Same Sex immigration

[mscottg]

Hi - My partner has a working visa here in the USA. He will have to go back to Germany in two weeks and we will be seperated. Do you know what my options are in relating to this problem? Would the EU honor same sex partner marriage and where I can get my residency in EU? THanks!

[joesoap101]

It is best to contact the German embassy and your options are also determined by your nationality.

[John]

You think it might be obvious but for the record .... could you kindly post details of the nationalities of you and your partner.

Also the two of you have been living together? If so, for how long?

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

More information about your relationship (how long you have been living together, whether you are married or have a formal civil partnership) are key to identifying what rules will apply to you.

I assume you will want to go to Germany and that your partner is German (different rules sometimes apply if you go to an EU country which not the EU citizens home country).

[mscottg]

Thanks for all of the feedback. He is a German citizen and I am American. We currently both live in the USA and have been together for over 7 years. He had quite his job and he only has a few weeks to before moving out of the USA and back to Germany. He has been residing in USA on a student visa then a working visa for over ten years. Where we stand right now is that he will have to leave the US very soon and I wanted to know my options to move to the EU as soon as possible.

We are pursuing a Canadian and Australian immigration applications, but of course these take time. The working visa here in the US has been a real challenge since the US regulations and immigration complications tend to take several years...

In conclusion, we will be physically seperated in few weeks and he will be going back to Germany. Thanks again for everyone's interest in my situation...

[mscottg]

We have been together for over 7 years but have not been through any official ceromony or marriage.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Have you been living together for 7 years? Do you have 7 years of shared bills and travelling together? If so then you are likely in a strong position.

If you have been together for 7 years but have never shared a house-hold, then you may have a far more difficult situation.

What you are going to have to do is show a history together. What they require is somewhat open.

It is probably worth trying to arrange it before your partner goes back to Europe.

[mscottg]

yes, we have been living together for all of these years with rental agreements including shared bills for documentation. Is anyone aware of a good website to access the EU guidelines for our situation? Thanks for your ongoing help...

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Let me give you a little more meat to chew on. The main European legislation you need to be aware of is Directive/2004/38/EC. This is the current version of the key freedom of movement regulation for the EU.

If you have a legitimate long term partnership, these are the rules that will apply if you want to enter an EU country (other than your partners home country) with your partner. These rules may also apply if you enter Germany, but they definitely apply if you want to move to the UK or France or Poland or ...

Directive/2004/38/EC has been specifically set up to recognize both married couples, but also other couples who have been living a life together and could not get married.

As you can see at http://www.justice.ie/80256E01003A02CF/ ... Q6PEFCN-en, even Ireland is implementing it

As Irish legislation does not treat registered partnerships as equivalent to marriage Ireland is not be obliged to recognise registered partners as family members. However, Ireland is obliged to facilitate the entry and residence of the partner with whom the Union citizen has a durable relationship, duly attested. In doing so an extensive examination of the personal circumstances of such relations must be undertaken.

See http://tinyurl.com/ybkdat for some press releases about the directive. Also the Aire Centre http://www.airecentre.org/ also published a decent guide to some of this - it may or may not be on their web site, but they will email it to you.

Note that your rights under this directive exist in conjunction with your partner. So if you have a visa, you technically may have to enter the EU with your partner at your side. Be sure to check when you apply for a visa whether they practically require this.

Finally remember to document everything and keep photocopies of everything.

[mscottg]

Thank you very much for the detailed information. We both truely appreciate your time in helping us... I will do my research and update you with the resultss!