European family members
This page covers the whole of the UK
Contents:
Who does this page apply to?
The law about the rights of EEA nationals and their family members to live, work and claim access to housing, benefits and other services changed on 1 January 2021 when the Brexit transition period ended. You have the rights described on this page only if:
- you are the family member or extended family member of a citizen of an EEA member state (EEA countries are listed here)
- your relationship with the EEA citizen you accompany began on or before 31 December 2020
- you arrived to join them on or before:
- 30 June 2021, if you are an ‘extended family member’ or
- 31 December 2020, in any other case
- you made an on-time application to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), and either:
- you have been granted EU pre-settled status, or
- you are waiting for a decision about your EUSS application.
If all of these apply to you and you have the right to reside as an EEA family member (as set out below), this page describes your rights to housing and benefits until you get EU settled status or your EUSS application is decided.
Who are EEA family members?
On or before 31 December 2020 (when the Brexit transition period ended) EEA nationals had the right to reside in the UK to work or for certain other reasons. When an EEA national exercised one of those rights, their family members also had the right to reside to accompany them, even if they were not themselves EEA citizens. EEA family members have a right to reside if the EEA national they accompany is a ‘qualified person’ or permanent resident.
In certain specified circumstances (e.g. death of partner, domestic abuse) a former family member can keep their family member rights even though the family relationship had ended.
A person who could apply to the EU Settlement Scheme as the primary carer of an EEA worker’s child or of an EEA national self-sufficient child is not an EEA family member – see the page on EEA derivative rights instead.
A person who has an EU family permit is not an EEA family member (unless it was issued to an ‘extended family member’ in place of an EEA family permit, during the period 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2021).
Are you an EEA family member?
You are a ‘family member’ if the person you accompany is an EEA national with a right to reside, and you are:
- their husband or wife (i.e. married, not just partners)
- their civil partner
- a direct descendant (child, grandchild, etc) of that person or of their spouse or civil partner
and either:
- you are aged under 21, or
- you are dependent on him/her or on their spouse or civil partner (for example, because of being disabled or studying)
- a dependent direct relative in ascending line of that person or of their spouse or civil partner (i.e. a parent/grandparent)
- an ‘extended family member’ who has been issued with an EEA family permit.
But if the EEA national you accompany is a student without any other right to reside then you only qualify as their family member if you are their husband/wife/civil partner or dependent child (i.e. under 18 or dependant in other ways).
Are you an 'extended family member'?
You are an ‘extended family member’ if you are:
- a dependent relative of and reside with, or wish to join, the EEA worker, or his or her spouse or civil partner, not covered by the (family member) list above
- a partner (not being a spouse or civil partner) in a 'durable relationship', or
- a relative of either the EEA national, his or her spouse or civil partner, and who, for serious health reasons, is provided with personal care by that EEA national, spouse or civil partner.
Are you a 'dependant'?
You are a dependant (for family member or extended family member status) if you:
- are living in the same household and sharing living expenses
- need the financial support of the relative on whom you are dependent
- need the care of the relative on whom you are dependent (because of illness or disability).
Or you may have some combination of these.
Family members with the permanent right to reside
If you are a family member (or a former family member in the circumstances set out below) you have a permanent right to reside if one of these applies to you:
- you are not an EEA national, but you have resided with an EEA national who had a right to reside as his/her family member for a continuous period of five years, or
- you have continuously resided in the UK for a period of five years using either your family member rights and/or your EEA rights (e.g. as a worker) and at the end of that period you were a former family member with a retained right of residence, or
- the EEA national you accompany has acquired a permanent right to reside through retirement or permanent
incapacity, and:
- you were their family member at the point they stopped working, and
- immediately before he/she stopped working, he/she was a worker or self-employed person and your right to reside was as their family member, or
- you were the family member of a worker or self-employed person who has died and:
- you were living with him/her immediately before they died, and
- either the deceased person had lived continuously in the UK for at least two years immediately before s/he died, or s/he died because of an accident at work or an occupational disease.
What documents might you be asked for?
To qualify for housing or benefits you will need to show evidence of:
- your EU pre-settled status – you can do this with either your eVisa by applying for a share code or, provided it has not expired, your EEA family permit (note this is not the same as an EUSS family permit), or
- if you applied to the EU Settlement Scheme but you have not yet received a decision, your certificate of application and evidence of your nationality (passport, national residence card).
You will also need to show evidence of the status of the EEA national you accompany (e.g. worker, student) and of your family relationship to them (birth, marriage, or civil partnership certificate) including, where relevant, dependence.
What are your rights to housing and benefits?
If this page applies to you, you are entitled to housing, homeless assistance, universal credit, state pension credit and housing benefit without any further conditions (as is the person you accompany), if:
- you are a family member (other than an extended family member) of a worker, a self-employed person (including retained worker/self-employed status), or
- you are a family member or extended family member and the person you are accompanying has a permanent right to reside as a retired worker or self-employed person, or
- you are a family member (other than an extended family member) who acquired a permanent right to reside on the grounds that the EEA worker/self-employed person you accompanied has died.
If you are the family member of an EEA national who has some other right to reside or have a right to reside as a former EEA family member your rights to housing and benefits are as follows:
- you are eligible for universal credit, state pension credit or housing benefit provided you are habitually resident
- you are eligible for housing and homelessness assistance in Scotland (without further conditions) or in England, Wales and Northern Ireland provided you are habitually resident.
If you are a family/member or extended family member you can apply for a tenancy from a private landlord or direct from a housing association but in England (in either case) you must show that you have the 'right to rent'. Even though your right to rent is the same as the EEA national you are accompanying, you will still be asked to prove your nationality and (if you are not an EEA national) your right of residence (see above). You must also provide evidence that you applied to the EU Settlement Scheme on time by showing your Certificate of Application (CoA) – if this was provided electronically you can prove this using the share code service.
See also:
