Staying in the UK on a Spouse Visa After the Death of a Partner

Posted onAugust 29, 2024

If you came to the UK on a Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa and your partner passes away you not only have to cope with your grief but you may also worry about whether you can stay in the UK because your Family Visa was based on your relationship.

In this blog, our Immigration Solicitors explain your options if you are in the unfortunate position of being in the UK on a Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa and your partner has passed away.

UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Spouse Visa Lawyers

For immigration law advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.

Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi

Immigration rules if your partner passes away and you are in the UK on a Spouse Visa

The immigration rules allow you to stay in the UK if you secured entry clearance on a Spouse Visa, Unmarried Partner Visa or Civil Partnership Visa and your partner passed away whilst you were in an ongoing relationship with them.

You can apply to stay in the UK whether your partner was a British citizen or a person with permanent residence. Your partner will have had permanent residence if they either had Indefinite Leave to Remain or Settled Status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

Unfortunately, you cannot use the immigration rules to apply to settle as a bereaved partner if you are in the UK on:

A Fiance Visa
A Proposed Civil Partner Visa
A Dependant Visa as the dependant of a Skilled Worker Visa holder, the dependant of a Business Visa holder or a family member of an international student on a Student Visa

If you are not eligible to apply to settle in the UK using Appendix Bereaved Partner we recommend that you speak to our Immigration Solicitors to discuss your visa options.

Settlement application if your partner passes away and you are in the UK on a Spouse Visa

If you are bereaved while living in the UK on a Spouse Visa, Unmarried Partner Visa or Civil Partner Visa you can apply to settle in the UK. You are not applying for a widow visa or widower visa. Instead, you are asking the Home Office to grant you Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK. Once you have secured your Indefinite Leave to Remain you can decide at a later stage if you want to apply for British citizenship.

Many bereaved partners tell our Indefinite Leave to Remain Lawyers that they will not qualify to settle in the UK as they don’t meet the five-year residence requirement. That does not matter if you are applying to settle in the UK using the bereavement concession. The only requirements are that your relationship must have been ongoing at the date of your partner’s death (you weren’t separated) and your partner must have been living in the UK. You also need to meet the general eligibility criteria for an ILR application. For example, anyone’s ILR application would be refused if they are considered a security threat or if they have been convicted of a serious criminal offence. The same general eligibility criteria apply to an application under Appendix Bereaved Partner.

If you have children who are not British citizens, and they are in the UK as dependants on visas, then your children can also be part of the bereavement concession settlement application.

When to apply to settle in the UK following a bereavement on a Spouse Visa

Our Spouse Visa Solicitors and the Home Office understand that when you have lost a husband, wife or partner your first priority is mourning the loss of a loved one rather than sorting out your immigration status. At some point, you may realise that your Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa is about to expire or realise that if you leave the UK to get support from friends and family overseas you may have a problem returning to the UK.

The immigration rules allow you to make an Indefinite Leave to Remain application using the bereavement concession while your Family Visa remains valid or after it has expired. An application can be made from within or outside the UK.

Our Immigration Solicitors recommend that you talk to us about making the application as soon as you feel able to do so. That’s because getting the evidence you need is a bit easier if you do not wait to make your application. Also, if your Spouse Visa or Unmarried Partner Visa expires, you may find you have other issues, like proving your right to rent.

When you are ready to explore your options our Indefinite Leave to Remain Lawyers will support and guide you through the application process. Our Immigration Solicitors will explain the immigration rules in Appendix Bereaved Partner and how they apply to you and your circumstances. We will go through the documents that need to be sent to the Home Office with your Indefinite Leave to Remain application.

Evidence for a bereavement settlement application

When you apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain under Appendix Bereaved Partner you will need to provide:

Evidence of your identity – Biometric Residence Permit
Evidence that your partner has passed away
Evidence that you were in a genuine and subsisting relationship with your partner and the relationship was ongoing at the date of your partner’s death – you need to be able to show that you were in a relationship with one another and planned to stay together in the UK

The best evidence will depend on your circumstances and the available paperwork. Our Immigration Solicitors can help you identify the documents to support your ILR application.

The team of Immigration Lawyers at OTS Solicitors are friendly and helpful and do their best to put you at ease and to make the ILR application process as smooth and stress-free as possible for you.

UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Spouse Visa Lawyers

For immigration law advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.

Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi

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