Hi,

The only difficulty you may have with the Home Office is that you are not married and the EEA Permit is only issued to the non-EU Spouse of an EU citizen and their family members.

EU Law does not apply to the definition of a marriage or relationship for the purpose of the Freedom of Movement Treaty. The definition of a marriage or relationship for the purpose of EU Freedom of Movement rules is left to member states. And in this respect the UK does not recognise non-married partners for the purpose of an EEA Permit.

If you were to have been married, his asylum status would have been irrelevant and would be issued with a permit. Nevertheless you may be just lucky and the Officer handling your case could make a mistake in your favour.

 

Hi, I would just like to add something: I am non-EU and mypartner is EU. We applied under EEC1 form and I was granted a visa!!! And I am NOT married. We just proved that we have been living together for 2 years together.

According to EU law, the visa is granted only to married partners, but the EU law also says that an EU citizen should not be treated less favourably than the own citizen of the country. The means that anEU citizen (a french for example) should have the same treatment than a british citizen. So that means: if the law allows a british citizen to bring an unmarried partner to the country, a french/german/italian/etc should be treated equal. that´s why in the EEC1 form it´s written about partners cause they are allowed!!!!

If you can prove that you and your non-eu partner have lived together for 2 years or more, then you should get the visa!

The EU law says that even that the non-eu is ilegal in the country, etc, the application has to be considered in its own merits.

In the worst case, you could apply for a visa to him to go to france and marry you, then you just apply for a family permit then.

 

Anything and everything is certainly possible with an application for an EEA Permit. This is because there are a number of grey areas with the EEA Permit. So if one can find a spot within that grey shade, you could just be lucky.

Likewise also it is not automatic that a non-EU spouse of an EU Partner would be granted the Permit. Section 28 of DIRECTIVE 2004/38/EC gives the State powers to:

"To guard against abuse of rights or fraud, notably marriages of convenience or any other form of relationships, contracted for the sole purpose of enjoying the right of free movement and residence, Member States should have the possibility to adopt the necessary measures."

As a result any State can invoke Section 28 if it suspects fraud. A number Court judgements have been ruled against the applicant because there govt was able to prove fraud. Especially given the fact that the Partner is an asylum -seeker and the perception that the Home Office have about Asylum -seekers does not help this case.

My advise to Lucky -star will be that if 6 months (Maximum Legal time by which a govt should give a response to an EU application) after the application , she doesn't hear from the Home Office she shouldn't hold her breath. A day after the 6 months means the Home Office is prepared to do battle over this case because it is not convinced about the application and is prepared to invoke Section 28. She and partner should find a way of applying from outside the UK and with proof of their relationship, it shouldn't take more than a week to get her partner an EEA Entry Visa.

The only problem here is that as an asylum seeker, no Western Embassy, will be willing to give him an Entry Permit into their country. As I said she should keep fingers crossed. A positive decision may yet come through!