CIVIL PARTNERSHIP ACT: Immigration Questions

My boyfriend (well... my fiance... still getting used to saying that) and I have been following the progress of the Civil Partnership Act closely, and were delighted to learn that it's been slated to be implemented on December 5th of this year.  As such, we definitely plan to apply.  From what's been released thusfar, the regulations shouldn't differ much from the fiance visa regulations, procedures and eligibility criteria already in place.  I'm a US guy, working and living in NY.  He's in Liverpool.  Since we have only the vaguest idea of the process, I was wondering if anyone could help a little with the following questions...

1) As a non-EU National, would I have to apply for a Certificate of Acceptance, or a regular Fiancee Visa?

2) Saving a few thousand dollars is no problem... but should I worry about my crappy credit rating (Visa, AmEx, etc)?

3) How hard is it generally to get a fiancee visa?  That's probably about as vague as a question can get... but, speaking in terms of a "1-to-10" scale...

Meddle,

Are you both American? I think you're going to find it difficult to get a visa here, if your primary reason is to get some kind of legal affirmation of commitment, especially if neither of you has a job or UK-benefiting business here. I'm not sure that sanctioned partnerships are even legal here. I know France is very open about that arrangement with straight couples--perhaps you should check that out as well. Are you planning to move here based on the UK allowing legal partnerships between gay partners? As far as I know, it's not in the books here.

Suzanne

Actually, Suzanne, I think that he mention the Civil Partnership Act which is in the works here, just announced something about this this week, I believe.

To answer some of your questions meddle:

1.  I couldn't honestly say about what type of visa you would need.  I expect all of this is a bit too new.  I'd just watch the news and Home Office website carefully as details become available.  If it is akin to a marriage arrangement, I would imagine they would go with a fiance type visa.

2.  Don't worry about your credit rating at all.  They don't check it and once you get here, you won't have any credit at all...good or bad.  Credit ratings don't follow you across the pond.

3.  Fiance visas are about as easy as you can get.  As long as you are able to send the documentation they require and you are able to prove that you won't be a drain on public funds once you get here, there will be no problem at all.

Hope that helps and good luck!

1) As a non-EU National, would I have to apply for a Certificate of Acceptance, or a regular Fiancee Visa?

You didn't say where you wanted to settle.

They have only announced that the CPA is coming in to force, and they have not told us the specific immigration rules in an official way yet.

The inside word is that they plan to create a type of fiance visa for same-sex couples intending to settle in the UK, and to use the COA and MVV for those just wishing to marry in the UK and live elsewhere.

The new fiance visa will have exactly the same rules as the existing one.

So if you are planning to settle in the UK, you will need to go the fiance route.  Check http://www.transpondia.co.uk for some of the things you will need.

If you do an offshore CP in a country that the UK recognizes, you enter as a spouse and need to follow those rules...

Hi meddle!  I've been watching the progress of the Civil Partnership Bill/Act very closely as well, and am very excited about its implementation later this year.

I'm a US/UK dual citizen.  My gf and I are both in the US but we are going to try to move to London this summer.  We've been living together for nearly 3 years, so we are going to go the Unmarried Partner route.  Registering through the CPA won't affect her visa status, but I'm still very excited that it will be available to us before the year is up.

Anyway, garry is certainly better able to answer your first question.  But I'm assuming for now that the immigration policies will parallel those for fiance(e) visas, marriage, and spouse visas for opposite-sex couples, so you could research that for now. 

As for your other two questions, I think the important thing is--if you apply for a fiance (or whatever they end up calling it) visa--that you will have to show that your bf will be able to support you until you are partnered and are able to work.  I don't think they will check your credit--no one in the UK will, so it doesn't really matter once you move.  From what I have read here, it seems like it's not too hard to get the visa, as long as you can demonstrate the ability to support and that you two have met and have a relationship.

No answers here, just to say congratulations. You've been "married" now you can be married!

This is the latest from Stonewall on the Bill

http://www.stonewall.org.uk/stonewall/news/cp_start_date.html?CFID=725995&CFTOKEN=31035139

On a lighter note, will there be common convention about terminology around the CPA?  For example, what's the verb?  Do we say we're getting partnered?  Or registered?  I see others simply say married although there was a big to-do about Civil Partnership not being marriage.  And will I have to call my gf my partner?  For some reason I hate that term.

let the State worry about its own prejudices. You're getting married, say I.

Getting a little OT now: in following the progress and reading the debates, I got the idea that many proponents of the Bill (perhaps including the government) actually would not have a problem with same-sex marriage, but felt that only the CP route would be acceptable to middle-of-the-roaders and that actual same-sex marriage would not be able to pass at this point in time.  In practice, the CPA really does create same-sex marriage in all but name, and it's the practice rather than the name that's important to me.

Yes, that's a very astute and, to me, accurate reading. For a host of reasons, New Labour is a little nervous about the M word. But wait 2 years after Spain and Ireland has jumped that hoop and the UK, as is always the case with Europe, will follow like a little doggy.

On a lighter note, will there be common convention about terminology around the CPA? For example, what's the verb? Do we say we're getting partnered? Or registered? I see others simply say married although there was a big to-do about Civil Partnership not being marriage. And will I have to call my gf my partner? For some reason I hate that term.

You call your girlfriend whatever you want to call her.  I'm hetero and I hate the term "partner," too.

DITTO. It sounds like a business arrangement!

I was so confused when I first heard it here because in my little area of the US, it was ONLY used to refer to gay relationships. I thought everyone in my Uni Dept was gay at first and I was so pleased everyone was so open about it! 

I think that liberal straights started to call their relationships, partnerships, out of respect for those who were legally prohibited from marriage and as a way of refusing the privileges of heteronormatism.