Non EEA divorce issue

[wederman]

Hello Everyone,

I got married to a french national 4 and half years ago and have been given the 5 years to stay since 2004. Now for the last 2 years I have been separated from my wife and have been living with my girlfriend who is a british citizen.

I have just put in for divorce which is currently underway so as to put in an application with my current girlfriend as an unmarried partner (we have documents to prove this)

Now I am not sure if this is the right thing to do as my divorce will invalidate my stay. I have also been warned that divorce do take a long time what happens if this does not come through to decree absolute before my 5 years stay expires in Feb next year

I will appreciate your advise

Many Thanks.

[thsths]

I got married to a french national 4 and half years ago and have been given the 5 years to stay since 2004. Now for the last 2 years I have been separated from my wife and have been living with my girlfriend who is a british citizen.

After being married for 3 years, you can retain the right of residence. This means a divorce now would not affect your status. But you do need to prove that your marriage has lasted for 3 years, and that your spouse was exercising treaty rights.

I have also been warned that divorce do take a long time what happens if this does not come through to decree absolute before my 5 years stay expires in Feb next year

A divorce can be reasonably quick if you both agree. You should try to get it by February, because you are in a much clearer legal position once divorced.

Tom

[wederman]

Thanks for the response Tom

The issue is i do not have much prove (except for some few BT bills that we had in our name some years back) to show that the marriage had lasted for 3 years. The reason is that she moved out of my house few months after the marriage as we cldn't get along. We have since been trying to get things to work but its finally broken down. I believe she has been exercising her treaty right but not living with me. So I do not have much to prove that.

I have since been living with my british girlfriend which we intend to apply as unmarried partner once the decree absolute comes through.

Will my not being able to prove that the previous marriage lasted for 3 years affect my application when we put in for unmarried partner? we have enough evidence to show we have lived together for more than 2 years.

Please help

Many Thanks