Married to a long distance partner from outside the UK

Hello,

I am currently holding a Tier 4 visa, and will apply for a Doctoral Extension Scheme (DES) from July. I plan on getting married to my girlfriend who is also a non-EEA national (same European country as me), but we have never lived together, as I have been in the UK for the past 4 years. We will get married in our home country, before July. We have been in a long distance relationship (for less than 2 years) and now, as she has finished her Master studies, we intended to start living together, while I try to find a job during the one year period of the Tier 4 DES extension, and hopefully move to a Tier 2 visa later on.

Will there be any "doubt" by the immigration authorities regarding the true nature of our marriage at that point, and what documents, other than the marriage certificate, could we use to prove this? I have read about calls and text records, statements by others about the true nature of our marriage, etc. The thing that worries me the most is that we have no way of proving any time spent living together (joint accounts, rent agreements, other bills...) as that has been impossible due to the fact it has been a long distance relationship from the start.

Thanks!

You are confusing the '2 year cohabitation rule' with an unmarried partner application. You will however be required to submit evidence of how you have remained in contact during your time apart.