# Unmarried Partners Applying for Residence Card (EEA2)



## RobinH (Dec 19, 2013)

Dear all,

me and my girlfriend are applying for a residence card (EEA2) as unmarried partners. I'm a Polish expat and have been living in the UK from September 2012. My girlfriend is a non-EU national. I've been doing a PhD funded by a scholarship since September last year and have been teaching at the university since October this year. We have been in a long-term relationship since 2009. We met in 2007, but our relationship has started in 2009. I was a student in Germany and so was my girlfriend at that time. For about two years we both studied in Germany, but lived officially in two different cities. However, de facto we spent a great amount of time together: I visited her every second week for about 3 days, while she visited me every other week. Though we did not have a common address, we lived in a relationship akin to marriage. Since 2010 she has celebrated Christmas with my family in Poland every year. She has been to my sister's wedding and is regarded as a family member by my parents and other members of my family. One summer, she even visited my parents without me during her visit to Poland. Between 2011 and 2012 I've been working and studying in cities further away from the place where my girlfriend lived. At the moment, she has been in the UK from September this year after being granted a family permit.

We've just received a rejection to our first application for a residence card, which is solely our own fault, since we were not careful enough with providing evidence of comprehensive sickness insurance. However, the refusal made me think about how careful applications are processed by the Home Office. In particular, I've been wondering, what may be the Home Office's view of us being in a durable relationship without sharing a joint address so far. So far I haven't been thinking about it, since my girlfriend got a family permit, which I treated as a sort of confirmation that the authorities are fine with our long-term relationship. Now I'm thinking that they may not.

Besides, I've been wondering how important is it that the current tenancy agreement has both of our names on it. So far, it is only me who officially lives in our current accommodation.

If anybody can share her/his experience or ideas with us, we would appreciate it very much.

Here is a list of documents that we are going to provide with the next application:

Proof of exercising treaty rights by me (EU-national):
- confirmation of student status from the university
- a letter from the head of my school confirming my student status
- documents confirming that I was awarded a scholarship
- confirmation of comprehensive sickness insurance
- copy of my student id
- confirmation of being assigned a role of a teaching assistant at the university
- my bank statement 
- my EU passport
- tenancy agreement (under my name)

Proof of our long-term relationship
- a photo album with our photos dated from 2007 (year we met) over 2009 (our relationship began) to 2013; there are several photos for each year clearly showing us together and my girlfriend with my family members at different points in time as well as us together with our friends and me with her family members
- a list of about 300 e-mails that we have exchanged between each other over six years
- full text of 5 selected e-mails (German) that we have exchanged over six years
- skype logs spanning over 4 years
- a letter from my parents confirming that they regard my girlfriend as a family member
- a plane ticket from our journey from Germany to England in September
- a letter from our friend in the UK

Other documents:
- my girlfriend's passport
- her passport photos
- proofs of no marriage (both of us)
- proof of payment (55 GBP)

Kind regards,
Robin


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

If you haven't been living together in a relationship akin to marriage for 2 or more years, then you don't qualify. You must be able to prove it with joint responsibilities like tenancy agreements, joint bank accounts, bills, etc. Just being in a long term relationship isn't enough.


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## RobinH (Dec 19, 2013)

Nyclon,

Thank you for your answer. If you're right, how was it then possible that my girlfriend was granted family permit in the first place? To be clear, from the time that she received family permit nothing has changed in our relationship. As far as I understand it correctly, for both family permit and residence card similar rules apply.

Again, many thanks for your reply.

Regards,
Robin


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## RobinH (Dec 19, 2013)

Does anybody have ideas whether and what the differences are in requirements for family permit (FP) and residence card (RC) for a unmarried partner of a EU-national?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Basically, UKBA originally accepted your explanation why you couldn't live together for 2 years because of job situation. But it's only valid for 6 months, so no great harm will be done if they were a bit too generous. When it comes to residence card, which is valid 5 years with the right to work and some access to public funds, they are much more stringent in applying the rules and presumably they found your explanation unconvincing. If you were to get married, I don't think you will have much trouble getting residence card for your partner.


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## RobinH (Dec 19, 2013)

Joppa,

Many thanks for the answer.

Best,
Robin


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