If you received the EU Settlement Domiciliary Regime, you need to understand the procedure for switching to under-settled status, especially if you plan to live in the country for a long time.
What is Pre-Settled Status
This temporary immigration category, sanctioned under the EU Settlement Scheme, grants EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens who have lived in the UK for fewer than five years.
What is Settled Status?
It is a permanent immigration status, also known as indefinite leave to remain. It gets to the people that have lived here for at least 5 years and then they become permanent residents of the UK. They are being given the right to continue staying without a problem. Then, we shall step over the transformation from traveling settlement to secure settlement.
Eligibility for Switching to Settled Status
To become eligible, there are set rules that can be met. On the one hand, there are some situations and considerations that count. Yet, on the other hand, there are exceptions.
Time Spent in the UK
Usually, you can achieve settled status after living continuously in the UK for five consecutive years. This period starts from the day you first moved to the UK, not from the date you officially received pre-settled status.
Time Spent Outside the UK
Your ability to be eligible will depend on how long you have been outside of the UK in five years, that is another important determinant. You may lose the rights to settled status in UK territory as you have not spent more than half a year in any 12 months preceding the date. This term, keep their absences straight and make sure that they are not staying for more than this limit.
Family Member’s Situation
If you have already applied for pre-settled status as a relative of an EU, EEA, or Swiss citizen, seeking similar status due to changes in your, or your family member’s status, is the prerogative of the Home Office. We shall cover this in more specifics again later.
Determining When Your 5-Year Period Starts
The first of your five years will start counting from the day you enter the United States as a citizen or another status.
Citizens of the EU, EEA, or Switzerland
Let me assume you are in the group of young people who started living in the UK on the day they moved there. If so, your five-year period starts from that day. Very notably, you can submit your applications for permanent residence longer than one year before the expiration of your pre-settled one, thereby not running the risk of being second-rate immigrants in the UK.
Citizens from Outside the EU, EEA, or Switzerland
It depends on whether you are a non-EU, EEA, or Swiss citizen as to how you express when your five-year period starts and is according to your relationship to an EU, EEA, or Swiss citizen at the time that you enter the country.
Close Family Members
- Spouse, Civil Partner, Dependent Parents, or Grandparents: As in the case of such people who came to the UK and later married a German citizen, your five years begin from the date of the marriage, irrespective of the situation relating to the residence settled of the spouse during the time.
- Dependent Children: If you are a dependent child under 21 then the beginning of your five-year term is on or after the day you came to the UK or the day you became a family member (whichever happened later)
- Dependent Children Aged 21 or Over: When your five-year course starts, will depend on your specific condition.
Extended Family Members
If you are an extended family member, such as someone’s long-term partner who is unmarried or not in a civil partnership, you may struggle. However, they approximate the five years from the day you arrive in the UK or get a residence card, whichever comes first.
Time Spent Outside the UK
First and foremost, individuals absent from the UK don’t intend to be away longer than six months in any given year of the period of one year, although there is room for exceptions.
Absences for Important Reasons
If you have been outside the UK for up to 12 months for an important reason, for example, by giving birth or being on military service, you still might have a chance to register for settled status. Also excluded are any shielding, caregiving obligations, or observance to travel guidance that don’t include more than six months.
Continuous Residence During the Pandemic
Kindly don’t worry if you were in the United Kingdom for longer periods: 12 months or above then it is useful to remember that coronavirus made it. The first year of your stay, which is the same period that contributes to settled status, will still count as the first year of your stay in the UK. On the other hand, the 12th month that is spent there won’t be taken into account if the stay was outside of the UK even for just a single day.
Special Considerations for Some Applicants
Retired or Stopped Working
If you are living in the UK, retired no longer working, and have been in the country for less than five years, you may be able to apply for settled status.
Unable to Apply for Settled Status When Pre-Settled Status Ends
You don’t need to stress out or try many things if you can’t achieve settled status before your pre-settled status ends. Since you will receive pre-settled status, you have the right to live and work here. As long as you apply again, you will get an additional five years of permission.
Applying as a Family Member
You may also apply for settled status as a family member if you have an EU/EEA/SW national member who has pre-settled or settled status already. In this case, your UK-resident family member could try this option as long as he or she has been in the UK by December 31, 2020.
Eligibility for Reapplying
If you’re considering reapplying for pre-settled status, you should meet the following conditions:
Your visits to the UK before January 31, 2020, were outside this current procedure.
The UK would be your nation of residence by the end of 2020 December.
Changes in Your Family Member’s Situation
You initially received a derivative of pre-settled status because you took this position as the family member of an EU, EEA, or Swiss citizen. However, changing the family member’s status could help you obtain settled status.
Ending of a Relationship
If your relationship with your family member avoids a five-year mark or more, it may have an effect on your eligibility criteria for the settlement status.
- Unmarried or Civil Partnership: If you become unmarried or end a courtship, your relationship ends when you no longer cohabit.
- Marriage or Civil Partnership: If you dissolve your marriage or civil partnership, your relationship stays in a union state until you take action to sever the ties.
- Divorce or Termination: You terminate your relationship by applying for divorce or the termination of your civil partnership.
Exceptions
There are exceptions to this rule:
- If you had married status at any given point in the last 3 years; you are eligible for this concession.
- By the way, our child is in joint custody, if this is the case.
- For Example, when you’re in an abusive relationship, the breakup most likely happened because of the abuse.
- Continuing Eligibility
- Under certain circumstances, you can still qualify for settled status even if your marriage or civil partnership ends:
- You were married or in a civil partnership that lasted at least 3 years.
- You must have lived in the United Kingdom for at least one year, where your marriage or civil partnership was recognized.
- He/She lived in the UK when the divorce or dissolution was declared.
- Moreover, a child under 18, has a right to attain a settled status in the UK, bearing in mind that you are either in charge or you are maintaining the contact. The special cases of domestic violence require the use of specific measures.
Other Family Member Scenarios
It varies from case to when the situation of your family member is that he/she is the partner of the EEA or a Swiss citizen and this can lead to different conditions on how you will obtain settled status.
Applying to Switch to Settled Status
When it includes all the proofs of your identity and you resided here for a continuous period you will be ready to go to settled status via an application process.
Identity Document for Pre-settled to settled
Your identity document depends on your citizenship status:
- EU, EEA, or Swiss Citizens: Please use your passport or national identity card as your identity document, whether you are a citizen or a foreigner.
- Non-EU, EEA, or Swiss Citizens: Your recognized identity document is often your passport, residence card, or biometric residence permit.
Continuous Residence from Pre-settled to settled
In some circumstances, they just can use your National Insurance number for the automatic verification of your permanent residency. Thus, there will be no need to send or upload documents. However, whether you have provided proof of family membership in due time or have not yet done so will demand evidence.
The Application Process from Pre-settled to settled
It’s possible to introduce the first stage of your application to become a settled status via the GOV.UK official platform. In such kind of scenario, the confirmation letter is sent to your E-mail address. While the site will have the updated status also.
Addressing Application Failures
When the permanent work permit request is rejected you could access the administrative review channel implementing it on GOV.UK. Note also that the procedure will involve an £80 payment which is refundable in case the lawyers’ mistake nullifies the decision.
Once the moment for EU and EEA citizens, as well as Swiss ones, to settle and stay in the long term in the UK arrives it becomes a milestone for them. With good knowledge of the eligibility requirements, exemptions, and application, you will make the trailing process with confidence.
After you have read this full-fledged guide, you will have all the information you need to make good decisions and hence take crucial steps towards peaceful living in this country without any fear of deportation or similar concerns.
How Law and Visas Can Help?
At Law and Visas, our team of expert immigration consultants is here to make your travel to the UK straightforward and successful. Whether you’re applying for a Visitor Visa or a Study Visa, we handle every step from preparing your application to gathering the required documents.
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