Same-sex durable relationship — advice much appreciated

[seaoftime]

Hello, I would really appreciate advice on our situation.

tl;dr: A same-sex couple (EEA+non-EEA) wants to move to the UK. No documentary evidence of relationship as there is no legal basis for same-sex relationships in their respective nations. What are the prospects of getting a family permit?

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We are a same-sex couple — myself, a citizen of Russia (non-EEA national), and a citizen of Romania (EEA national). Neither of our countries allows same-sex marriages or civil partnerships, so there cannot be an authority-issued document for our relationship.

We have had our relationship for over six years and have been living in Russia. We have now decided to go to and settle in the UK. We will close our bank accounts, sell any remaining property, and shutdown all business activities in Russia. Thereafter, we want to hop on a flight to the UK.

Having studied the regulations regarding EEA nationals' treaty rights, we understand that for me to get a family permit we will have to prove that we have a durable and genuine relationship.

We wonder what information we could provide to prove that our relationship is genuine because we have been discreet about our relationship since the general public in Russia is hostile towards same-sex relationships (and becomes even more so).

We cannot provide documentary evidence of cohabitation because most of the time we have rented apartments with no contract, or have only had a name of one of us in the contract. We have had no joint bank accounts. We have had joint business ventures, but due to how those ventures had been structured we cannot provide contracts to prove that they had been joint indeed. So there is no “hard” documentary evidence. Also, we do not have that many photographs of us together because we have not cared about pictures that much.

I am worried because on here I'm seeing people who apply for a family permit submit things like “Hotels booking emails of some of our trips together around Europe,” “Train and flight tickets from trips together,” etc, but we do not have so much documentary evidence simply because we have never made the effort to save any.

During the times when we had been apart due to trips, etc, we have had some correspondence via email, but most of the communication had been over the phone.

How does that bear on the prospects of me getting a family permit? Is there anything else we should be considering?

Lastly, should that matter, I had never been to Romania, and I have a current family visitor UK visa because one of my parents lives in and is a national of the UK, and I am visiting them occasionally.

I would love to learn what our prospects are. Thank you.

[rosebead]

I don't know much about same-sex durable partners, whether there might be any special dispensation as obviously it's difficult getting married, but with heterosexual durable partners the Home Office can be tough with applications unfortunately. It's not impossible by any means to obtain an EEA Family Permit or EEA2 for a partner, as I've read of a few, but often they had to fight hard and often in appeal court. If you don't have good evidence of your relationship for at least 2 years it might be even more difficult. Do you think you could get married or get a civil partnership here or in another EU country that allows it? That would make things a lot easier. I suppose there's also Article 8 of the ECHR that you could use to fight any refusal in an appeal court.

[seaoftime]

Thanks rosebead! I understand you say that it will most probably be hard to prove our relationship. Because we would rather avoid all the hassle with appeals, courts, etc., getting married in another EU country seems like the easiest option.

Is it correct that we would be able to enter the UK without a family permit for me immediately after getting married in another EU country, on the basis of the marriage certificate?

[el patron]

Thanks rosebead! I understand you say that it will most probably be hard to prove our relationship. Because we would rather avoid all the hassle with appeals, courts, etc., getting married in another EU country seems like the easiest option.

Is it correct that we would be able to enter the UK without a family permit for me immediately after getting married in another EU country, on the basis of the marriage certificate?

Essentially, although a very recent marriage would raise doubts as to marriage of convenience, so I would bring to juxtaposed border controls evidence of the relationship being in existance for as long as possible before the marriage date. The main difficulty will be getting to the UK border control, it will not be easy to board a plane etc without valid entry clearance.

[357mag]

Not sure if this would work, just a thought.
The Romanian comes to UK exercising treaty rights, Article 21(1) TFEU, can come for leisure or whatever, there is no need for explaining at border just need passport.
The Russian applies for visitor visa, so must have enough money and place to stay.
When you are both in UK you submit EEA2 application as durable relationship. It does not matter what the outcome of this will be, it only costs £55 to submit it.
You then make application for marriage at registry office, have to wait 15 days till you can get married. You do this as soon as you submit application for EEA2.
You cant apply to get married while just on a visitor visa but it should be ok with EEA being processed.
Once you are married you go back to your home nations to sort out affairs, and can come back into UK as married couple and apply for EEA2 again.

[rosebead]

That is true, el patron, sometimes there are accusations of sham marriages for recent marriages, but in EEA cases the burden of proof is meant to be on the Member State to prove it. Sometimes the UK does approve EEA Family Permits for recent marriages - I guess it's just the luck of the draw on which ECO you get.

Seaoftime, you can get married in any country and not just the EU, but the rules for getting married vary from country to country obviously - it's best to find out from the authorities of individual countries what they require. The UK accepts any marriage/civil partnership from around the world as legit so long as they are conducted in accordance with the laws of the country concerned.

357mag, I like that plan. Seaoftime, here are the documents you would need for marriage in the UK. Strictly speaking you are not supposed to get married on a general visitor visa as it's breaking the terms, but people have been known to do so by using the perfectly legal excuse that it was a spontaneous on-the-spot Las Vegas thing, which apparently falls within the scope of legality.