Immigrationboards.com

Hello, guys.

I just found this great forum today and I have been skimming through the sections. Very informative.
I have a plan with my partner and I would like to weigh how realistic it is from the experts.

First of all, I am a 26 year-old Moroccan female. My partner is a 35 year-old Bulgarian female.
We met in Bahrain almost two years ago and we both have resident permits and good jobs here (Bahrain).
My girlfriend is now visiting a British friend in England, and she has been considering the idea of moving to the UK.
Because a, we know we are not welcome in the Middle-East as we are "different" (gay), and b, we are tired of pretending and we wanna live in a place where we can have "peace" and we can hold hands and c, we hate heat and sandstorms (lol).

I am an HR Manager and she is an Irish Pub Manager; we both will have a lot to sacrifice, if we make this move to the UK.
We do not mind working as bartenders to make our ends meet, until we find better alternatives, in England.
However, I wanna make sure that there is a way to safely make a move to the UK without (myself) being forced to leave, because some paper didn't work out or some rule changed.

Any advice, answers will be very much appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

Z.

Hi there and welcome to the forum. Your username made me want to click on your post

Logistics: apply for a EEA Family Permit at your nearest British Embassy. Arrive in the UK and the EEA has 90 days to become a qualified person exercising EU Treaty Rights. The non EU applies for 5 year UK Residence Card using EEA2 form. More details on the FAQs section.

Practicalities: sounds like you're both got good professions to get sorted in jobs when you get to the UK. As far as being gay goes, I know of a lesbian couple from a FB group I'm on and being gay seems to be the least of their problems, UK bureaucracy and red tape regarding bringing a non EU partner in seems to outweigh anything else. Good luck.

I forgot to add that because you're not civil partners you'll have to prove that you're in a durable relationship, showing two years proof of living together, etc.

Hello, LunarGirl.

Thank you very much for replying.

Well, in where we currently live (Bahrain), there is no such thing as domestic partnership; so we cannot register ourselves anywhere. Also, unfortunately, neither of the countries we come from recognizes same-sex partnership/marriage.
It is going to be very hard to prove that our relationship is genuine to the British Embassy.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of proof do they usually require?

Joint commitment as one would expect to find in 'relationship akin to marriage'. i.e evidence of joint address, joint finances, tenancy agreement, payment of utility bills etc.

Thank you, Casa.

That is the thing, there isn't much of that in Bahrain.
We do share the same residential address on our Bahrain ID cards, but the apartment lease is under my girlfriend's name.
No utilities and stuff, since our rent is all-inclusive and we pay it in cash every month; so no way to prove anything through that, either.
There is no such thing as a joint bank account in the Middle-East. The area has different distribution of heritage/wealth/benefits, etc. (Islamic laws). So we have separate bank accounts.

...

I realize how little (if anything) we can prove with our lifestyle in the Middle-East !

In which case unfortunately you may struggle to prove a durable relationship. This category of permit comes under a great deal of scrutiny, partly to avoid friends applying as a couple. How long have you been living together?

I would advise to put your heart, soul and proof of your life together into the FP application (show them your commitment). This should be a free application so if the first time it's refused you work on what they had an issue with and fix it the second time around. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES HIRE A LEGAL FIRM YOU ARE INTELLIGENT ENOUGH TO DO THIS BY YOURSELVES.

Hello, guys.

Sorry for disappearing for a while.

Casa:
We have been together for almost two years (our anniversary is in early Sept.)
We are traveling to Morocco together to celebrate that. (In case air tickets prove anything).

LunarGirl:
Thank you for your heartfelt advice.
The thing is, I am really afraid to apply and get rejected; and thus UK Immigration will keep my name on file and if we ever decide to go to London for a visit; then they might suspect I wanna stay there illegally and reject that, too.
She's looking for a bar to rent and manage and she wants me to visit it before she takes any decision. So I might need that tourist visa, sometime soon.

Background of it: My girlfriend always intended to settle down in the UK before she met me, but then after we started our relationship in 2012, she kept postponing her plan.
I have never had the UK in my wish-to-settle-in countries. But since she stayed another two long years for my sake in Bahrain, I feel I owe her that. I just need to figure out how to do it and stop "hindering" her life goals.