2-year co-habitation requirement (?) for married spouse visa

[itaynoy]

Hello,

I'll soon be applying for a family visa as the married spouse of a British citizen, and am unclear about whether it is a requirement in this case to demonstrate 2 years of co-habitation (my partner and I have been living together for 1 year and 8 months), or whether this is only required when applying as a non-married partner.

The language used in the online application form is very confusing in this regard ‒ in particular the requirement to submit "items of correspondence addressed to X and Y at the same address as evidence you have been living together since your last grant of leave in this category, or from the date you first started living together, covering the last 2 years" ‒ so any advice or clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
Itay

[TODMATT]

Hello,

I'll soon be applying for a family visa as the married spouse of a British citizen, and am unclear about whether it is a requirement in this case to demonstrate 2 years of co-habitation (my partner and I have been living together for 1 year and 8 months), or whether this is only required when applying as a non-married partner.

The language used in the online application form is very confusing in this regard ‒ in particular the requirement to submit "items of correspondence addressed to X and Y at the same address as evidence you have been living together since your last grant of leave in this category, or from the date you first started living together, covering the last 2 years" ‒ so any advice or clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
Itay

Could you state your current immigration status? Are you currently in the UK on another visa or you are just applying from abroad? For your information, if you are married, it is NOT requirement to have lived together except if you have previously been granted a spouse visa previously and you are now extending OR you are applying as an unmarried partner.

[itaynoy]

Hi TODMATT and thank you ‒ I'm in the UK, currently on a Skilled Worker visa, and will be applying to switch to a spouse visa (so this is my first spouse visa application, not an extension). As I wrote, I found especially confusing the requirement to provide "items of correspondence addressed to X and Y at the same address as evidence you have been living together since your last grant of leave in this category, or from the date you first started living together, covering the last 2 years" ‒ I can provide such items for the period my partner and I have lived together in the UK (1 year and 8 months) but this doesn't cover two years.