Youth Mobility Scheme intended date of travel

Hi,

First things first, I am a UK citizen living in the UK and my girlfriend is a Canadian citizen living in Canada. She was over here from September 2015 till June 2016 on a Tier 4 Student visa.

We have read success stories on these boards about couples who are living in the UK. (Our interest is primarily geared towards the Youth Mobility Scheme.) The non-citizen applies for the YMS, then at the end of the 2 year YMS the non-citizen applies from within the UK for an flr(m) visa allowing them to remain in the UK with their unmarried partner. Visa is granted = Happy couple.

The gist of this was that the couple needed to have proof of them living together for 2 years prior to applying to remain in the UK. Armed with this proof, the non-citizen then applies for the visa and send it on the day that their YMS visa expires. This means that at the time of the application the couple have been living together for the required 2 years. They then enter a visa grey area where even though their previous visa has expired, they are allowed to remain in the UK until they hear back as to whether or not the visa has been accepted or not. Because they are applying for a new visa they are legally within their rights to remain in the UK until a decision is reached on the visa.

The difficult part is that the non-citizen needs to arrive in the UK on the day that their visa is valid from, meaning that when their visa runs out they have reached the 2 years of living with their partner.

Now to apply this to our scenario.

The plan was always to have my girlfriend finish her studies here in the UK, return to Canada for a few months, get a casual job to keep the income flowing, then apply for the YMS visa. At which point she would move in with me, sharing the cost of rent, get a job etc etc. Then when the 2 year YMS was up we would have applied for the flr(m) visa for her to stay in the UK for an additional period of time.

The issue we are having has come about with the application for the YMS (Talk about falling at the first hurdle!). The application asks for a ‘Date of intended travel’. This is causing some confusion as we could absolutely give a specific date (the airline only flies the route on one day a week). We are just not sure if they will actually use that date as the ‘start date’ of the visa. As mentioned previously, for everything to go smoothly, she will need to enter the UK on the exact date the visa is valid from, therefore giving her 2 years in the UK.

I’ve read information to suggest that even when applicants have put a date of intended travel, the visa gets approved from the date the visa office approves it, regardless of weather this is before or after the intended travel date.

Our pressing question is: Does the 2 year period begin on the date that the visa is issued or does it begin on the date of intended travel? We have briefly read about a ‘start date,’ so is there a suspended amount of time between the issuing of the visa and the date that the visa actually beings on?

Or is it possible for us to include a letter with the application stating that regardless of how soon the visa is processed that we absolutely need the visa start date to be on a specific day?

Thanks in advance!

5. ECB9.5 What if applicant is not intending to travel straight away to the UK.

If an ECO disregards the requested effective date, then request a correction.

Thank you vinny for an incredibly quick and very informative response!

The flipside is not to travel too early.