EE SIM Only - Will my phone be locked to EE?

I have an unlocked iPhone bought directly from Apple. If i purchase a SIM ONLY deal from EE, will my phone become locked to EE network?

I plan to travel so i want to be able to interchange SIM's abroad and don't want to be locked to EE.
I've heard i will only be able to unlock after 6 months with EE.

Any UK providers that won't lock?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

If the phone is already unlocked, it will stay that way.

Some people claim that any new/unused iphone locks to the first SIM inserted, regardless of what that is…

If it does, you should be able to get it unlocked within days, as soon as your EE online account is set up and working properly and the phone associated with it.

The six month wait should only apply to phones bought with an airtime contract, where you pay monthly towards the phone - it's to prevent scammers taking out contracts then immediately unlocking and selling the phone.

As you already own the phone that should not apply.

As soon as you have got the EE SIM and got that working in the phone and set up an account on the EE website or app, get eg. An O2 SIM from a pound shop or CEX and try that in the phone.

If it works, it's still unlocked. If not, get on to EE customer support and get them to arrange the unlock.

It would be the same procedure with any service provider; it's the phone firmware rather than what SIM you use.
Hopefully it is already unlocked so no problems, but it should not take more than a week or two to get it sorted if it does lock.
Most of that time is just waiting for the phone to be linked to your account, the actual unlock typically takes a day or so from my experience.

Note that when talking to customer services they may refer to it as an "unlatch" - if you say it's locked the first thing they think of is a pin pin code lock or IMEI blacklist, not a provider lock. It may take some time to get through what you want if they start with the wrong idea.