If you are an EEA or Swiss national, your non-EEA family members who have the right of residence in the UK are:

• your husband, wife or civil partner;
• your children or grandchildren (or the children or grandchildren of your husband, wife or civil partner) who are under 21 years of age or are dependent on you; and
• the parents or grandparents of you and your husband, wife or civil partner, if they are dependent on you.

(If you are a student, only your husband, wife, or civil partner and dependent children have a right of residence.)

Other relatives - including extended family members such as brothers, sisters and cousins - do not have an automatic right to live in the UK. To be considered, they must be able to show that they are dependent on you.

If you and your partner are not married or in a civil partnership, you must be able to show that you are in a durable relationship with each other.

If you were related to an EEA national by marriage or civil partnership but the relationship has ended through death, divorce, dissolution or the EEA national's departure from the UK, it is possible that you will retain a right of residence in the UK under European law. For more information, phone our European enquiries contact centre and speak to one of our advisers.

If you were the unmarried partner of an EEA national and the relationship has ended, you no longer have the right to live in the UK under European law.

If you are a British citizen, you cannot ordinarily rely on the provisions of European law to bring your non-European family members to the UK. Instead, you should seek permission under the British Immigration Rules for those family members to enter and remain in the UK. See the Partners and families section for more information

However, the European Court of Justice held in Case C-370/90 that British citizens can rely on European law in circumstances where they are returning to the UK in order to work or settle here in a self-sufficient capacity after working in another European Union state. In these circumstances, the returning British citizen has the right to be accompanied by his or her husband, wife or civil partner, if they have previously been living together in the other European Union state.

If we approve your application for a residence card or permanent residence, we will normally endorse your passport with the details of your right to reside in the UK. We will do this by placing a sticker or 'vignette' in your passport.

If (for any reason) we do not have your passport when we approve your application, or if your passport expires while in our possession, we will issue you with an immigration status document. You should produce this document and your passport as evidence of your status when asked to do so. Do not laminate your immigration status document, as this will invalidate it.