Guidance

Treaty rights: UKVI documents

Published 19 October 2026

Version 5.0

Guidance for His Majesty’s Passport Office about some of the Treaty rights related UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) documents they may get to support a passport application, including what they mean

About: Treaty rights: UKVI documents

This guidance tells HM Passport Office operational staff about some of the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) documents they may get as part of Treaty rights passport applications, including what they mean.

You must use this guidance in line with the Treaty rights passport applications guidance.

When this guidance, mentions:

• European Economic Area (EEA) nationals, it means a citizen of a member state of the European Union, EEA or Switzerland
• exercised Treaty rights, it means someone who exercised free movement rights in the UK

Contacts

If you have any questions about the guidance and your line manager or senior caseworker cannot help you or you think that the guidance has factual errors, email the Guidance team.

If you notice any formatting errors in this guidance (broken links, spelling mistakes and so on) or have any comments about the layout or navigability of the guidance, email the Guidance team.

Publication

Below is information on when this version of the guidance was published:

• version 5.0
• published for Home Office staff on 07 September 2026

Changes from last version of this guidance

This guidance was previously in the Treaty rights passport applications guidance and has been updated:

• to reflect the change in our sovereign from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to His Majesty King Charles III
• to tell you how to deal with a Residence permit for a national of a member state of the EEC where the ‘Valid until’ section shows as ‘indefinite’ or ‘No Time Limit’
• to check for outdated links and updated accordingly
• in the section Registration certificate, to include content from the WRS: completing checks guidance

Treaty rights: UKVI documents

This section tells HM Passport Office operational staff about some of the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) documents they may get as part of Treaty rights passport applications.

When dealing with an application for a customer whose claim is through a European Economic Area (EEA) national who exercised Treaty rights, you may get the following UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) documents:

• document certifying permanent residence
• permanent residence card
• registration certificate
• residence card of a family member of an EEA national
• residence permit for a national of a member state of the EEC

You can find examples of them in the Knowledge Base

Document certifying permanent residence

A document issued to an EEA national that says ‘Document Certifying Permanent Residence’ means, they:

• have a right of permanent residence, as they either
  • exercised Treaty rights for 5 years
  • exercised Treaty rights for less than 5 years as a worker or self-employed person who ceased activity (under regulation 5 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016)
• are settled in the UK

You will not get a document certifying permanent residence when dealing with a passport application for a child born on, or before 29 April 2006 (as they only came in to affect from 30 April 2006).

EEA nationals did not have to apply for a document certifying permanent residence. However, if they wanted confirmation they acquired the right of permanent residence, they could apply for one.

If you get a document certifying permanent residence as part of a Treaty rights passport application, you must check:

• when it was issued
• the date the EEA national gained the right of permanent residence using the UKVI system (as it may show they gained it before the date UKVI issued the document certifying permanent residence)
• when the customer was born

A customer will have a claim without needing evidence the EEA national exercised Treaty rights, if either of the following apply:

• the EEA national was issued a document certifying permanent residence before the customer was born
• the UKVI system shows the EEA national gained a right of permanent residence before the customer was born

If an EEA national was granted the right of permanent residence after the customer was born, we need evidence the EEA national exercised Treaty rights (in line with this guidance). However, you may not need the evidence for the full 5 year qualifying period.

For example, in the case of a customer born on 1 January 2010 whose EEA national parent gained a right of permanent residence, on:

• 15 June 2012:
  • UKVI will have assessed if the EEA national qualified for the right of permanent residence going back to 15 June 2007 (5 years before they were gained the right of permanent residence)
  • you do not need Treaty rights evidence from 15 June 2007 onwards (as UKVI will have confirmed the EEA national parent met the qualifying conditions from this date)
• 15 June 2016:
  • UKVI will have assessed if the EEA national qualified for the right of permanent residence going back to 15 June 2011 (5 years before they were gained the right of permanent residence)
  • you need Treaty rights evidence for the full 5 year qualifying period (as UKVI will have only assessed if the EEA national qualified for the right of permanent residence from 15 June 2011)

You must be aware:

• from 1 July 2021, a document certifying permanent residence does not give an EEA national a right of residence in the UK (as EEA nationals who wanted to continue to live in the UK had to apply to European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS))
• when dealing with an application for a customer born on, or after 1 July 2021 to an EEA national, you must refer to the EUSS guidance

Permanent residence card

A document that says ‘Permanent Residence Card’ is issued to the non-EEA family member of an EEA national. It means, they:

• have a right of permanent residence, as the EEA national either
  • exercised Treaty rights for 5 years
  • exercised Treaty rights for less the 5 years as a worker or self-employed person who ceased activity (under regulation 5 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016)
• are settled in the UK

For passport applications, you must, treat them in the same way as an EEA national who has a document certifying permanent residence.

Registration Certificate

You must not confuse a document issued to an EEA national that says ‘Registration Certificate’ with a registration certificate someone gets when they register a British citizen.

A document issued to an EEA national that says ‘Registration Certificate’:

• means they can live and work in the UK without restrictions
• does not mean they are settled in the UK

They are also known as a Home Office blue card.

For passport applications, it means we still need evidence to show the EEA national who the nationality claim relies on, exercised Treaty rights (in line with the Treaty rights passport applications guidance).

You must refer to the Treaty rights – authorisation to work guidance if an EU8, EU2 or Croatian national gives you a Registration Certificate.

This is because:

• EU8 nationals could apply for a Registration Certificate to show they completed 12 months on the Workers Registration Scheme (WRS)
• EU2 or Croatian nationals could apply for a Registration Certificate to show they completed 12 months on the Accession Worker Scheme (AWS)

Residence card of a family member of an EEA national

A document that says ‘Residence Card of a Family Member of an EEA National’ is a non-permanent residence card.

For passport applications, it means we still need evidence to show the EEA national who the nationality claim relies on, exercised Treaty rights (in line with the Treaty rights passport applications guidance).

Residence permit for a national of a member state of the EEC

A document that says, ‘Residence Permit for a national of a member state of the EEC’ (on a light blue document) is not proof an EEA national exercised Treaty rights.

You must have evidence the EEA national exercised Treaty rights (in line with the Treaty rights passport applications guidance), unless both of the following apply:

• UKVI completed the ‘Date of issue’ section
• UKVI put ‘indefinite’ or ‘No Time Limit’ in the ‘Valid until’ section

If both of the above apply, you can accept the customer was settled from the date entered by UKVI in the ‘Date of issue’ section.