Terms & Conditions

[Peter Barker]

It depends whether the family member is also an EEA national. For people with pre-settled status, it’s as if Brexit never happened and the old EEA residence rights are transitionally preserved for them.

If the person is not an EEA national, they can only have a right to reside as a family member, which means they need to belong to the family of an EEA national who also has either settled or pre-settled status AND a right to reside as a worker etc (because settled status itself is personal and does not confer any rights on family members).

If the person is an EEA national, they can obtain a right to reside through their own economic activity. They are not locked into the category they belonged to when pre-settled status was awarded, the entire right to reside regime is preserved and they move between different categories. For example, if the person qualified for ore-settled status because they were the teenage son/daughter of an EEA national, and now they have reached age 21, left college and are making their own way in the world, their pre-settled status entitles them to a right to reside as a worker etc. But only if they are an EEA national.

Whereas, if the person with pre-settled status is, say, the Pakistani estranged spouse of an EEA national, s/he cannot personally have a right to reside as a worker etc and would only be able to claim benefits if s/he has a right to reside as a family member of a worker etc.