EEA Family Permit (unmarried partners and same-sex partners)
People who are able to demonstrate they have been living in a relationship akin to marriage with an EU citizen for the most recent two years may be eligible to apply for an EEA Family Permit on this basis. Dependent children can also be included in any such applications. If you are not yet in the UK, you should apply for entry clearance through the British authorities in your home country before traveling to the UK.
If you would like help on applying for this EU family permit as an unmarried partner, please click here to complete the visa assessment form or call us on 0207 237 3388 to get some initial legal advice.
Regulation 8 defines an extended family member as a person who is not a family member of an EEA national under regulation 7(1)(a), (b) or (c) and who is the partner of an EEA national, other than a civil partner, who can prove they are in a durable relationship with the EEA national. A durable relationship is an unmarried partner.
If you are a British national, then you may not be allowed to apply under this category for your partner to be directed to the partner of a British national page.
EEA Family Permit Requirements (for non-EU citizens in the UK)
The EU citizen must be exercising their Treaty rights in the UK (employment, self-employment, study, self-sufficient, etc). The couple must be able to show documentary evidence of cohabitation in the most recent two years.
If the EU partner does not hold a current Residence Permit a joint application would be made to the Home Office for a Residency Permit (for the EU spouse/partner) and an EEA Family Permit (for the non-EU partner).
Conditions of the Permit
Under regulation 7(3), a person who enters with an EEA family permit issued as an extended family member only has a right to reside in the UK on this basis while the EEA family permit is valid (six months).
An EEA Family Permit would allow unrestricted employment in the UK for the duration. The visa is valid for 6 months and you must apply for an EU Residence Card prior to the visa expires. To read more information on the EU Residence Card.
EEA Nationals and Permanent Residence
EEA nationals who wish to apply for British Nationality will first need to apply for a document confirming they are free from immigration time restrictions and present this document as part of the application for nationality. EEA nationals will have acquired permanent residence under the EEA regulations 2006 on the basis of 5 years continuous years residence in the UK will need to show they have completed a further 12 months of residence in the UK free of immigration time restrictions when applying for British Nationality.
More details on how to acquire permanent residency can be found by clicking here.
Related FAQ's
Our speciality lies in the field of Immigration, Nationality and EU Law, so it means we always are dealing with this side of the law. We are able to support you in making a correct decision, avoid delays on your case, save money and time, not forgetting the stress of any doubts with your application.
There are many routes available to come to the UK, extend or switch, some of them do not allow extension or even switching. Knowing what is right can be a difficult task and this is why we are here. Simple task of not using the prescribed forms can mean your application is invalid, which means if you have no valid stay, you would have to return back and there is no appeal rights.
Our initial consultations are a chargeable service. We initially discuss the requirements of the application to ensure you meet the requirements and have the documentation required at hand for the submission. It gives you an opportunity to meet us and ask questions.
Each case will be checked thoroughly, everything will be cross referenced so guidelines are met and we will also add our legal document which would outline the Immigration Rules and how the client has satisfied the rules. We use documents that are used by Home Office case workers, so we know exactly what they would look for in your case.
The most important fact is that law constantly changes, policy guidelines and requirements are always changing, so it is best that you always use specialised services to support you. We never compromise our services, our fees remain very competitive but our expertise is at the very highest standard.
We place our clients first, so when you sign the customer care letter and we go through your case file, and we believe that the case would not be successful, we will terminate the agreement and return your documents. We will also provide alternative solutions with no added costs. We also have a cancellation period should you feel you want to withdraw your file.
Please note that all cases cannot be guaranteed as circumstances depends and whether you met guidelines, however the Home Office caseworker can still refuse cases on the balance of probabilities and other factors. Our job would be to prepare your case in the best possible way.
1) You contact us through e-mail or phone.
2) We take some basic information, we ask some relevant questions to understand the type of query and what type of support is required.
3) Your case then gets passed to a case worker.
4) Case Worker would contact you to set up an initial meeting.
5) You attend a consultation, an action plan is drawn up and we find out whether ICS Legal can support your case. A report would be sent where there is a requirement to outline what was discussed and what to do next.
6) You authorise us to be your legal representative by signing our customer care letter.
7) We will then start to request documents and information about your case this will build up your case pack.
8) We will then write our legal report and use Home Office caseworker’s documents to ensure everything has been checked and all requirement have been met.
9) Where possible we will go through every aspect of your case before case submission.
10) We will continue to update you throughout the case life cycle .