***Unmarried partner advice***

Hi All! Thanks for reading my post!

I'm looking for help with the Unmarried partner application.

A bit of back ground first. I'm currently living in the UK with my partner of 9 years, who holds a UK passport. I'm working with the NHS as an Occupational Therapist on a Working Holiday Maker visa. I arrived in late January 08 and will not be able to work after January 09. I have it in writing that they will extend my contract if I have the right to continue to work and stay in the UK. My partner is currently working as an investment manager with a leading UK bank.

We are looking to go down the unmarried partner route. As previously mentioned, we've been together for over 9 years, where we met in high school in Canada. We attended the same university for our bachelor degrees, but did not live together. For the vast majority of our relationship, we've lived seperately with our parents, or had seperate addresses at University.

The problem we have is in relation to proving we have lived together for 2 years. January 08 until now isn't a problem, as we've been in the UK and have gas/banking/sky/employment/rent/coucil tax bills all at the same address. Before we moved to the UK, we lived together in Toronto since October 06. However, my partner moved in with me when I was doing my masters, and we do not have any bills, rent, etc in joint names. Everything my partner had (bank, phone bills etc) was still sent to his parents house.

Is there anyway around this situation? Is it possible to put a letter together explaining this and be successful?

We have birthday cards, pictures etc that will show we've been together since high school. There are literally hundreds of people that would be willing to put this in writing, many of whom hold PhD, IFA, CFA, CFP, engineers, company owners etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. We never thought it would be this difficult, given the fact my partner has a UK passport, spent more than half his life in the UK, and was born in the UK.

Thank you and we look forward to your response.

Nope - has to be documentary proof for UPV, being that its a visa issued without a legal commitment by the applicants - it has to be watertight.

Surely there is some paperwork from Canada with his name on it sharing the same address. Credit card bills, drivers licence, tax documents, healthcare insurance, bank statements - where were they all sent / registered if not at your address?

You will not get anywhere with a letter and a few bits and bobs that claim X, Y & Z. They want / need proof and they want documentation that can be verified if need be. Without a reasonable amount from your time in Canada together you will struggle big time.

Everything was sent to his parents address, as we were back and forth between places so frequently it was just as easy to have the mail continue to be sent there.

From March 08 to now, we have dozens of documents. When in Canada, he only has payslips from two companies for the correct time period at my address. So this could be something with a mailing address that was sent every two weeks.

With the UK documents and these payslips, is it worth it even going down this avenue?

Thank you

You have nothing to lose but time and money. Given your country of origin and the fact that you are both currently employed in the UK you do have a chance all be it limited. The pay slips are good documents, the issue will be the lack of other supporting documents from other sources. That is why it is not a done deal.

I can never remember if it possible to change from a working holiday maker visa to something else. Need to look it up (again) or perhaps someone else can answer that point.

Frontier Mole wrote:You have nothing to lose but time and money. Given your country of origin and the fact that you are both currently employed in the UK you do have a chance all be it limited. The pay slips are good documents, the issue will be the lack of other supporting documents from other sources. That is why it is not a done deal.

I can never remember if it possible to change from a working holiday maker visa to something else. Need to look it up (again) or perhaps someone else can answer that point.

Think u can get a six month visitor visa after WHM, I remember this cos folks were calling this an extention when in fact it was a switch.

PS, use the search function!

See below: it seems to suggest you can not switch to an unmarried partner visa but may have other options.

Switching
Working Holidaymakers are still eligible to switch into work permit employment after 12 months stay as a working holidaymaker. Paragraph 131D (iii) of the Immigration Rules now restricts such switching to occupations on the list of designated shortage occupations maintained by Work Permits (UK). Switching into other work permit employment in the business and commercial category is no longer permitted. Working Holidaymakers may still switch into Innovators.