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Try calling the Home Office support line and ask them a simple question: "If I had been a student for the past 5 years and had fully supported myself by working

Try calling the Home Office support line and ask them a simple question: "If I had been a student for the past 5 years and had fully supported myself by working for the same period of time, do I need to present you with the health insurance papers that are required if you are a student?". I'm betting that for every 5 calls you make over there, you'll get a different answer. That is also true for the applications made, which sometimes require re-submission in such edge cases (with obviously an incredibly short notice period). I am not appealing to any sentiment over here, but frankly it's a system that is inherently hostile even towards those who try hard to make sure the application is done right.

gambiting 8y ago
Yep, I'm on the same boat. I've lived here for 8 years but I can't apply for permanent resident status(and hence for citizenship) because I didn't have private health insurance while I was a student. I have also played this game with home office - you ring them up and ask "can you remain in the UK as an EU citizen if you are not exercising your EU free movement rights" - the answer will be no, you cannot. Then you can ask if you can be an EU student in the UK without private health insurance - the answer will be "yes, but you are simply not exercising your free movement rights". Then you can follow with "so is an EU student without private health insurance here illegally?" And the answer will be "no". I've spoken to several immigration lawyers and they all said that what the Home office is doing is strictly illegal - they cannot require presenting proof of private health insurance for the years of studying in order for those years to count towards permanent residence rights. But good luck taking them to court and winning. I'm simply waiting 5 years from the moment when I started working, but it's an incredibly frustrating process. To add to this, I know from my friends that for my particular nationality(Polish) the process for applying for citizenship looks like this - send the application, wait nearly a year to find out it's been rejected, appeal, have the appeal date set 6-8 months in the future, no one from the home office turns up at court, the application is re-reviewed and approved. It's absolute nonsense, and like you said, it only exists to make the entire process as hostile as physically possible.
- heavenlyblue 8y ago
  The fact is that I had the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) when I came to the UK. It's validity is 2 years, and they (officially) do not accept documents which are outdated. How do I then even prove I had it for 5 years? That card had never been required at the NHS either. Took me another £300 (lawyers, official printing excess) to just get the right documents supporting that and I still had no idea if they would even be accepted - because their support line is absolutely oblivious (and to be clear - that is the only support channel they have, outside lawyers themselves who can only advise based on their experience, rather than a set of written guidelines). The sad thing is that you can still get away with it. But I can see how that turns a huge amount of genuinely honest people away too.

gambiting 8y ago

Yep, I'm on the same boat. I've lived here for 8 years but I can't apply for permanent resident status(and hence for citizenship) because I didn't have private health insurance while I was a student. I have also played this game with home office - you ring them up and ask "can you remain in the UK as an EU citizen if you are not exercising your EU free movement rights" - the answer will be no, you cannot. Then you can ask if you can be an EU student in the UK without private health insurance - the answer will be "yes, but you are simply not exercising your free movement rights". Then you can follow with "so is an EU student without private health insurance here illegally?" And the answer will be "no". I've spoken to several immigration lawyers and they all said that what the Home office is doing is strictly illegal - they cannot require presenting proof of private health insurance for the years of studying in order for those years to count towards permanent residence rights. But good luck taking them to court and winning. I'm simply waiting 5 years from the moment when I started working, but it's an incredibly frustrating process. To add to this, I know from my friends that for my particular nationality(Polish) the process for applying for citizenship looks like this - send the application, wait nearly a year to find out it's been rejected, appeal, have the appeal date set 6-8 months in the future, no one from the home office turns up at court, the application is re-reviewed and approved. It's absolute nonsense, and like you said, it only exists to make the entire process as hostile as physically possible.

heavenlyblue 8y ago
The fact is that I had the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) when I came to the UK. It's validity is 2 years, and they (officially) do not accept documents which are outdated. How do I then even prove I had it for 5 years? That card had never been required at the NHS either. Took me another £300 (lawyers, official printing excess) to just get the right documents supporting that and I still had no idea if they would even be accepted - because their support line is absolutely oblivious (and to be clear - that is the only support channel they have, outside lawyers themselves who can only advise based on their experience, rather than a set of written guidelines). The sad thing is that you can still get away with it. But I can see how that turns a huge amount of genuinely honest people away too.