EEA/EU treaty rights

Hi there, i am new to this board but i have been reading the threads on here for approximately 7 months.

I have been in the UK for the past 8 years. I first came on a 2 year working holiday visa and then i switched to a student visa for 1 year, then another 1 year and then a 3 year visa.
I am in a relationship with a British citizen of Greek cypriot ancestry who has recently acquired a Greek Cypriot passport along with an identity card.My partner was born here.We have been together for approximately three years.

My partner is currently going through divorce proceedings as her marriage has broken down for approximately 4 years. She is unable to go to my country of origin because of this. Just before the end of my visa, we decided to apply for an extension of my stay in the UK on compassionate grounds in the other category.
I visited the IAS in hounslow to seek out advice and they told me that this was the best category to apply within. We thought about applying in the unmarried partnership category but they said that this was highly unlikely to be successful.

We proceeded with our application and it was denied. We then appealed the decision.This appeal was later dismissed. However in the court my partner mentioned that she is of Greek cypriot origin and that she would like to use her treaty rights. A decision of the appeal was sent to us and the determination denied me leave to remain.

I then appealed this decision as an error of law and i sent my partner's application forms for her Greek cypriot passport and identity card.
A decision was again made against me on the grounds that the documents were written in Greek and that my partner's pasport an idenity card had not arrived as yet.Therefore she could not exercise her treaty rights.

We have decided to go to the administrative court but before we pay the £400.00.Is it worth it or not?

Can my partner still exrcise her treaty rights now that the documents have arrived?
The other thing is;as my partner is still legally bonded by marriage, will this affect her rights as well. The IAS did mention to us that they had made a mistake by allowing us to apply in the other category as in my partner's case her relationship had permanently broken down and she was only waiting on the outcome of her divorce. Thus her status dosen't prevent her from apllying in an unmarried category.

Regards,
Treaty

What is your visa status in the UK now?

Wanderer wrote:What is your visa status in the UK now?

As i am in the process of an appeal my status is classified as a student. This is the visa that i was last given to remain in the UK.
However this has expired as i am going through with an appeal to the administrative court.

In effect my visa status is the last stamp in my pssport until my appeal is decided and all grounds of appeal have been used up.

Lots of questions;

1. Why did you apply for an extension under compassionate grounds? What was the reason (if you don't mind sharing with us)?
2.Is your partner already a Greek citizen or is she applying for Greek citizenship through ancestry?

The difficulty is not in applying for an unmarried partner's visa. Generally you can still apply for a UMP visa even if one or both partners are still legally married. You would need to proove that the marriage/s has (have) permanently broken down. I cannot see why you two did not apply for the UMP visa and instead went for another visa. She is a British citizen so you qualify, and from what I've read you have been living together for at least two years, correct?

The aspect of treaty rights...this is interesting but it doesn't affect your rights to apply for the unmarried partner's visa and I don't see why you should be fighting the ruling based on her Greek treaty rights.

I might be missing something here, so please let me know as this is what I can understand from your post.

sakura wrote:Lots of questions;

1. Why did you apply for an extension under compassionate grounds? What was the reason (if you don't mind sharing with us)?
2.Is your partner already a Greek citizen or is she applying for Greek citizenship through ancestry?

The difficulty is not in applying for an unmarried partner's visa. Generally you can still apply for a UMP visa even if one or both partners are still legally married. You would need to proove that the marriage/s has (have) permanently broken down. I cannot see why you two did not apply for the UMP visa and instead went for another visa. She is a British citizen so you qualify, and from what I've read you have been living together for at least two years, correct?

The aspect of treaty rights...this is interesting but it doesn't affect your rights to apply for the unmarried partner's visa and I don't see why you should be fighting the ruling based on her Greek treaty rights.

I might be missing something here, so please let me know as this is what I can understand from your post.

The compassionate gorunds was based on the fact that she has two kids and that we would like to continue our relationship in the UK while her divorce proceedings are being finalised. We told the AIT and the judge that we both needed to be with each other at this time.
The divorce proceedings are going to take another year, hence the problem of uprooting her family. As it stands, we cannot even go to live in Cyprus; as divorce proceedings have to be finalised in the UK before any moves abroad can be made.

My partner is a UK born citizen of Greek Cypriot ancestry. She has successfully applied for her Greek passport and her identity card.

We didn't have the relevant documents at the time of applying for an extension. We were told by the IAS that we should apply in the other category outside of the immigration rules. However they later said that was there mistake.Even thouh we did not have the relevant documents we could have still applied for UMP.

So now it seems as if our only chance is if we can apply for an extension based on her treaty rights.

Hope this answers your questions.

The IAS have misadvised you, which is unfortunate.

Why not just make a fresh EEA application now? It's free, and will give you the right to work while you are waiting for the decision.


Victoria

VictoriaS wrote:The IAS have misadvised you, which is unfortunate.

Why not just make a fresh EEA application now? It's free, and will give you the right to work while you are waiting for the decision.


Victoria

Thanks Victoria! I have to submit an application for a hearing at the administrative court.

How do i go about applying through the EEA?