Source: http://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/homelessness_applications/eligibility_eeaeu_nationals/persons_eligible_for_assistance/five_years_residence
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 02:43:59+00:00

Document:
Information on how an EEA national can obtain a permanent right to reside in the UK after an extended period of lawful residence.
An EEA national (and her/his family members) who have resided lawfully in the UK for a continuous period of five years automatically acquires a permanent right to reside in the UK  and is eligible for assistance as a homelessness applicant.
Although there is no requirement to do so, a person who has acquired a permanent right to reside in the UK can apply to the Home Office for a permanent residence document certifying her/his right (see The right to reside for more about residence documents).
Lawful residence for the purpose of acquiring a permanent right to reside means residence in accordance with the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations and which satisfy all the conditions laid out in Directive 2004/38/EC (the Citizenship Directive).
In the case of an extended family member, the qualifying period of five years’ lawful residence is calculated from the day s/he is issued with a residence card/certificate confirming her/his status as an extended family member of an EEA national (see the page on Family of workers and self-employed for more details).
any absence from the UK not exceeding 12 months for an 'important reason', such as pregnancy and childbirth, serious illness, study or vocational training or an overseas posting.
However, a break in immigration status during a five year period will disturb continuity of residence, so where the daughter of a qualifying EEA national ceased to qualify as a family member for a period of four months for failing to meet the 'dependency' condition when she was over 21 years of age, she did not acquire a permanent right to reside despite residing in the UK for five years.
is removed from the UK under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations.
Periods spent in prison do not count towards the five-year qualifying period for the permanent right to reside. In contrast, a period of detention in a secure psychiatric hospital following a hospital order made under the Mental Health Act 1983 was inactivity due to illness (a psychiatric disorder) and counted towards the qualifying period for permanent residence.
A non-EEA family member of an EEA national automatically acquires a permanent right to reside if s/he has resided lawfully with the EEA national in the UK for a continuous period of five years. See Family of workers and self employed for details.
Periods of residence in the UK solely as a result of the derivative right of residence do not constitute lawful residence for the purposes of acquiring a permanent right to reside. See The right to reside for more about the derivative right to reside.
by a national of a non-EU state before that state joined the EU.
a family member of the above.
Prior to 30 April 2006, a member state had to issue a residence permit, valid for at least five years, as proof of the right of residence of an EEA worker. Residence whilst holding a residence permit did not amount to lawful residence for the purpose of acquiring a permanent right of residence unless the EEA national also met the conditions for lawful residence.
If the person's status in the UK before their country acceded to the EU was as an asylum seeker, then that period of residence will not count towards the qualifying period for permanent residence, even if s/he had worked or been self-employed having after being given permission to work by the Home Office.
In order to establish if an A8, A2 or Croatian national has acquired a permanent right to reside in the UK, it is necessary to establish whether employment carried out when the registration/authorisation schemes operated complied with the requirements of the relevant scheme. For details see the pages A8 nationals, A2 nationals and Croatian nationals.
Normally any employment by a A8, A2 or Croatian worker for a period when s/he required registration/authorisation and did not have it, will not be lawful residence. However, in one case the Upper Tribunal held that adhering strictly to this position would result in the disproportionate denial of a permanent right to reside to a Polish national who had failed to register any of his periods of employment for the duration of the Worker Registration Scheme for A8 nationals. The relevant factors included his long period of residence and regular employment in the UK, earlier awards of jobseeker’s allowance, a clear intention to settle here and that he had worked legally in the UK prior to Poland’s accession to the EU (he only left at that time to avoid a period of illegal work following the expiry of his visa).
Once acquired, the right of permanent residence can be lost if that person is absent from the UK for over two consecutive years.
there was a continuous two-year period before 30 April 2006 (or accession) when the person lived in the UK but was not in lawful residence.
In one case, the court held that a period of imprisonment in the UK that occurred before 30 April 2006 and lasted over two years meant that the permanent right of residence was lost.
 reg 15 Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052.
 reg 3(2) Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052.
 Secretary of State for the Home Department v Ojo  EWCA Civ 1301.
 reg 3(3) Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052; Carvalho v Secretary of State for the Home Department  EWCA Civ 1406; Onuekwere v Secretary of State for the Home Department  EUECJ C-378/12; Warsame v Secretary of State for the Home Department  EWCA Civ 16.
 Carvalho v Secretary of State for the Home Department  EWCA Civ 1406; Onuekwere v Secretary of State for the Home Department  EUECJ C-378/12; Warsame v Secretary of State for the Home Department  EWCA Civ 16.
 JO (Qualified person - hospital order - effect) Slovakia  UKUT 237 (IAC).
 reg 15(1)(b) Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052.
 regs 6 and 7 Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052; GE v SSWP (ESA)  UKUT 145 (AAC).
 reg 4(1)(c) Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052.
 reg 15(2) Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052; Alarape and another v Secretary of State for the Home Department  EUECJ C-529/11; Okafor and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department  EWCA Civ 499.
 para 8, sch.6, Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052; Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Lassal  EUECJ C-162/09.
 para 8, sch.6, Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052; Ziolkowski (Freedom of movement for persons)  EUECJ C-424/10; see also Memo DMG 18/12, Department for Work and Pensions, April 2012.
 articles 4 and 6 Council Directive 68/360/EEC on the abolition of restrictions on movement and residence within the Community for workers of Member States and their families.
 Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Dias  EUECJ C-325/09; see also Memo DMG 23/11, Department for Work and Pensions, September 2011.
 Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v LS (IS)  UKUT 207 (AAC).
 Zalewska v Department for Social Development  UKHL 67.
 JK v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (SPC)  UKUT 179 (AAC).
 reg 15(3) Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052.
 para 8(4), sch.6, Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 SI 2016/1052.
 Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Dias  EWCA Civ 807.
 Secretary of State for the Home Department v Vassallo  EWCA Civ 13.

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