Unmarried partner without items of correspondence FP

[baranimus]

Hello everyone,

I am Turkish, and my girlfriend is Swedish.
She has been in the UK for about 6 months, working since she came to the UK, so she is exercising her treaty rights.
Soon I will apply for an EEA Family Permit as an unmarried partner of an EEA national.
I have some questions regarding this, I would appreciate any answers.

I and my gf first met in 04/12/2013, then our relationship began, we have photos and emails to prove this. After a couple of months,
we started living together at her flat in Turkey. We had lived there until she came to the UK.
The flat belongs to her and all the utility bills addressed to her. However, I didn't have any bills in my name because of cultural and
religious norms. Our families know about our relationship but they have never known that we have been living together so far.
We were scared to have any bills in my name or anything that might have made them know we were living together like joint bank accounts,
official address registration etc. By the way, all my bills were electronic. So we don't have any bills and bank statements.
All we have are letters from friends confirming that we lived together and some purchase invoices addressed to that flat in my name,
lots of photos, communication logs, emails between me and her, hotel/flight reservations etc.

In the following document "EEA family permit: EUN02", under the section "EUN2.23 Suggested refusal wordings" 23.5 says that

"In cases where a person is seeking to be considered as an unmarried / same-sex partner of an EEA National,
we apply the same criteria as that stipulated under the Immigration Rules for a person seeking leave to enter as
the unmarried / same sex partner of a British or Settled person."

I couldn't find and understand, which criteria is that and what Immigration Rules are they?

Also, in the EEA (EFM) guidance notes, under section 5 it is written that

"If you did not live together for any part of the 2-year period, tell us the reasons for this and whether
you stayed in contact with each other during this time, and provide any relevant supporting
evidence."

I am really confused. Do I have a chance to get a FP? What kind of reasons should I tell them (like cultural norms are very different in Turkey
etc etc)?

Thank you very much for your help

[noajthan]

A FP is not a girlfriend/boyfriend type of visa; to enter UK as an unmarried partner (on EU route) you need to show you have been in a relationship akin to marriage for 2 years (or more).
This is not defined in EU law so UK have proactively applied elements of UK domestic Regulations in formulating this policy.

You can get up to speed on this in HO guidance, here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... als_v3.pdf

Without rock-solid evidence of a relationship akin to marriage you may face an uphill struggle.
You seem to have little evidence of even being flatmates.
Simply asserting you are a couple will not be enough.
One option may be to get married.

[baranimus]

Thank you noajthan. I read the relevant parts on guidance and there is no hope for us but it's really weird that HO defines a relationship akin to marriage by living together having bank statements or utility bills in joint names at the same address and joint finances etc. In Turkey, even couples having a long-term marriage of 30 or 40 years don't have those as well. Anyway, thank you again, we will get married soon I hope.

[noajthan]

Thank you noajthan. I read the relevant parts on guidance and there is no hope for us but it's really weird that HO defines a relationship akin to marriage by living together having bank statements or utility bills in joint names at the same address and joint finances etc. In Turkey, even couples having a long-term marriage of 30 or 40 years don't have those as well. Anyway, thank you again, we will get married soon I hope.

As mentioned none of this is really defined in EU law, so HO has imported its UK-style, domestic definitions into the UK EEA Regulations.
Good luck.