EU nationals and EU registration certificate
A registration certificate is a document, issued to an EEA national that confirms the holder's right of residence under European law. You do not need a registration certificate to be able to enter, live in or work in the UK.
EEA nationals who reside in the UK for more than three months must be exercising free movement rights. In doing so, they are classed as a ‘qualified’ person.
Qualified Person
A qualified person is defined in regulation 6 of the regulations as an EEA national who is living in the UK as a:
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job seeker – regulation 6(1)(a);
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worker – regulation 6(1)(b);
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self-employed person – regulation 6(1)(c);
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self-sufficient person – regulation 6(1)(d);
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student – regulation 6(1)(e).
A worker is an EEA national who is exercising their free movement rights in the UK by working in paid employment on a full-time or part-time basis. Specified evidence needs to be submitted by the EU national to support their application or the application of their family members. While there is no minimum amount of hours which an EEA national must be employed for in order to qualify as a worker, the employment must be genuine and effective and not marginal or supplementary.
Further to that, EEA nationals can retain their worker status right if they are temporarily unemployed and will have to provide evidence to support their claim.
An EEA national can change the basis of their stay in the UK. For example, if they enter the UK as a job seeker and then take employment and become a worker. In such cases, the EEA national can count both periods towards the five years qualifying period for permanent residence. Qualified persons do not need to apply to for a document confirming a right of residence in the UK. However, if they wish to do so they may apply for a registration certificate. Switzerland is not part of the European Union (EU). Swiss nationals and their family members have the same free movement rights as EEA nationals.
As an EU national can be termed as a job seeker and will need to demonstrate that they have a genuine chance of being employed. This would include evidence to prove academic or professional qualifications & other experience. So, for example, a person applying for positions as a surgeon with no qualifications or experience in this capacity cannot show they have a genuine chance of doing this work.
From 1 January 2014, regulation 6(7) stops an EEA national from keeping the status of the job seeker for longer than six months unless they can provide compelling evidence to show they are continuing to seek employment and have a genuine chance of employment. For example, an EEA national enters the UK as a student and shortly after starts employment. After 13 months they are made redundant and register with Jobcentre Plus. Eight months later, they are still seeking work but provide evidence to show they have recently done further training which, when they finish in 2 months time, guarantees them a position as an apprentice. In this case, this is enough evidence to show they have a genuine chance of being working.
To ensure your application for a UK EU registration certificate is not refused, please email us your details at info@icslegal.com or call us on 0207 237 3388. To request a callback, click here.
Related FAQ's
Our speciality lies in the field of Immigration, Nationality and EU Law, so it means we always are dealing with this side of the law. We are able to support you in making a correct decision, avoid delays on your case, save money and time, not forgetting the stress of any doubts with your application.
There are many routes available to come to the UK, extend or switch, some of them do not allow extension or even switching. Knowing what is right can be a difficult task and this is why we are here. Simple task of not using the prescribed forms can mean your application is invalid, which means if you have no valid stay, you would have to return back and there is no appeal rights.
Our initial consultations are a chargeable service. We initially discuss the requirements of the application to ensure you meet the requirements and have the documentation required at hand for the submission. It gives you an opportunity to meet us and ask questions.
Each case will be checked thoroughly, everything will be cross referenced so guidelines are met and we will also add our legal document which would outline the Immigration Rules and how the client has satisfied the rules. We use documents that are used by Home Office case workers, so we know exactly what they would look for in your case.
The most important fact is that law constantly changes, policy guidelines and requirements are always changing, so it is best that you always use specialised services to support you. We never compromise our services, our fees remain very competitive but our expertise is at the very highest standard.
We place our clients first, so when you sign the customer care letter and we go through your case file, and we believe that the case would not be successful, we will terminate the agreement and return your documents. We will also provide alternative solutions with no added costs. We also have a cancellation period should you feel you want to withdraw your file.
Please note that all cases cannot be guaranteed as circumstances depends and whether you met guidelines, however the Home Office caseworker can still refuse cases on the balance of probabilities and other factors. Our job would be to prepare your case in the best possible way.
1) You contact us through e-mail or phone.
2) We take some basic information, we ask some relevant questions to understand the type of query and what type of support is required.
3) Your case then gets passed to a case worker.
4) Case Worker would contact you to set up an initial meeting.
5) You attend a consultation, an action plan is drawn up and we find out whether ICS Legal can support your case. A report would be sent where there is a requirement to outline what was discussed and what to do next.
6) You authorise us to be your legal representative by signing our customer care letter.
7) We will then start to request documents and information about your case this will build up your case pack.
8) We will then write our legal report and use Home Office caseworker’s documents to ensure everything has been checked and all requirement have been met.
9) Where possible we will go through every aspect of your case before case submission.
10) We will continue to update you throughout the case life cycle .