Nan is here as an EU citizen and her adult daughter has an EU dependant residence card - which means that in order for her daughter's residence card to remain valid, she must remain financially dependant on Nan (she is currently a post-grad student). If she starts working, she will not be an EU dependant anymore and will need to switch to a UK visa that allows work (i.e. a Tier 2 work visa) in order to remain in the UK legally.
She can work, just not very much. She's between degrees right now. But as far as work she can do now, it is severely limited until: I get a job for a year and then retire, (we can both then apply for settled status after May 2020, our 3-year mark); May 2022 (per the 5 year EU settled status); or, her Irish citizenship comes through (not really likely) - which would be a wildcard and negate the need for an EU dependent status of any variety.
The rules for a "direct" dependent family member are:
* if the applicant cannot meet their essential living needs without the financial support of the EEA national, they must be considered dependent even if they also receive financial support or income somewhere else
* You do not need to consider the reasons why the applicant needs the financial support or whether they are able to support themselves by working.
* Essential needs include accommodation, utilities and food. [I am assuming, from having looked at various online calculators that this cutoff point would be about 200 pounds a week, gross income, if factoring in rent, council tax, utilities, transportation pass, and food.]
The rules for an "extended" family member are, in some ways, more beneficial:
* before coming to the UK you were dependent on the EEA national, or were a member of the EEA national’s household, and you’re still dependent on them
or are still a member of their household [both boxes ticked]
* The applicant does not need to be dependent on the EEA national to meet all or most of their essential needs.
* If the applicant is claiming a right of residence on the basis that they were a member of the EEA national’s household, then they must have been living with the EEA national in that household in the same country. [box ticked]
There's a caveat elsewhere in the rules that pretty much states that if someone is in higher education, and they live with their parents, they are automatically considered dependent (even if they have Uni funding).
The reason I was asking about the finer points of jumping from EU rules to UK visa rules is that we had a houseguest who has gone back to the States now and who interviewed with and is hoping to be hired on here with a local company. (They seem to think there's a good chance.) I was thinking it's not actually possible, as it's not a shortage occupation. The Daughter was curious if there was anything like Tier 4 to Tier 2 applied to her, and I told her I didn't think so. But apparently Houseguest does have a shot at it - From a generically googled website -
https://www.internationalstudents.cam.ac.uk/visas-after-studying/tier-2In any event, if it were me, I would not want to have the sword of having to make an employer happy as being the sole decider of my being able to remain in-country dangling over my head everyday. I would just suckitup and do part-time work while not in school, and get myself back in school to get the desired qualifications soon as possible. Or hope my mother got a job that lasts a full year or my Irish citizenship came through. That's what I'd do....
