virus10 wrote:What are the rights of someone who is on an EU 5-year family permit, and the relationship breaks down and they separate? My partner got his visa in 2003 and unexpectedly separated from his wife the same year.
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He thought he only had to leave the country if they got divorced, which they have done recently, so he left the UK to apply for an unmarried partner visa with me.
Well, that depends on the details. If you look at the Directive 2004/38, it say about divorces:
divorce, annulment of marriage ... shall not entail loss of the right of residence of a Union citizen's family members who are not nationals of a Member State where:
(a) prior to initiation of the divorce ..., the marriage ... has lasted at least three years, including one year in the host Member State;
Now the directive always considers the marriage to exist until the divorce is final, so the three years are from entering the country to the divorce. Of course the marriage also must have been active for a significant time, otherwise it would not be considered genuine, but I assume that this is not the problem.
So he could just stay in the UK and get his permanent residence in 2008. Note that this right is not affected by any other visa that you may apply for, he still has this option (unless he was outside of the UK for more than 3 months).
It seems that you are switching to the national immigration path. It is correct that you have to leave the country for that, but I just wonder whether it is worth it so close to him getting permanent residence status. Did you look into the details of both options?
He may be able to continue on the European immigration path. If he still has his residence card (residence document), he should be able to come back any time. But this would most likely invalidate the current application under the national immigration path.
