Unmarried Partner visa

[lou]

Hi,
I would like to know if anyone has moved to the UK on a unmarried partner visa.I'm English and he is Canadian.Thanks

[Susie D]

I haven't applied yet, but I'm using the unmarried partner visa to extend my stay in the UK (I'm currently on a working holiday). As a matter of fact, I'll be applying for this very thing imminently. As I understand it, you need to prove common-law status, which in this country means 2 years. It costs £335 to apply by post, and £500 to apply in person. If you apply by post, the processing time is 7-14 weeks, and if you apply in person the processing time is 24 hours. The form you need is an FLR. Mine is an FLR(M), but I think that's for an extension of stay. Anyway, it doesn't look like there are any real requirements beyond the 2 yrs (minimum) living together.

[lou]

[quote="Susie D"]I haven't applied yet, but I'm using the unmarried partner visa to extend my stay in the UK (I'm currently on a working holiday). As a matter of fact, I'll be applying for this very thing imminently. As I understand it, you need to prove common-law status, which in this country means 2 years. It costs £335 to apply by post, and £500 to apply in person. If you apply by post, the processing time is 7-14 weeks, and if you apply in person the processing time is 24 hours. The form you need is an FLR. Mine is an FLR(M), but I think that's for an extension of stay. Anyway, it doesn't look like there are any real requirements beyond the 2 yrs (minimum) living together.[/quote]

Thanks alot for your help,let me know how is goes.We will be doing it from Canada,so I guess that will be through the mail.
Lou

[moonhead]

I too am going to be applying for an Unmarried Partners Visa from Canada in just a few months.
If any one has any success stories or words of advice, please share!

[jahaluid]

I am thinking of applying under the unmarried spouse visa. Would love to hear how it goes for all of you applying from in the UK. Below is my story should you wish to hear it and a little rant mixed in too.

Much appreciate if anyone tells me more about their experiences.

Cheers,
Rog

My story:
We met and dated 2.5 years ago but about 1yr into our relationship we had to leave the country we met in and she had to go back to england to finish her final year of school and I also had to finish my final year in Canada. We stayed together the whole year about apart and last year I flew out here on a holidaymaker visa to stay with her starting from Dec/04. What I am wondering is if I apply for a unmarried visa outside of the UK I just have to prove my relationship is committed if I apply while here I have to prove we lived together for 2 years. Further she is now moving to london while I will be remainin in Herts for work reasons. We are still commited and will be seeing each other often but how the heck to they expect a young happy couple to just sit still and play marriage and babies to prove they are commited is beyond me. Had I applied for this visa outside of the UK it would have been easier.

We feel like our only option is to get married but we don't want to until we can afford a nice wedding and she is finished her masters. We are even thinking of getting a civil union just to satisfy the authorities but not tell our family and friends so we can still have the big day a couple years from now when she has graduated and we got some extra dosh.

Oh well. Bright side is she is pretty darn special so I guess it will just work itself out eventually.

[Susie D]

Well best of luck to all of you. My application was unsuccessful because they wouldn't accept my evidence of co-habitation in Canada. We lived together in Canada for 6 months, and 1.5 years in the UK. Unfortunately, my boyfriend didn't get any credit card bills, doctor's letters or anything official mailed to him at our address in Canada, so we couldn't prove we cohabited for that time. I asked if it would work if I got a notarized letter stating that we did actually live together, and the officer said no, that doesn't count. They needed to see something dated from that time that was from some official company.

As my current visa expires on Nov. 10th, and I arrived in the UK on Dec. 18th/03, I can't be in the country long enough to prove 2 yrs' cohabitation.

So, long story slightly shorter, if you can't prove you lived together for a solid 2 years (not a day less), than you're just screwed.

I have a few other options I'm looking into. One is that if you apply for an extension of stay, your existing visa automatically gets extended until you get a reply from the officials regarding your extension. Unfortunately, if that happens fairly quickly, you have to get out of the country immediately. Or it could take 6 months (a year in one case I heard of), and you're stuck without your passport for that period of time.

This government sucks. If I wanted to go on the dole, run away from my country, and get the government to foot the bill for my hotel, I could. Someone did - I overheard in the waiting room of the passport office. But because I want to pay them £500 and an extra 3-4 months of taxes without being able to even go to the doctor, I'm refused.

[squirrel]

Rog,

i'm in a quandry a bit like you. I'm from the UK and have just moved back from Canada where I lived with my boyfriend for a year (but had to come back as I only had a one year permit with Bunac). He's Canadian and is moving over to Manchester next week on a working holidaymaker visa. Trouble is, that only lets him work for one year, and we can't afford for either of us not to work (we're both young and skint too - 24).

My problem is, we'll only become eligible for him to stay as my common law hubby after one year (cos then we'll have lived together for two years), when he's no longer allowed to work. And as far as I can see, the only way to get around it is to marry. I want to do it properly tho (ie, not on the cheap!), and more to the point when we're ready, not just cos we're forced into it.

It's flamin' awful cos the only two options are a) get wed (quickly) or b) break up.

Sorry to whinge but it's so frustrating!

[Susie D]

Squirrel - that's not necessarily the case. If he has a working holiday visa for a year, simply apply for an extension under the unmarried partner provision [b]in the week before his visa is finished[/b]. He gets an automatic extension while they decide his case, and if you can prove at that point that you lived together for 2 years, he's in.

The trick is to get the evidence together for cohabitation. They're looking for bills, letters from doctors, banks, credit cards - anything official. It can be a bill addressed jointly to both of you, or two separate bills addressed to each of you showing the same address. I think they're looking for about 10 pieces in each of your names (so 20 if they're separate bills, 10 if they're joint, or any combination of the above).

I've done this - I'm currently riding on my automatic extension, waiting for the Home Office to make its decision. Once Dec. 18th hits, though, I think I'll be approved and will get an extension for 2 more years.

I should point out that I've sought advice from immigration experts (who do a lot of work for the multi-national company I work for), and also from a real live immigration official. Both of them said what I've just told you.