World of caution for unmarried/durable partners [except partners of people from Northern Ireland]
Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2020 4:37 pm
I am writing this out of concern for people considering the unmarried/durable partner route, specially those still unfamiliar with the specifics of that route, and who might find themselves in a bit of a limbo after December 31st 2020.
NOTE: This excludes partners of people from Norther Ireland, since these applicants do not need to hold a EEA RC in order to apply to the EUSS, and are given an option for alternative evidence of family relationship. All other applicants do need the EEA RC:
I have sufficient ground to believe that unmarried/durable partners wishing to apply for the EUSS might not be eligible to apply at all, if they do not already have a EEA RC or if they have applied for it just recently.
This is due to a peculiar characteristic of the EEA RC issued to unmarried/durable partners: For unmarried partners, the start date of the family relationship is the date the EEA RC is issued, not the day when they started seeing each other, nor the date when they completed two years of cohabitation.
This might not be intuitive to grasp, but you can think of the EEA RC as a sort of stand-in for a marriage certificate: For married couples the start date of the family relationship is not the date they started seeing each other, nor the date they first moved in together; it is the date they got married. So for unmarried couples, the accepted date of start of relationship follows the same logic, it is the date when an official stamps a seal of approval on their relationship. This is exactly what happens when the Home Office case worker looks at the evidence, accepts it, and the EEA RC card is issued.
According to the more recent timelines, the processing time for EEA applications is reported to be between 6 and 7 months. This means, that any new application submitted today, not yet submitted, or submitted very recently, is unlikely to have an outcome in 2020. And this means, that any EEA RC issued as a result of a new or very recent application is likely going to date the start of the relationship to 2021.
But in order to be eligible to apply for the EUSS, the family relationship needs to have started before December 31st 2020.
See the problem?
I took the time to write to the EU resolution centre, asking the very specific question of eligibility of non-EU citizens who become the famliy member of a EU citizen in 2021 when having lived in the UK before 2020 (This will affect both couples getting married in 2021 and unmarried partners getting their cards issued in 2021). The answer is, as expected, the following:
NOTE: mentions of alternative evidence other than a EEA RC are intended for partners of people from Northern Ireland only. Regretfully this is not made clear in this message.
NOTE: This excludes partners of people from Norther Ireland, since these applicants do not need to hold a EEA RC in order to apply to the EUSS, and are given an option for alternative evidence of family relationship. All other applicants do need the EEA RC:
I have sufficient ground to believe that unmarried/durable partners wishing to apply for the EUSS might not be eligible to apply at all, if they do not already have a EEA RC or if they have applied for it just recently.
This is due to a peculiar characteristic of the EEA RC issued to unmarried/durable partners: For unmarried partners, the start date of the family relationship is the date the EEA RC is issued, not the day when they started seeing each other, nor the date when they completed two years of cohabitation.
This might not be intuitive to grasp, but you can think of the EEA RC as a sort of stand-in for a marriage certificate: For married couples the start date of the family relationship is not the date they started seeing each other, nor the date they first moved in together; it is the date they got married. So for unmarried couples, the accepted date of start of relationship follows the same logic, it is the date when an official stamps a seal of approval on their relationship. This is exactly what happens when the Home Office case worker looks at the evidence, accepts it, and the EEA RC card is issued.
According to the more recent timelines, the processing time for EEA applications is reported to be between 6 and 7 months. This means, that any new application submitted today, not yet submitted, or submitted very recently, is unlikely to have an outcome in 2020. And this means, that any EEA RC issued as a result of a new or very recent application is likely going to date the start of the relationship to 2021.
But in order to be eligible to apply for the EUSS, the family relationship needs to have started before December 31st 2020.
See the problem?
I took the time to write to the EU resolution centre, asking the very specific question of eligibility of non-EU citizens who become the famliy member of a EU citizen in 2021 when having lived in the UK before 2020 (This will affect both couples getting married in 2021 and unmarried partners getting their cards issued in 2021). The answer is, as expected, the following:
NOTE: mentions of alternative evidence other than a EEA RC are intended for partners of people from Northern Ireland only. Regretfully this is not made clear in this message.
Dear XXX,
Thank you for your email enquiry dated 4 September 2020 about what the EU Settlement Scheme is and who should apply.
We understand that you wish to know if non-EU applicants can apply after 31 December 2020 as family members of a relevant EU, EEA or Swiss citizen.
In order to apply the relationship needs to have existed prior to the end of December 2020.
They will need to provide proof of their relationship to the EU, EEA or Swiss citizen family member - for example, a birth, marriage or civil partnership certificate, or a residence card.
If they do not have a residence card or marriage/civil partnership certificate they can still apply providing they can provide alternative proof of relationship.
For more information, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-settleme ... eu-citizen
The deadline for applications is 30 June 2021. To apply to the EU Settlement Scheme, they must be resident in the UK by 31 December 2020, after which the new UK immigration system will come into force.
However, some may be able to join their EU family member in the UK after 31 December 2020 in certain circumstances. Please find more information by scrolling to the bottom of the page at https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-ci ... atus-means.
More information about the new UK immigration system will be available from January 2021. You can sign up for email updates at: https://gov.smartwebportal.co.uk/homeof ... id2=F68F68
To keep up to date with developments on the EU Settlement Scheme, you can check GOV.UK, or sign up for email updates on:
https://gov.smartwebportal.co.uk/homeof ... id2=627DF7
Should you require further information about the EU Settlement Scheme, please go to https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families or alternatively, contact the EU Settlement Resolution Centre by phone on 0300 123 7379 (from inside the UK), 0203 080 0010 (from outside the UK) or by submitting a further question using the online enquiry form https://eu-settled-status-enquiries.ser ... v.uk/start
UKVI is keen to continually review and improve its service to our customers. To help us to do so, we would be grateful if you could complete our customer survey https://homeoffice.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe ... DBhhKZnDW5
Please note we cannot deal with any enquiries/replies sent directly to this mailbox.
Yours sincerely,
F. Martin
EU Settlement Resolution Centre
UK Visas & Immigration
