Divorce and Settlement in UK| Please Help!

I am currently in a same-sex marriage with an EU citizen. My ex husband was previously based in the UK in the period 2011 - 2018 before he moved to another country. I am working full time and is still residing in the UK since i arrived here way back 2017. We have been separated for more than 1 year and have decided to terminate our marriage by getting a divorce on completely amicable terms as he dont want to come back to the UK anymore whilst the reason why we are divorcing. We have mutually agreed that we would not share / split our properties, savings etc. as part of the divorce. Ideally we would like to avoid any court hearings etc. and minimise the administration burden as much as possible.


We got married in Argentina in 2016 (and are in possession of a certified translated marriage certificate). We would like to get a divorce as soon as possible as Im planning to apply for pre-settled status.

My questions are:
*Is there a high chance that the Home Office would approve my application?
*What would be the first step we should do? File a divorce first and apply for my pre-settled status later? or i can apply pre-settled even if we are not divorce yet?
*How much would it cost to divorce and the potential time line?
*How much would it cost me to apply for a pre-settled status and how long would it takes?

I am very scared to the outcome specially that i am already attached to the UK. I have so many questions but for now im hoping someone can help me with my questions.

Many thanks.

You won't qualify for pre-settled status as the spouse of an EU national if your husband is no longer residing in the UK.

I'm assuming that you aren't an EU citizen.

Hi Casa, Yes i am not an EU citizen. Could you please advise which type of visa should I applied for?

Broken88 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 21, 2019 6:30 pm

Hi Casa, Yes i am not an EU citizen. Could you please advise which type of visa should I applied for?

Any UK visa that you are qualified for (ie Tier 2, Tier 4).

It seems to me that you currentlyprobably have no legal stay in the UK as your status is only legal if your partner is exercising treaty rights in the UK. And they have not done so for (over?) a year...

Hi thank you for your answer. My partner didn't tell me that he will not come back. Basically, he told me that he will have a 3 months holiday but he didnt come back and later told me that he wants me to moved on. But I cannot just leave like that especially that i have already settled here in terms job etc.. to be honest i dont know what to do and how to start

Sorry to hear your husband has gone about things this way - A friend of mine is in the exact same situation as you (married to EU citizen exercising treaty rights, moved here in 2017 but then their partner left the UK). They spoke to a solicitor and in short; no legal basis to remain.
As others have said; if you're eligible for another type (such as Tier 2 or Tier 4 based) visa then that's your only route from the UK side.

However, I did find on "https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/r ... -country-1" something which may be of use as your marriage seems to have lasted longer than 3 years before you will divorce. However, this doesn't mean you can apply for pre-settled status post brexit and it would only apply if you were in another EU country, which given the timelines involved now you won't be able to achieve the required lengths of stays.

Personally, I'd advice speaking to a solicitor to be on the safe side if you can, but if you're not eligible under another visa category then you should start making preparations for life outside the UK as soon as possible. There's enough time to prepare and soften the blow.
As your spouse is no longer exercising their right and hasn't for a year there's a good chance you're already classed as an overstayer and you'd have to apply for common visas from outside the UK anyway (but don't quote me on that). In the interim, don't change jobs or try to rent a different property as you may not pass the right to work/rent checks if your partner isn't exercising their rights.

"What happens to your residence rights if you divorce your spouse?
If you divorce your EU spouse before they acquired permanent residence in their host country (which usually requires them to have lived there for 5 years) - you may stay if:

you have been living there for at least 1 year, and
your marriage lasted for at least 3 years before divorce proceedings started"