EEA Family permit vs. tourist visa for a short-term visit to the UK

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You are a Russian national living in Greece and have a girlfriend studying in the UK. She is an EEA national and you want to benefit from that by using a family permit to maintain your relationship. The issue is that you and she are not married. I assume that all previous relationships with other people have permanently broken down or otherwise dissolved.

Accordingly you need to establish that the relationship is a "durable" one. The definition of 'durable' is defined by the member states and the UK's policy on 'durable relationships' is not perfectly aligned with the rest of the EEA (or the Directive for that matter).

The controlling technical references are Council Directive 2004/38/EC and Regulation 8 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 (the ‘2006 Regulations’) as amended by various court decisions.

What proof can I provide in order to enter as an unmarried partner of EU national?

For the unmarried partner route, they will be looking for a minimum of two years ongoing cohabitation. Evidence would take the form of bank statements, lease/tenancy agreements, and other documentation that committed unmarried partners would have. Evidence of holidays together, for example, is helpful but more is needed.

I have also used utility bills where the consumption indicates multiple occupants to help "fill out" the evidence requirements. Parking tickets, credit card statements, photographs depicting locale and season, and many other things can be used for evidence.

Are there any chances I will get accepted or they see these unmarried couple as fraud?

Based on what you wrote, you are not in cohabitation because your gf is living in the UK and you are living in Greece; and the relationship is less than two years old. Both of these are absolute show-stoppers.

While I predict a refusal, I do not think they will conclude fraud. Fraud is defined by marriages of convenience and similar types of abuse. The refusal would be largely mechanical and simply say you do not qualify.

Also, if they notice that your intention is to visit the UK but not take up permanent residence, they are entitled to refuse (according to their policy). This is a soft requirement and one of the very few situations where I think it's OK to fudge.

Should I continue with my tourist visa application instead?

It's a matter of opinion how to best maintain your relationship. If it's to be done in the UK, then yes, you would apply for a Standard Visitor Visa and your premise would be to maintain relationships. Giving a different premise would make them wonder about the motivation behind your application.

The rules for the Standard Visitor Visa are laid out in Appendix V.

For further research on the EEA route, you can examine the European Casework Instructions. This is what the person assessing your application will refer to (and also what has informed my answer here). As mentioned, the instructions do not align perfectly with the Directive.

Update 3 Nov 2016

Parliament enacted new EEA rules this morning and they will commence on 26 November 2016. Nothing has changed with respect to 'durable partners' except the language defining 'partnership of convenience' has become more rigorous. But the commencement of these rules may trigger updates to the policy document, so this answer should be considered valid only up to about March 2017.

The instrument itself is at The Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016

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