EUSS Family Permit: Sponsors, Documents, and Decision Times

The EU Settlement Scheme family permit is a free six-month entry clearance that lets you travel to the United Kingdom to join a family member from the EU, EEA, or Switzerland who was living there before free movement ended on 31 December 2020.¹ While it is valid, you can enter and leave the UK as often as you need, and you can work or study without any extra permission.² Without it, an airline may refuse to board you or a border officer may turn you away on arrival.

Who Can Sponsor You

Your sponsor is the EU, EEA, or Swiss national you want to join. They must have been living in the UK by 31 December 2020 and should hold settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.¹ If their own EUSS application is still pending or has lapsed, that will affect whether your permit can be granted.

Your relationship to that sponsor has to fit one of the recognised categories:

Spouses and civil partners whose marriage or civil partnership existed before 31 December 2020 and is still in place at the date of application.
Durable partners who have lived together in a relationship similar to marriage for at least two years. The Home Office can accept other significant evidence of the relationship if you fall short of that threshold, but this is harder to prove.³
Children under 21 who are direct descendants of the sponsor or their spouse or civil partner, including adopted children and children born after 31 December 2020.³
Children aged 21 or over who are financially or physically dependent on the sponsor or the sponsor’s spouse or civil partner.
Dependent parents and grandparents who cannot meet their essential living needs without the sponsor’s financial or material support.⁴

Dependency here is a specific legal concept, not a general claim of family reliance. You have to show, with documents, that you cannot meet your essential living needs without your sponsor’s support. The Home Office does not care why the dependency exists, only whether it does and whether the paperwork proves it.⁴

If your relationship with the sponsor has ended because they died, left the UK, or you divorced or dissolved a civil partnership, you may still qualify under what the rules call a retained right of residence. You generally need to show you were living in the UK at the time of the triggering event and that you meet residency duration requirements, and the burden of proof sits entirely with you.⁵

Documents You Need to Gather

Three things have to be proved: your identity, your sponsor’s EUSS status, and your relationship.

For identity and status, you need your own valid passport, plus a copy of your sponsor’s passport or national identity card. Ask your sponsor to generate a share code through the GOV.UK online service so the Home Office can verify their settled or pre-settled status.

Relationship evidence depends on the category. Spouses and civil partners submit an original marriage or civil partnership certificate from a recognised government authority. Durable partners submit evidence covering a continuous period of at least 24 months of living together, such as joint utility bills, shared bank statements, or a tenancy agreement in both names. Dependent adult children or parents submit bank statements showing regular transfers from the sponsor, money transfer receipts, or medical evidence such as a hospital consultant’s letter confirming a need for personal care on serious health grounds.⁴

Any document not in English or Welsh needs a full translation. The translation must include a statement that it is accurate, the translator’s full name and signature, their contact details, and the date.⁶ The Home Office can verify translations independently, so a professional translator is worth the money.

The online form will ask about your travel history, any previous immigration refusals, and any criminal convictions. Answer thoroughly and honestly. Concealing a previous refusal or conviction counts as deception, which triggers a ten-year ban on future UK immigration applications.⁷

How to Apply and Give Biometrics

You start on the GOV.UK website. There is no fee.¹ Complete the online form, upload your supporting documents as digital files, then book an appointment at a visa application centre to provide biometrics.

At the appointment, staff take a digital photograph and scan your fingerprints. Children under five are exempt from fingerprinting but still have a facial photograph taken.⁸ Your file then goes to a Home Office caseworker for a decision.

Watch the email address you used on the application. If a caseworker needs clarification, they will contact you there and expect a prompt reply. Missing that response window can produce a refusal on non-compliance grounds, even if the underlying case is strong.

How Long a Decision Takes

Straightforward applications may be decided in about one month. More complex cases, such as those where the relationship has not been relied on in a previous application, where demand is high, or where documents need verification, can take around three months. Applications involving criminal records, paper submissions, or a child’s application not linked to an adult can take up to six months.⁹

You cannot use a pending application to enter the UK. If you need to visit while you wait, you would have to travel separately as a visitor, using a visit visa if you are a visa national or otherwise an Electronic Travel Authorisation. That carries real risk. If a border officer concludes you intend to stay rather than visit, you can be refused entry, and you would also need to show you plan to return abroad to collect the family permit once issued.

Criminal Records and Suitability

A criminal record does not automatically disqualify you, but certain convictions trigger a mandatory referral to Immigration Enforcement. The thresholds depend on when the offence happened.

For conduct before 31 December 2020, a conviction resulting in any prison sentence within five years of that date, or a single conviction at any time producing a prison sentence of 12 months or more, will be referred. The 12-month threshold applies to a single offence, not combined or consecutive sentences. For conduct after 31 December 2020, any custodial sentence of any length, a non-custodial sentence for a serious harm offence, or persistent offending (generally three convictions within three years) will trigger referral.¹⁰

If you are subject to a deportation or exclusion order, the application will be refused. For pre-2020 conduct, refusal must be justified on grounds of public policy, public security, or public health. For post-2020 conduct, the test is whether your presence in the UK is “not conducive to the public good,” which is a broader standard.¹⁰

What Happens After You Arrive

The permit is temporary entry clearance, not a long-term right to stay. Once you arrive, you have three months to submit a valid application for pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.⁴ Missing that deadline does not automatically end your right to apply, but you would then need to show reasonable grounds for the delay, which is a much harder position.

Pre-settled status gives you the right to live, work, and study in the UK. After five years of continuous residence you become eligible for settled status, which is effectively permanent residence. Spending more than five consecutive years outside the UK causes automatic loss of pre-settled status. Absences of more than two consecutive years could also have caused automatic loss if they occurred before 21 May 2024.¹¹ Keep records of your entry and exit dates, boarding passes, and travel documents. You will need them when moving from pre-settled to settled status.

The permit’s six-month clock starts on the decision date whether or not you travel immediately, so delays in collecting your passport or booking flights eat into the window.

If You Are Applying Late

Several deadlines within the EUSS framework have already passed, and applying late means convincing the Home Office you had reasonable grounds for the delay. Since August 2023, the Home Office assesses your stated reasons before even accepting the application as valid. If they are not accepted, the application is rejected rather than refused, and you get no right of appeal.⁴

Home Office guidance gives examples of what it considers reasonable grounds:

Employment or study commitments in the EEA host country that continued beyond the deadline and ended within six months of it.
A child’s schooling, where removing them mid-term would have been disruptive.
Serious medical conditions such as hospitalisation, being bedbound, or undergoing significant treatment around the deadline.
Pregnancy or childbirth, including inability to fly, a difficult delivery, or a newborn requiring medical treatment.
Other compelling reasons, for example awaiting the outcome of adoption proceedings already underway.

The list is not exhaustive, and every case is assessed on its facts.⁴ A covering letter explaining your circumstances, with supporting medical records, employer letters, or school correspondence, helps.

If Your Application Is Refused

A refusal carries a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber).¹² The deadline depends on where you are: 14 days from the date the decision is sent if you are in the UK, or 28 days from the date you receive the decision if you are outside the UK.¹³ Both are hard deadlines.

Administrative review is no longer available for EUSS decisions made on or after 5 October 2023.¹⁴ If you believe the decision breaches the UK’s obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement, the EEA EFTA Separation Agreement, or the Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement, the tribunal is the route. Given the short deadlines and the complexity of these appeals, getting immigration legal advice straight away is the sensible move.

1
GOV.UK. Apply for an EU Settlement Scheme Family Permit to Join Family in the UK
2
GOV.UK. After You Get an EU Settlement Scheme Family Permit
3
GOV.UK. Immigration Rules Appendix EU
4
GOV.UK. EU Settlement Scheme Family Permits
5
GOV.UK. Apply for an EU Settlement Scheme Family Permit to Join Family in the UK – Apply if You Have Retained the Right of Residence
6
GOV.UK. Guide to Supporting Documents – Visiting the UK
7
GOV.UK. Suitability – Deception, False Representations, False Documents and Non-Disclosure of Relevant Facts
8
GOV.UK. Biometric Information Enrolment
9
GOV.UK. EU Settlement Scheme – Current Estimated Processing Times for Applications
10
GOV.UK. EU Settlement Scheme – Suitability Requirements
11
GOV.UK. EU Settlement Scheme – Settled and Pre-Settled Status
12
GOV.UK. Appeal Against a Visa or Immigration Decision – Overview
13
legislation.gov.uk. The Immigration (Citizens’ Rights Appeals) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020
14
GOV.UK. Administrative Review – EU Settlement Scheme, Service Providers From Switzerland and S2 Healthcare Visitors