How does CSI (Comprehensive Sickness Insurance) relate to being lawfully resident?

CSI stands for Comprehensive Sickness Insurance and it is a requirement for certain people to have it to be considered lawfully resident in the UK. 

EU citizens have been living in the UK under freedom of movement rules. These rules have allowed people of EU countries to live and work around the European Union. 

To be able to live in another EU country, after an initial period of 3 months, EU citizens need to be a ‘qualified person’ under these freedom of movement rules to reside in the UK lawfully. The main categories are worker, self-employed, jobseeker, student or self-sufficient. 

The latter two categories (student and self-sufficient) need to be financially self-sufficient and have this ‘CSI’ to exercise to be considered lawfully resident.

Why does being ‘lawfully resident’ matter?

Those wishing to become British citizens by naturalisation will need to show that they were lawfully resident for a period of time in the UK. 

If you were not lawfully resident, your application to become a British citizen might be unsuccessful. If you have concerns that you might not have been lawfully resident in the UK for the period you want to rely on in your naturalisation application, you should contact an expert. 

There are many organisations and individuals providing advice on citizenship. In the UK, all immigration advice is regulated, so please make sure you go to someone who is qualified to give you advice on this area of law. On the ILPA website, you can find a directory of members to find an immigration advisor near your area: https://ilpa.org.uk.

Why does being lawfully resident matter?

Those wishing to become British citizens by naturalisation will need to show that they were lawfully resident for a period of time in the UK. 

If you were not lawfully resident, your application to become a British citizen might be unsuccessful. If you have concerns that you might not have been lawfully resident in the UK for the period you want to rely on in your naturalisation application, you should contact an expert. 

There are many organisations and individuals providing advice on citizenship. In the UK, all immigration advice is regulated, so please make sure you go to someone who is qualified to give you advice on this area of law. On the ILPA website, you can find a directory of members to find an immigration advisor near your area: https://ilpa.org.uk.

What does it mean to be self-sufficient?

You are self-sufficient if you are not employed or self-employed and you rely on your own savings or others’ income to live in the UK. 

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. 

Self-sufficient people need CSI to exercise treaty rights.

Do voluntary National Insurance payments count as CSI?

No. You need CSI for the period you were a student or self-sufficient and you cannot make payments for past periods. 

However, if for instance, you were a student and also worked during your studies, you may be able to treat this as being a worker rather than a student. 

You can qualify as a ‘worker’ if the Home Office considers your work ‘genuine and effective’. This is a complex area of law and the nature of the work is assessed on a case by case basis. To give you a broad picture, a student working 20 hours a week at Sainsbury’s throughout her studies could apply as a worker, whereas the work of a student who only worked a couple of hours a month in the Students’ Union bar would likely not be considered to have been doing ‘genuine and effective’ work.

Is CSI required by all EU citizens applying for British Citizenship or self-sufficient and students only?

You do not need CSI if you can evidence you were a worker or self-employed for your qualifying period. 

However, even if the citizenship application asks you for 5 years of evidence in the first instance, there are cases where caseworkers check further in your history in the UK. 

The Home Office can also apply discretion on your case, for instance if you had some gaps in your record. 

If you are in doubt about your status in the past, it is a good idea to seek immigration advice on your particular application. 

There are many organisations and individuals providing advice on citizenship. In the UK, all immigration advice is regulated, so please make sure you go to someone who is qualified to give you advice on this area of law. On the ILPA website, you can find a directory of members to find an immigration advisor near your area: https://ilpa.org.uk.

What is the qualifying period for residence for citizenship applications?

It’s 5 years unless you are married or in a civil partnership with a British citizen in which case it is 3 years. 

If you are not married or in a civil partnership with a British citizen, you also need to wait 12 months from the date of your settled status decision, if you apply using settled status, rather than an EEA Permanent Residency (PR) card. 

For example, Dana is a Romanian citizen married to a Greek citizen. Dana has been in the UK from 2010 and received settled status on 2 April 2019. Dana will have to wait until 2 April 2020 before being able to apply for citizenship. If she applies in April 2020, the citizenship application will ask to evidence the last 5 years, so April 2015-April 2020. However, the Home Office may check whether Dana was lawfully resident before 2015 as well.

What evidence can I use to prove my CSI?

Some EU citizens may have had private medical insurance during the period they were self-sufficient or a student. 

There are also other ways to prove CSI. This depends on your country of citizenship and your arrangements. In some EU countries, students abroad were covered by specific national-level policies, whereas some students can still count on their parents’ insurance. An EHIC card issued by an EEA member state other than the UK can also be used. A useful resource about Forms E104 and S041 can be found here: https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/eu-rights-clinic/csi-form-e-014-s041/. This is a very complex area of law and those wishing to rely on it should consider getting legal advice.

My children are born in the UK, are they British?

There are three main categories of British citizens: those who are automatically British by birth, those who can apply for registration as a British citizen and those who can apply for naturalisation as a British citizen. 

Each of these categories has many sub-categories. For children specifically, we recommend reading the information on the PRCBC website (https://prcbc.org/our-work/),in particular this useful infographic: https://prcbc.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/children-and-their-rights-to-british-citizenship-march-2019.pdf.

Do I really need to become British? What are the benefits of British citizenship?

Settled status is Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) under the EU Settlement Scheme, which allows you to live indefinitely in the UK without immigration restrictions. 

However, you lose your settled status if you spend more than 5 continuous years outside the UK. 

There are no such restrictions if you become British. 

British citizenship also gives you the right to apply for a British passport, which can then be used as a physical proof of rights - such as the right to work or right to rent. 

In addition, British citizenship gives you the right to vote in general elections and referendums. 

Applying for citizenship is a personal choice that involves you balancing the costs and benefits of this process.

Can I still apply and keep my EU passport / nationality?

It depends which is your EU country of citizenship. 

Some countries, like The Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Germany, have restrictions on dual citizenship. 

Others, like Romania, allow dual citizenship with the UK for all their citizens. 

These rules are also currently debated in some countries and they may change. Before applying for British citizenship, do check with your embassy or consulate about your EU country’s rules on this issue.

Is it better to apply for citizenship with PR or settled status?

Both PR and settled status are routes to citizenship. The key difference is that with settled status, you need to wait 12 months from the decision date unless you are married or in a civil partnership with a British citizen, regardless of how long you have been in the UK. PR can be backdated, unlike settled status. There is also an important legal difference in that settled status only proves you are lawfully resident from the date settled status is granted. Therefore if settled status is used as a route to citizenship, the Home Office will still look at periods before the date your settled status was granted to check that your residence was lawful, and this will include checking if you had CSI during any periods where you were self-sufficient or a student.

If you are unsure about fulfilling the CSI requirement if you were a student or self-sufficient person in the past, it might be a good idea to mitigate the risk by trying to apply for a document confirming you were lawfully resident for your time in the UK to qualify for permanent residence via an application for a Permanent Resident (‘PR’) document first, which costs £65. Unlike settled status, to have permanent residence in the UK, you will need to show you had CSI if you were a student or self-sufficient. This way you will only lose £65 and not the £1330 application fee should you apply to naturalise (in addition to costs such as the Life in the UK test, biometrics appointment and the English Language Test). You can still apply for a PR document until 31 December 2020. Please keep in mind the time frame it will take for a decision on your PR application and how this may impact your citizenship application, since this route may be closed in a few months’ time. If unsure, we recommend you seek legal advice.