I am an EU citizen who will soon move to Germany to work. I wish to bring my unmarried (de facto) partner of approx 8 years who is not an EU citizen to Germany too. We do not have any other form of registered partnership, but have lived together for about 6 years and have a fully exclusive and committed relationship.
I have read on the website of the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF) – and also in the wiki for this subreddit – that there is no visa for unmarried partners (at least not without a registered partnership). This seems quite clearly at odds with:
* article 3(2)(b) of the Citizens Rights Directive (2004/38/EC); and
* this [EU guidance](https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/family/couple/de-facto-unions/index_en.htm) for unmarried couples.
I telephoned the BAMF hotline and got advice that we could apply on this basis, but before I reach out to the embassy I would really like to hear from anyone else on this sub who has followed this process (successfully or otherwise). I don’t anticipate any issues meeting the “durable relationship” test in article 3(2)(b) – the key uncertainty is what Germany does in practice to facilitate entry and residence for de facto partners in line with article 3(2)(b), especially given that Germany’s obligations under article 3(2)(b) [do not seem to have been reflected in Germany’s domestic law](https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/109219/pe%20556%20963_en_All_Online_Germany.pdf).
P.S. I am expecting some degree of negativity from folks who insist that there is already a clear cut answer to this (i.e. “there is no boyfriend/girlfriend visa”. But there does seem to be conflicting guidance, and the information from the BAMF hotline was encouraging, so I think it is reasonable to ask whether anyone has any first-hand experience with this. Vielen dank 🙂