A8 exemption from registraion on the WRS

Hello,

Would 12 months work as registered self emloyed count as ‘legal employment’ in this regard below.?

6. Registration Certificates
A8 nationals who are exempt from registration and those who have completed 12 months uninterrupted legal employment in the UK (gaps totalling less than 30 days will not be deducted from this) can apply for a registration certificate. They must be treated like nationals of the pre-enlargement Member States.

6.1 A8 nationals exempt from registration
A8 workers are exempt from registration if any of the following apply:
• On 30 April 2004 the A8 national had valid leave giving unrestricted employment rights i.e. they had been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK under the Immigration Act 1971 on code 1 or 1A conditions.
• The A8 national has undertaken 12 months of continuous legal employment, either;
- entirely before but ending on 30 April 2004, or
- starting before and finishing after 30 April 2004 or
- wholly after 30 April 2004.

It was A8 national employees who had to register their work with the Home Office prior to 1 May 2011, unless they were exempt.

But a self-employed person would have had a right to reside even when the worker registration scheme for A8’s was in place, from 1 May 2004 to 30 April 2011. They were thus treated in the same way as other EEA Nationals.  Being registered with HMRC goes towards showing that the person is self-employed, but the work they do must be ‘genuine and effective’ rather than ‘marginal and ancillary’, though temporary lulls in activity are allowed.

For the purpose of being eligible to claim ESA (IB), would this one years self employment make them as eligible as an A8 national who had completed the WRS?

6. Registration Certificates
A8 nationals who are exempt from registration and those who have completed 12 months uninterrupted legal employment in the UK (gaps totalling less than 30 days will not be deducted from this) can apply for a registration certificate. They must be treated like nationals of the pre-enlargement Member States.

6.1 A8 nationals exempt from registration
A8 workers are exempt from registration if any of the following apply:
• On 30 April 2004 the A8 national had valid leave giving unrestricted employment rights i.e. they had been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK under the Immigration Act 1971 on code 1 or 1A conditions.
• The A8 national has undertaken 12 months of continuous legal employment, either;
- entirely before but ending on 30 April 2004, or
- starting before and finishing after 30 April 2004 or
- wholly after 30 April 2004

An EEA national, whether A8, A2 or from the older EEA states, who has been self employed and is temporarily unable to work due to illness or disablity retains their status as a self-employed EEA national (reg. 6(3) EEA Regs 2006). However, just because they are not currently working does not necessarily mean they have ceased to be a self-employed person in the first place so their may be no need to established retained status. The WRS is irrelevant here.