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| Tue, 6/1/2009 | ||
One of the most frequently asked questions posed to Breytenbachs by clients is how a non-EU partner can join them or stay with them in the UK. Fortunately, there are ways in which the UK Immigration system allows for non-EU partners to join their partners in the UK.
The Civil Partnership Act came into operation on 5 December 2005 and allows people of the same sex to register as civil partners of each other.
It is a legal union that gives the relationship legal recognition and gives both parties to the partnership added legal rights and responsibilities. This enable them to receive the same legal treatment across a range of important matters, similar to that of a married couple, ranging from tax issues, employment and pension benefits, a duty to provide reasonable maintenance for the civil partner and any children of the family to recognition for immigration and nationality purposes.
Although it is not the same as a marriage, it allows for people of the same sex to register a legal union similar to marriage, although it is an entirely new legal concept.
Registering a civil partnership is a serious commitment and does not end when one of the parties walk away. In order to end a civil partnership, civil partners are required to go through a court based dissolution which addresses the same issues as a divorce settlement. A civil partnership can also end through annulment or upon the death of one of the parties.
Both the partners must give notice to register a civil partnership at a special register office. If you are subject to immigration control, before you will be allowed to give notice, you must:
Have been granted entry clearance
to the UK specifically for the purpose of registering a civil
partnership there, or
Have been issued with a certificate from the Immigration and
Nationality Directorate (IND) giving you permission to register a
civil partnership,
Or provide proof of your indefinite leave to remain status in the
UK.
The registrar is required to report any civil partnership to UK Immigration if he suspects that the parties are entering into the partnership as a means of circumventing immigration control.
Fifteen days after giving notice of the civil partnership the civil partnership can be registered, which is done once the couple has signed the civil partnership document in the presence of a registrar and two witnesses.
If you are the civil partner of a person who is either a British citizen or who holds indefinite leave to remain in the UK (permanent residence), the civil partnership provisions are exactly the same as those in place for spouses of British citizens or spouses of persons settled in the UK. Under the Civil Partnership Act you will have similar immigration rights to married couples. This means that the civil partner of the British citizen or person settled in the UK will be able to apply for two year’s leave to remain in the UK. If the civil partnership is still subsisting at the end of the two years, the person will be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK (permanent residence). There are no work restrictions on the civil partner of a British citizen or person settled in the UK.
If you are the civil partner of a person who is subject to immigration control in one of the permanent immigration categories such as a work permit holder, HSMP-holder or Ancestry Visa holder, you can apply to join him or her in the UK as a dependant for the same time as his/her leave to remain is granted. After you have obtained this dependant visa, you will be able to work in the UK without any restrictions, subject to your partner maintaining his/her status. At the end of five years as a dependant, you will be able to qualify for indefinite leave to remain, provided you are still civil partners and the relationship is subsisting, and provided your partner has maintained his legal status or acquired ILR or British citizenship in the intervening period.
It is also possible to apply for leave to enter the UK as the civil partner of a person with a student visa, if the student visa is granted for longer than six months. The leave to remain will be granted for the same period as the student visa and the civil partner of the student visa holder will be able to work without restrictions. However, as this is a temporary immigration category it will not be possible to qualify for indefinite leave to remain and both partners should leave the UK upon the expiry of the visa or switch to another immigration status.
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