UK IMMIGRATION - PFLAG UK
The UK Border Agency is responsible for securing the United Kingdom borders and controlling migration in the United Kingdom. They manage border control for the United Kingdom, enforcing immigration and customs regulations. They also consider applications for permission to enter or stay in the United Kingdom, citizenship and asylum.
This page briefly explains how your unmarried or same-sex partner can join you in the United Kingdom if you are permanent resident in this country. For immigration details relating to same-sex Married or Civil Partners please click here.
Your unmarried or same-sex partner may come with you to the United Kingdom, or join you here, if you:
- currently live in the United
Kingdom and are settled here; or
- are returning to the United
Kingdom with him/her to live here
permanently.
The relationship may be a
heterosexual or same-sex
relationship, but you must not be
related by blood.
You must both be able to show that:
- any previous marriage or civil
partnership that either of you was
in has permanently broken down;
- you have both been living together
as if you were married (or in a
civil partnership) for at least two
years;
- you both plan to live together
permanently;
- you both have enough money to
support and adequately accommodate
yourselves and any dependants
without help from public funds; and
- you and your partner are aged 21
or over.
Your unmarried or same-sex partner
must obtain permission to enter the
United Kingdom before travelling
here. We call this permission 'entry
clearance'. It will be in the form
of a visa or entry clearance
certificate. To obtain it, he/she
should apply to the British
diplomatic post in the country where
he/she lives. For information about
visas, see the
visa services website.
If you have followed the procedures correctly, when your unmarried or same-sex partner arrives in the United Kingdom, he/she will be given permission to live and work here for two years. Near the end of the two years, if you are still in the relationship and both plan to live together permanently, your unmarried or same-sex partner may apply to live here permanently. See Settlement for details of how to apply for permanent residence.
In some cases, we can give your unmarried or same-sex partner permission to live permanently in the United Kingdom as soon as he/she arrives. To qualify for this, you must:
- have been living together for
at least four years as if you were
married or in a civil partnership;
- have spent those four years
outside the United Kingdom;
- now be returning to the United
Kingdom to settle here together; and
- your partner (unless aged 65 or
over) must have sufficient knowledge
of the
English language and about life in
the United Kingdom.