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Hello,
I am currently married to a non-EU citizen living outside the UK. We got married only later last year. As of 31.12.2020, we had been in a relationship for more than two years. According to some forums, in order to obtain the EUSS for a person who was the unmarried partner before 31.12.2020, it is necessary to prove that the couple have children or had lived together for at least 2 years.
However, I had a chat with a UK charity providing legal support to EU citizens in relation to pre-settled/settled status and I was told that two or three couples they assisted were able to obtain the EUSS for the unmarried partner living abroad even if the two had no children or have never lived together before.
They suggested that I collect proof such as emails we wrote to each other, bookings of flights and hotel rooms/flats when we met or had holidays together etc to show that we've had a durable relationship since late 2018. What do you think?

stegio80 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:01 pm

According to some forums, in order to obtain the EUSS for a person who was the unmarried partner before 31.12.2020, it is necessary to prove that the couple have children or had lived together for at least 2 years.

Most people completely misunderstand this. No, this is not an accurate description of the requirement.

To qualify as unmarried partner, the relationship needs to be 'akin to marriage', that means, the couple needs to have been operating as a married couple for some time. The two strongest proofs of this are:

1. The joint responsibility of raising a child (Note that this is about being responsible for the child, financially and emotionally, not only being the biological parent)
2. Joint and consistent financial commitments (Note how No.1 above could actually be considered as a special case of this)

So it's mostly about money, not living together. Note that:

a) Mention of cohabitation of 2 years is there, but this is not strictly necessary. If one of the two above proof is given for, say 18 months, the application has chances of succeeding.
b) If a couple has lived together for much longer, say 10 years, but has kept all their accounts separate and don't seem to share any financial responsibility, then they likely won't meet the requirement.

However, I had a chat with a UK charity providing legal support to EU citizens in relation to pre-settled/settled status and I was told that two or three couples they assisted were able to obtain the EUSS for the unmarried partner living abroad even if the two had no children or have never lived together before.

This is certainly possible, if the couple has proven No. 1. and 2. above.

They suggested that I collect proof such as emails we wrote to each other, bookings of flights and hotel rooms/flats when we met or had holidays together etc to show that we've had a durable relationship since late 2018. What do you think?

Every case is different, so for you it will really come down to what exactly was the nature of your relationship before getting married. Either 1. or 2. above apply to you?