Unmarried academics seek UK immigration advice

November 3, 2008 7:55 PM

How can I accompany my unmarried non-same-sex partner who has been offered a job in the UK?

We're both US citizens, we've been living together for over a decade, and now my partner has been offered a job as a professor at a university in the UK. I'm in the process of getting my PhD, I'm happy to move overseas, and it's feasible for me to do so financially and academically, but I'm unsure as to what my visa status might be. We're not married, nor do we live in a state that allows heterosexual couples to enter into civil unions or domestic parnerships, which is what we'd do if we could (marriage is not for us, for a variety of reasons). His visa situation is going to be handled by the HR department of the university, but we'd like a little more information before we consider asking them to help with my visa. His job is permanent, and falls under the category of "highly-skilled" (i.e. they did an international job search and he was considered the best candidate). Basically we don't want to find ourselves in a situation where we feel pressured to get married just to make things easier. Is my situation any different from any random US citizen with half a PhD who wants to live/eventually work in the UK? Or is my situation different because we're together (although we're not in any legal sense)? I think we'd be ok with a civil union in the UK if that would help.

posted by tractorfeed to law & government (13 answers total)

Could you transfer to the university where he'll be working? In my understanding, student visas are far easier to obtain that other types.
posted by emd3737 at 8:07 PM on November 3, 2008

Sadly the university doesn't have my department (linguistics), and I'm far enough along that it would be quite a headache to transfer.
posted by tractorfeed at 8:09 PM on November 3, 2008

A civil union for non-same-sex couples in the UK is called marriage. You get married at a registry office (the local Government registrar of births, marriages, and deaths). It is not religious in any way, shape, or form. It is absolutely the same in terms of legal status as a marriage. So if your gripe is with religious marriage, you can get married in a civil ceremony in the UK. The only problem is that the immigration people might be suspicious of why you came to the UK to get married.
If your objection is with being married, per se, it looks like you are out of luck. You could always ask this question of the nice people at the Home Office - aka the UK Border Agency. They don't bite.
posted by Susurration at 8:28 PM on November 3, 2008

If you've been together long enough your relationship can be recognised as having de facto status in the UK: 2 years or more and you get a short-term visa, 4 years and you get an indefinite one (source).
posted by rodgerd at 8:30 PM on November 3, 2008

I think rodgerd's link only applies if one of you is a UK citizen (or has indefinite leave to remain, etc.)
posted by cushie at 9:18 PM on November 3, 2008

i'm confused by this post. you live in new jersey apparently from your profile - you can get legally joined (even if the local colloquialism is 'marriage') at your local city hall by a justice of the peace in a non-religious ceremony. i know this for a fact, i did it myself six months ago.
posted by eatdonuts at 9:44 PM on November 3, 2008

maybe i'm reading this wrong, you want some kind of legal status between 'single' and 'married' right? does that exist? sorry, i'm being thick, i don't understand it fully. perhaps the UK has some kind of equivalent to the fiancée visa?
posted by eatdonuts at 9:47 PM on November 3, 2008

Unmarried opposite sex partners do not get any kind of special visa. There is no girlfriend/boyfriend visa. They have to go through the same process as if they were going by themselves.

I personally know people who married their same sex partners in the UK or elsewhere in Europe, and get spouse visas with no problem at all. This could be a good reason to get married if that is what you want to do.
posted by dirty lies at 10:08 PM on November 3, 2008

Sorry, I meant to say there is no "visa for the boyfriend/girlfriend of a foreigner with a visa", there definitely is a Fiancé of a UK citizen/Permanent resident/European citizen visa. Fiancé visa does not let you work.
posted by dirty lies at 10:13 PM on November 3, 2008

Damn, disregard my outdated info, I learned this in the 90s. A fast search gave me:

Unmarried Partners of a British Citizen or of anyone with any type of long term status in the UK.
posted by dirty lies at 10:14 PM on November 3, 2008

I think if you've been together for two to four years you can get a temporary leave to remain, via form FLR(M) (Schedule 2 on this page), or if you've been together more than four years you can get a permanant leave to remain via form SET(M) (Schedule 5 on this page).

Or, if you're particularly sensitive to your residence being dependent on your partner, form FLR(S) explicitly includes postgraduate students writing up a thesis - although I don't know if you have to be registered at a UK institution for it to apply.
posted by Mike1024 at 1:32 AM on November 4, 2008

eatdonuts, sorry if I wasn't clear in my question: we don't want to get married, whether in a religious or civil ceremony. Since 2007, NJ does have civil unions, but only for same sex couples -- which sort of puts the lie to the idea of those unions being "the same" as marriage, as they were intended to be according to the supreme court of New Jersey. And domestic partnerships are only for heterosexual couples over 62 (not us, yet).

But the links in dirty lies and Mike1024's answers look to be just what I was after -- thanks!
posted by tractorfeed at 7:19 AM on November 4, 2008

Situation resolved. For anyone finding this question after the fact, it turns out that as long as one person in the relationship has a work permit, then that person can bring in his unmarried partner as long as there is proof that the two have been living together for a certain period of time (either two or four years, I haven't figured this out, but the distinction isn't relevant to us). What happened for us is this:

Work permit was mailed to us in the US, employee applies for a "work visa" at http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/. Partner can then apply via the same website, first choosing work visa as the visa option, and then selecting "dependent". You both have to get fingerprinted, and then you mail all your forms and your passports together with documentation of co-habitation to the consulate. Hopefully this will all work out for us (it's not over yet) but so far the process has been remarkably efficient and painless.
posted by tractorfeed at 8:10 AM on December 5, 2008