Right to Reside - Free movement rights to reside

To get a benefit that requires a right to reside you will need to show you have a free movement right to reside while either:

• you have pre-settled status; or
• you have an outstanding application to the EU Settlement Scheme for settled or pre-settled status (or an outstanding appeal or administrative review of a refusal)

You can only have a free movement right to reside while either of the above apply to you. Whether or not you do have a free movement right to reside will depend on your other circumstances.  It is possible to have one or more free movement rights to reside. 

The main free movement rights to reside are listed below.  Click on the links for more information.

• Worker - You may have a right to reside as a worker if you are an EEA national and you are currently in paid employment in the UK. Your work must involve activities that are ‘genuine and effective’.   
• Retained Worker status - You may have a right to reside as a retained worker if you were previously working in the UK doing work that was ‘genuine and effective’ and since you stopped working you have been in circumstances in which you can retain worker status.
• Self-employed - You may have a right to reside as a self-employed person if you are an EEA national and you currently work for yourself in the UK. Your work must involve activities that are ‘genuine and effective’.   
• Retained self-employed status - You may have a right to reside as a retained self-employed person if you were previously doing self-employed work in the UK that was ‘genuine and effective’ and since you stopped that self-employed work you have been in circumstances in which you can retain self-employed status.
• Family member - You may have a right to reside as a family member of an EEA national with any of the residence rights in these bullets except a derivative right to reside, if you are defined as their family member.
• Self-sufficient person - You may have a right to reside as a self-sufficient person if you are in the UK with sufficient resources to not be an unreasonable burden on the UK social security system.
• Jobseeker - You may have a right to reside as a jobseeker if you are an EEA national in the UK and you are currently looking for work.  Note that this right to reside will only satisfy the right to reside test for child benefit and child tax credit. 
• Derivative right to reside - You may have a derivative right to reside if you are the main carer of a child who goes to school in the UK if the child’s mother or father is an EEA national who has had a right to reside as a worker in the UK at any time while the child was living in the UK.
• Permanent right to reside - you may have a permanent right to reside if:*
  • you have lived in the UK for a continuous period of 5 years with one or more of the residence rights in these bullets except a derivative right to reside; or
  • you are an EEA national who stopped work due to having retired (if you had lived in the UK 3 years and worked for the last year) or due to being permanently incapable of work (if you had lived in the UK 3 years) – or you are the family member of such an EEA national and were when they stopped work

* If you have pre-settled status, and have lived in the UK for 5 years, or you satisfy the requirements to have a permanent right to reside in less than 5 years due to retirement or permanent incapacity, in most cases you can apply for settled status. 

'Genuine and effective' activities

For your work to give you a right to reside as a worker or as a self-employed person, it must involve activities that are ‘genuine and effective’. This depends on all the circumstances of your employment or self-employment, but in particular:

• How many hours you work each week;
• How long you have been doing the work;
• How regularly you do the work; and
• How much you earn

There are no fixed amounts for any of these factors, and they must all be considered together and with other aspects of your work - for example whether you are employed on a permanent contract.  If you are refused benefit because your work is not accepted as ‘genuine and effective’ get advice.

Circumstances in which you can retain worker or self-employed status

You can have a right to reside as an EEA national with ‘retained worker status’ if you were previously a ‘worker’, or an EEA national with ‘retained self-employed status’ as an EEA national if you were previously self-employed, and since then one or more of the following have applied continuously:

• you are temporarily unable to work due to an illness or accident;
• you are involuntarily unemployed and you registered as a jobseeker with the DWP. (For example you were made redundant and then you claimed universal credit on the basis of looking for work or you claimed Jobseekers Allowance). If you were employed or self-employed less than one year, you only retain worker or self-employed status on this basis for six months. If you were employed or self-employed for one year or more, you retain worker or self-employed status for as long as you continue to look for work;
• you stopped work (or stopped looking for work while retaining worker or self-employed status under the bullet point above) due to late pregnancy or giving birth. You can retain worker or self-employed status on this basis for 1 year from when you stopped work for this reason; or
• you are in vocational training (connected to your previous work, if you are voluntarily unemployed).

Note: you have a right to reside as a worker if you are still under a contract of employment even if you are not working (for example you are on sick leave or maternity leave), whether or not you are being paid. This means you have worker status and do not need to show you have retained worker status.

Family member

 You are defined as a family member of an EEA national if you are their:

• spouse or civil partner; or
• child or grand-child (or their spouse/civil partner’s child or grandchild)  and you are either aged under 21 or dependent on them for material support; or
• parent or grand-parent (or their spouse/civil partner’s parent or grand-parent) and you are dependent on them for material support.

Examples of when you may be dependent on your adult child or grandchild or (if you are aged 21 or over) on your parent or grandparent include if you live in their home or if they pay for your food and utility bills.