FAQ

What does it mean to be self-sufficient?

STOP PRESS - See this FAQ for important information on Comprehensive Sickness Insurance.

Recent developments will likely affect many areas including nationality, naturalisation, registration, access to benefits and more.

In the meantime, if you believe you are affected, please seek legal advice. If you have suffered loss because of past decisions where the Home Office said you did not meet the CSI requirement, please see https://www.justice.org.uk.

================================================================

Under EU free movement law, people are self-sufficient if they are not employed or self-employed and they rely on their own savings or others’ income to live in another EU Member State.

For example, an EU student whose parents send them monthly payments for their living costs, but who does not work, is a student who is self-sufficient. An EU citizen who is relying on a partner’s income and staying at home with children is self-sufficient.

Under the same EU free moment law, self-sufficient people need CSI to be considered to be 'exercising treaty rights'. However, see the information at the top of this FAQ for important updates on how the UK should have interpreted CSI, in the context of having a National Health Service.