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I am a US citizen applying for an EEA Permit as the unmarried partner of my French boyfriend. He has been living and working in the UK for nearly 5 years. He has proof to show in terms of letters from his company and payslips.

We have been in a relationship for 31 months, since January 15, 2010, which we can prove via records of monthly trips back and forth between the US and UK/Europe, phone/FaceTime records, photos and affidavits from friends and family.

However, in this time we have not lived together. We are both financially self sufficient as well, so there is no trail of financial dependency between us. Both of those things, from what I've read, seem to be factors in approving the permit for unmarried partners.

I'm trying to assemble the most powerful set of documentation possible, but am still concerned that though we can prove a durable relationship (that term is so subjective!) because we have not lived together and I am not financially dependent on him, that we will not have the best of luck with our application.

If anyone with experience or knowledge would be so kind as to share advice, I would greatly appreciate it.

Hi there, I was in a similar situation with our application for my boyfriend. We didnt have any formal tenancy agreements to prove cohabitation throughout our relationship and we were initially refused, but successfully appealed and were eventually granted the FP. I would assemble a complete timeline of your relationship from start to present....be sure to have personal statementsnfrom family and friends aswell and all flights back and forth included. Have your boyfriend write a personal statement and for each section or portion of your relationship timeline have the documents and photos as proof. It will require alot but it is possible to prove as We have definitely been there!!! Good luck!!!!

Hi Soniac

Thank you so much for your reply. So far all advice and personal experience has been doom & gloom, and I was beginning to think it was not possible without cohabitation. Your story gives me hope - crossing my fingers we can do this without an appeal.

I'll be sure to be very thorough in the relationship portion of the documentation and hope that our undying love shows through

Were there any pieces of documentation you felt were more valuable than others? What kinds of documentation or detail did you include in your appeal that you didn't include in your initial application?

Did you use an attorney or immigration service on your appeal?

Appreciate any additional details you might be able to share.

Thanks again!

Think very carefully before you apply for a family permit. Should you do so and fail, you may find travelling to the UK under domestic immigration rules would become difficult later.

If you were married, things would be very simple indeed. Durable partners have a more difficult time demonstrating entitlement and there is an element of interpretation and / or discretion on the member state's part.

Ask yourself, how is my relationship akin to marriage? How would I demonstrate that?

Very sound advice....you do need to think about how your relationship is akin to a marriage. What I included in my appeal was additional eveidence of our durable relationship (conversations in msn, skype log etc spanning the entire length of our relationship.) If when you visit eachother and stay in eachothers homes or family homes, have family and friends attest to that with flight informtion proving dates of travel. I had my family and my partners family write letters stating that we cohabited together during visits in our fanily homes. It needs to be very detailed hence why I suggested a timeline of your relationship with as much evidence and photos aswell. I included a ton of photos of us with eachothers family, at family weddings together etc....it is then at the descretion of the entry clearance officer to decide if they feel it is a durable relationship. What I do want you to know is that it is possible to prove a durable relationship without having formal tenancy agreements because We did that very thing, it just means having to prove your relationship akin to marriage in other ways. If you live in two different countries it is very difficult to have a joint tenancy agreement or live together so they will need to take that into consideration and look at your durable relationship in other ways!!!!

Good luck and let me know if you need any other advice!!!!