Five years' residence

Once an EEA national has been lawfully resident in the country for five years or more they have a permanent right to reside. [1]

The right to reside will last indefinitely unless s/he leaves the UK for a continuous period of two years or more. [2] This extends to family members who are not themselves EEA nationals but who have resided in the UK with an EEA national for a continuous period of five years or more. [3] For more information see the page on family members of EEA nationals.

The five year period does not have to be completely continuous for permanent residence to be granted. In some circumstances an EEA national will be able to leave the UK and return without calculation of the five year period being interrupted: [4]

• They are allowed to leave the UK for less than six months of any 12 month period.

• They may also leave the country on one occasion for a period not exceeding 12 months for an important reason such as pregnancy and childbirth, serious illness, study, vocational training or an overseas posting.

• The continuity of the five year period is not affected by any time spent out of the UK on military service.

In certain circumstances permanent right of residence can be acquired in less than five years, for example where the applicant was a worker but has reached retirement age. [5] See Retired or incapacitated workers for more information.

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. [6]

Continuity of residence is broken, and the five years' period reset from the start, when a person: [7]

• serves a prison sentence

• is the subject of a deportation or exclusion order, or

• 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. [8] 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. [9]

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. [10]

However, periods of residence in the UK as a result of a derivative right of residence do not constitute residence for the purposes of acquiring a permanent right of residence. [11]

This means that unless the person has another right to reside, when they cease to satisfy the conditions for their derivative right to reside, their residence rights end.

In practice this means the only way a person can acquire a permanent right of residence as the family member of an EAA national is by either:

• residing for a five year period as the family member of an EEA National who is legally residing or

• retaining the right as a former family member on the basis of either the death of a spouse or civil partner or the termination of the marriage or civil partnership

In limited circumstances permanent residence can also be acquired in less than five years if the person is a family member of an EAA national who has acquired permanent right of residence in less than five years.  See Retired or incapacitated workers for more information