Student applying for civil partnership

[shleymonster]

I am currently a PhD student and am getting ready to hand in. Following my submission I have been told that I will have 60 days before my visa expires. My partner (of almost 4 years) and I have decided that applying for a civil partnership visa is our best option. I'm currently applying for work so that we will meet the full income requirement, as my partner has recently started his own company and does not make enough on his own.

I am a little worried, however, as if you have been working for under 6 months they expect you to prove that you have been employed for the previous 12 months. I have been a full time student doing some teaching, but did not make anywhere near enough to qualify for the income requirement with my student teaching. Does anyone know if the UKBA make an exception for those 12 months if you are a full time student?

[Greenie]

No they don't make exceptions for students. Civil partnerships are for same gender couples, is this your situation and have you made arrangements to form a legal civil partnership? When does you leave actually expire? When is your viva?

[shleymonster]

I thought civil partnerships were for anyone who could prove a lasting relationship, regardless of gender. My partner and I are not the same gender and we haven't gone so far as to register because we thought they would accept our joint account and shared household bills as it specifies on the UKBA website. My leave will expire 60 days after I hand in regardless of what it says on my visa, or so I was told by my university. My viva hasn't be scheduled yet, but would probably be early next year.

[Greenie]

No civil partnerships are the equivalent of marriage for same gender couples. If you are not a same gender couple you can't have a civil partnership. Have you been living together in a relationship akin to marriage for at least two years?

Your visa will not automatically expire 60 days after you hand in. If you finish your course early then the university should report this to ukba who will then curtail your visa to 60 days but they don't do this automatically.do you know that you are not going to have any corrections?

[shleymonster]

Yes we have been living for 3 years akin to marriage, we assumed that's what it meant.

I'm sure I will have corrections, but my uni told me that the visa isn't extended to cover these. That they report the hand in, the UKBA curtails my visa, regardless of my viva.