Hi J&G, welcome here to the forum.
Many of us here fully understand the challenges of long-distance realtionships.
With regards to immigration, you'll find yourself in a very much better position as an EEA-National than UK citizens.
Having said that, you'll still need to do some work though.
As an EEA-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
- the parents or grandparents of you and your husband, wife or civil partner, if 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.
So here we go with another vague description that calls for spade-loads of discretion from the ECO's
Take a look here under EUN2.11 to see just what that 'durable relationship' means to UKBA
You'll notice the last line of the above link states ".....Factors to be considered here are those set out at EUN2.7."
You can see just what EUN2.7 says by clicking this link here to EUN2.7
Just food for thought.
Apart from that challenge, it should be 'plain sailing' to have your mahal join you here, and importantly cost-free
Good luck