Unmarried Partners
Unmarried partners may apply to enter (or remain in) the UK in order to live with their UK based partners in the UK. To qualify the UK based partner must be "settled" in the UK. A person is "settled" in the UK if he or she is in living in the UK lawfully with no time limit on his or her stay (eg indefinite leave to remain, British citizenship). The relationship may be a heterosexual or a same sex relationship, but the partners must not be related by blood.
In particular the following conditions will need to be satisfied:
- any previous marriage or civil partnership of the couple has permanently broken down;
- the couple have been living together as if married (or in a civil partnership) for at least two years;
- you both plan to live together permanently;
- the couple have enough money to support and adequately accommodate themselves (and any dependants they may have) without help from public funds (eg income support, housing benefit etc).
- both partners are aged 18 or over;
- if seeking to enter the UK (as opposed to applying to stay whilst lawfully in the UK) the non-settled partner must first apply to the British Embassy in their home country for entry clearance to enter the UK before they travel to the UK.