Unmarried partners visa - help!

[bridget]

Hi
We are applying for the unmarried partners visa in a few weeks and are attempting to work our way through the mass of vague and misleading information and horror stories!

We are both Australian, though I also hold a UK passport, and have been living in the UK coming up to two years now, my partner on a WHM visa. We have been together for over 3 years (though met each other as friends over 10 years ago) and living together in Australia and the UK for just over 2 years which we can prove through bank statements, leases, utility bills etc.

1. How much evidence do we need as proof of our relationship? Photos? Letters from friends and relatives? Phone bills showing calls to each other? Immigration agencies we have spoken with say various things such as we need 3 documents each for each month living together?? Is there a set rule on this?

2. Do we need to prove past relationships have broken down? Neither of us are previously married but have both lived with other partners many years ago. Do we need letters from these previous partners?

3. What do we need to prove we can support ourselves? I have worked full time since arriving in the UK but my partner is a musician who has mostly worked full-time but has patches where he has only worked part-time. Will this look bad? I have always been able to support us both when necessary.

4. Agencies?? I believe our case is fairly straight forward. Would we be risking it by not going through an immigration agency? What is the procedure otherwise?

thanks!

[ppron747]

Hi Bridget

For starters, have a look at para 13.13 on this page of the UKVisas website - it is the "Diplomatic Service Procedures" (=staff instructions) section on settlement for unmarried partners and should, I think, answer most of your concerns.

To my untrained eye, your application looks pretty straightforward, and I don't imagine that throwing your money at an agency should be necessary.

Post again if DSP doesn't answer everything...

Good luck

[bridget]

Hi Paul
Thanks for your assistance. I've read through the DSP a couple of times! Though it really doesn't offer specifics on the quantity or quality of evidence required. Are bank statements and tenancy agreements enough? How do we prove previous relationships have broken down? Do photos count for much? What is the procedure to go direct to the Home Office? I've heard you pay £500 every time you walk through the front door! So you'd better know you have all the documents required, but how do you know until you get there?
Are these just horrible stories propagated by immigration lawyers?!
Would love to hear also from anyone else who has been through this!

[ppron747]

I hope others will chime in, but there is one point I should emphasise: you don't apply to the Home Office, unless I've missed the point and your other half is applying for leave to remain, having already come here as an unmarried partner.

AIUI, for an Australian, an application for a settlement visa as the spouse of a Brit cit needs to be made in Canberra, not here....

The application to the Home Office is made for leave to remain, after the applicant has completed the probationary period, and that can be made by post.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings. Hopefully someone else will intervene if I've got this completely wrong.

[John]

Unless I am missing a point, which is always possible, if the OP's partner currently has a valid visa to be in the UK, then further leave to remain, in the capacity of an Unmarried Partner, can be made in the UK. The form to use would be the Form FLR(M). (The IND website remains ridiculously slow, so I have uploaded the form on to the internet from where you can download it more speedily.)

Download that form and examine it. In particular look at page 16 of 20 and study the documentary requirements there.

Any more queries after studying the form ... do post.

Paul, Bridget is British .... it is her partner that requires the UPV.

[ppron747]

Phew - that's a relief - apologies for the misdirection....

On the last point, I was using "you" as an alternative to "one". Won't do it again...

[saikham]

Hi All,

Me and my g/f applied unmarried partner last april 05.
i think i still got copies of my application & docs.
i need 2 dig them out. if u hav time, i can find out & give u some info.
that might help.

also, about the interview......etc...

give me until w/end...

sai

[bridget]

Thanks all! Great, the form answers a lot of questions and makes it all sound so easy. Deceptively so?! Just one thing - it asks only about previous marriages but not other relationships. Is this then not relevant?
Sai, would be very interested in hearing of your experience. Cheers for the offer. Has anyone been direct to the home office?
Bridget

[John]

Bridget, do appreciate two things. The form FLR(M) has a dual use, and it is probably fair to say that probably most applicants are married! Secondly, even for UPV applications, there is a need to know if someone has been married previously. That is set out in the instructions given to IND staff. Even if someone is still married, that is not a bar to them getting a UPV with someone else, as long as the marriage for totally broken down.

Previous unmarried relationships are not instances of a "legally-binding relationship".

[bridget]

Thanks John, that's all I needed to know. I was just confused as the guidelines mentioned 'other relationships akin to marriage' which I took to meaning having lived with another partner - but neither of us have been married. Cheers for your help.

Still hoping there's someone else out there who has dealt directly with the home office . . .

Bridget

[saikham]

Hi All,

Sorry for delay, okay, my experience as below.

We used FLR(M) ver 08/2003 and made an application on APR 2005.
So, Pls check update version or apporpiate form for you.

My g/f was an applicant and i was on ILR received on APR 2005.

We provide
- Bank statements with my name covering 2 years (6 mnths interval)
- Bank statements with my g/f name same as above
- Joint Bank statements as above
- council tax bills(with my g/f name) (jan 04 & jan 05)
- bt utility bill (wit my name) (jan 04 & jan 05)
- potographs (especially date printed at the bottom when it was taken)
- a fews post envelops (stamp dates... with both of our names)
- a covering letter explaining about us and address history...

we sent it to Sheffield.....

only 1 correspondence was made from HO regarding our council tax bill.
and after that we received a letter to attend interview at Sheffield HO.
In that letter you have to sign & return it.

Please read interview part in next post.

Thanks

Sai

ps...the payment was already taken by HO before interview....

[saikham]

Part Twooooooooooo....

THE INTERVIEW AT HO (Sheffield)

Advice, take plenty of time for ur travel time and Sheffield has complex 1 way road system...... We got lost...

Interview as on May 05. Just a month after our application date.
Interviewer was very nice, explained us the procedure.

I was the 1st person to be interviewed alone. And my g/f was next alone again.
And both of us together again.....

Interview took about 45mins each...
About 70 questions....
While interviewing.... HO officer wrote down everything....

-When, how, date..... do u met each other..
-what r u doin here.
-if u r working... about ur/ur ptnr job..
-how long u have been workin with that job...
-how did u get here..... how long
-who gave alarm to get up....
-about ur house.... how many rooms... where is the tele....vision....
-what do u do last wend..........
-some routine....i.e. when u get u in the morning.....

The question were asked base on the conversation we had and our circumstances...

Importantly... they are expecting the same answer..

out of 70 we got 4 wrong.... those were misunderstanding between us..
HO officer asked those question again....

So make sure u got both tunned properlly before u go...

Eventually, my g/f got her 2 yrs initial visa....

GOOD Luck!!!

Thanks

sai

[bridget]

Thanks Sai, that's really great. I think we're pretty much sorted now. I'll let you know how we get on!

[John]

saikham, I did not spot this when you posted it .... many congratulations. Quite an ordeal .. but a good outcome.

My g/f was an applicant and i was on ILR received on APR 2005.

Are you going for Naturalisation next month?

[bridget]

Hi just wanted to mention that we got the visa! It ended up being VERY straight forward, no drama whatsoever. Well that was our experience anyway. Good luck to anyone else going through this and if your case is pretty straight ahead don't be scared into going with an agency.

[John]

Congratulations Bridget and partner, glad it all worked out so well for you.