercised treaty rights (such as by working) since 2009, you will have automatically acquired PR on the fifth anniversary of such exercise of treaty rights (in 2014).

After the acquisition of PR, you retain your PR even if you were absent from the UK for any period less than two years.

The absence may however have impact on any application for British citizenship, which has much stricter absence requirements and is not covered by EU law.