Accession States: EU2 Countries: In my previous overview blogs posts and videos I’ve explained that there were three accession member states waves in the UK. Understanding the rules behind the acceptance of these Accession states into the UK is of crucial importance. This is particularly important when you make your Permanent Residence application.
If you have not complied with all the rules, which the UKVI imposed at the time when the Accessions states joined the UK, Home Office will disregard that transitional period of time for the purposes of making your Permanent application.
Today I’ll explain the rules about the 2nd wave of Accessions states EU2.
Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007 (known as EU2 nationals).
The transitional period for nationals of these countries lasted for exactly 7 years. From 1 January 2014, nationals of these countries no longer needed permission to work before taking employment.
If you are a national of one the above countries and are thinking of making your Permanent Residence Application and you will be relying on a period of residence as a worker, you must prove that you were authorised to work or were exempt during your initial 12 month period in the UK as a worker.
Normally the Home Office will expect you to provide them with the following evidence:
- any accession worker authorisation documents that you held
- a letter from any relevant employers confirming the dates you worked for them
- evidence they are or were exempt from worker authorisation, such as:
o a blue registration certificate confirming you had no restrictions on your right to work
or some other documents
o other evidence. For example: documents confirming that they are or were married to or in a civil partnership with a British citizen
Exemptions
If you do not have a blue registration certificate as a highly skilled person, are there any other circumstances, which will help you join the exempt persons club? The answer is ‘yes’. You will be exempt if during the transitional period you were either self-employed, self-sufficient or a student.
In this case all you have to do is to provide several documents. They should confirm that you resided in the UK at that period of time in one of the categories, which I mentioned above.
Also you could be exempt if you were the spouse or civil partner of a British citizen. This exemption also applies if you are/were a family member of an EEA national (other than a Bulgarian or Romanian national) who had a right to reside in the UK during the transitional period of time.