EU Settlement Scheme Family Permit Documents UK: Complete Evidence Checklist

See which EU Settlement Scheme family permit documents you need, including relationship, sponsor, residence and dependency evidence in the UK.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• •The documents you need depend entirely on your relationship to your sponsor, spouse, subsisting partner, child or dependent parent as all have different evidence requirements.
• •If you already hold a previous EEA family permit, EUSS family permit or residence card issued on the same relationship, you may not need to resubmit full relationship evidence again.
• •Durable partners need to show at least 2 years of cohabitation by 31 December 2020, evidenced through joint bank statements, tenancy agreements or similar proof.
• •Swiss spouses and civil partners have an extended deadline, the relationship needs to have existed by 31 December 2025, not 2020.
• •You also need to provide evidence of your sponsor's own identity, nationality and continuous UK residence, separate from your relationship evidence.

Do You Already Have A "Relevant Document"? Check This First

Before gathering anything new, check whether you already hold what the Home Office calls relevant documents. This can save you from having to prove your relationship all over again.

A relevant document includes any of the following, issued to you on the basis of your relationship to your sponsor:

• •A family permit issued under the old EEA Regulations
• •A previous EU Settlement Scheme family permit
• •A residence card issued under the EEA Regulations or the EU Settlement Scheme
• •A letter from the Secretary of State confirming your qualification for one of these, had the route not closed on 30 June 2021

If you hold one of these, you'll generally just need to show that the relationship still exists, or existed for the period you're relying on, rather than proving it from scratch again.

Identity Documents You Need to Provide for Your UK Application

You'll need a valid passport or national identity card to confirm your own identity as part of the application. If you genuinely cannot provide either due to circumstances beyond your control, you can explain why and offer alternative evidence instead.

You'll also need your sponsor's 16 digit EUSS reference number, taken from their confirmation email, unless they're a British citizen who didn't need to apply to the scheme themselves.

Relationship Evidence by Family Member Category

This is where most of the real detail sits and it genuinely varies depending on your relationship to your sponsor.

If You're Their Spouse or Civil Partner

You'll need to show your relationship existed by 31 December 2020 and that it still exists now, or existed for the period you're relying on.

Accepted evidence includes:

• •A valid marriage or civil partnership certificate recognised under the law of England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland
• •A valid overseas registration document for a same sex relationship entitled to be treated as a civil partnership under the Civil Partnership Act 2004

If you were an unmarried durable partner before you married or formed a civil partnership, you'll also need to provide the durable partner evidence covered below.

If You're Their Unmarried Durable Partner

This category needs the most detailed evidence, since a durable partnership isn't proven by a single certificate the way a marriage is.

You'll need to show you were living together in a relationship akin to marriage for at least 2 years by 31 December 2020. The table below sets out the kind of evidence typically accepted.

If you didn't live together for a genuine reason, such as work or family circumstances, the Home Office can still accept your case, but you'll need to explain and evidence that reason clearly rather than leave the gap unaddressed.

If You're Their Child, Grandchild or Great Grandchild

A full birth certificate is usually sufficient or a court order such as a special guardianship order where relevant.

If you're 21 or over and weren't already granted pre settled status as a child under 21, you'll also need to show dependency, through financial evidence like bank statements or money transfers, or evidence of needing personal care on serious health grounds, such as a letter from a hospital consultant.

If You're Their Dependent Parent, Grandparent, or Great Grandparent

You'll need a full birth certificate or other document proving your direct family relationship, along with evidence of dependency, since this isn't automatically assumed the way it can be for a younger child.

If You're a Dependent Relative

This category is narrower and covers relationships like a sibling, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew, rather than a spouse, child or parent. You can generally only apply this way if you arrived in the UK by 31 December 2020, and you'll need evidence of ongoing dependency or a genuine need for personal care.

Evidence of Your Sponsor's Identity, Nationality and UK Residence

Separate from your own relationship evidence, you'll generally need to confirm a few things about your sponsor themselves.

If your sponsor has already been granted, or is being granted, settled or pre settled status, you can usually just provide their application reference number to confirm their identity, nationality, and residence all at once. This is by far the simplest route.

If they haven't yet applied to the scheme, you'll need to provide their passport or national identity card, along with separate evidence of their continuous UK residence.

Special Cases: Swiss Spouses and Persons of Northern Ireland

Two categories work slightly differently to the standard rules and it's worth knowing which one applies before you assume the usual deadlines apply to you.

If your sponsor is a Swiss citizen and you're their spouse or civil partner, the relationship deadline is extended. It needs to have existed by 31 December 2025, not 31 December 2020, which gives genuinely more recent Swiss marriages a route that wouldn't otherwise be available.

If your sponsor is a person of Northern Ireland, meaning a British or Irish citizen born in Northern Ireland, you'll need to provide evidence of their place of birth, such as a birth certificate or passport, plus evidence that at least one of their parents was a British or Irish citizen, or otherwise entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without restriction, at the time your sponsor was born.

Common Evidence Mistakes That Delay Applications

A handful of avoidable issues come up repeatedly and slow applications down unnecessarily.

• •Submitting a marriage certificate alone for a relationship that was actually a durable partnership beforehand, without the additional cohabitation evidence required
• •Assuming dependency is automatic for an adult child or parent, when it actually needs to be evidenced
• •Providing documents that don't clearly link both partners to the same address for the full period relied on
• •Overlooking the sponsor's own identity and residence evidence entirely, focusing only on the relationship itself
• •Missing the different Swiss spouse deadline and applying under the standard 2020 cutoff by mistake

Genuine relationships get refused far more often over incomplete evidence than over any doubt about whether the relationship itself is real, which is exactly why the category specific detail above matters so much.

Final Words

There's no single EU Settlement Scheme family permit document checklist that fits everyone, since the evidence genuinely depends on your relationship to your sponsor and how much you can already prove through a previous document. Spouses, durable partners, children and dependent relatives all face different requirements and getting the right evidence together for your specific category matters more than gathering as much paperwork as possible.

Once your application has been submitted with the required documents, the next question is naturally how long you may have to wait. You can read our guide to EUSS family permit processing time to understand what to expect after applying.

If you're putting together your application and want a proper review of your evidence before you submit, Westbury Law's team in Bristol, alongside our Birmingham office, offers clear, fixed fee advice with no surprises along the way. Get in touch with our family visa team to talk through what your case actually needs.

FAQs

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