Advice on the Unmarried Partner Visa and Evidence Required

[miche_elle]

Hi,

I'm a British Citizen and my partner is Australian. She moved over to the UK to live with me in December 2011 on Youth Mobility visa. This visa expires in October 2013.

We do not want to get married yet and therefore will apply for the unmarried partner visa. The minimum requirement for this visa is two years living together. When her visa expires in October we we will be two months short of the two year requirement.

In order to satisfy the two year requirement she plans to leave the country in October and return shortly after as a tourist. From what we've read you are able to stay in the country for up to 6 months as a tourist.

Come December we will then apply for the partner visa.

Our questions are:

Has anyone left shortly before their youth mobility visa expired and returned for a short period and were allowed back into the country?

We will have the following evidence in support of our application for an unmarried partner visa:
- The electricity bill is in her name
- I own the house that we live in & it's under my name only
- Joint bank account
- Her contracts of employment and payslips and bank accounts posted to our home address
- All our holidays (over 10 trips) have been together and have many flight tickets with both our name
- Joint travel insurance policy
- My car insurance names her as a "named driver".

Has anyone had experience with applying for an unmarried partner visa and could advise whether this is sufficient evidence for the UKBA? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Casa]

Do these documents cover the whole period?
Bear in mind that in order for a visitor visa application to succeed, your girlfriend will have to prove a strong reason to return to her home country.
As she has a long term relationship in the UK, this may be difficult. The case worker will want to see evidence of ongoing employment, continuing education (college etc) or ownership of property, dependent relatives etc in her home country.
If she is successful she won't be able to apply for a UPV from within the UK.
She'll have to return home and apply from there.
I'm aware that as an Australian citizen she can travel to the UK without a visa. However, she takes the risk that she may be refused entry on arrival if she doesn't carry with her sufficient documents to prove she intends to return to Australia without overstaying.
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... sitors.pdf

Quote: 'If you travel to the UK without a visa, you should bring them with you so that you can show them to our officers at the border.'

[anniecc]

Without wanting to be the bearer of bad news, I know three people who have tried to re-enter the UK as a visitor shortly after the expiry of a youth mobility permit. Two were refused entry and the third was allowed but only because there were compassionate circumstances (her sister was in hospital following an accident). Be aware that there is a fairly high chance your partner will be turned away at the border, particularly if she indicates that her reason for returning to the UK is to continue her life with you. To succeed she'll need to convince them that she's a genuine tourist. It might help if she can demonstrate a clear intention to return to Australia e.g. a return ticket.

Have you considered whether you could visit or move to Australia with your partner for a period in order to complete the cohabitation requirement? The two years living together don't need to be in the UK.

[miche_elle]

Thank you both for your replies, they were very informative. Based on this information & further research we've been doing, we've decided that leaving the country and coming back as a tourist is not a good option.

Instead we think our only options are:
1) to get married....which is a shame as we wanted it to be in our own time; or
2) my partner returns to Australia & we apply for the UPV from outside the uk

Would we still need to prove that we have lived together for 2 years with option (2)?

Thanks again for your help.

[anniecc]

Would we still need to prove that we have lived together for 2 years with option (2)?.

Yes, so I don't see how that would work in your situation. That's why I suggested you could consider moving to Australia for a period. Since you're only a couple of months short another option would be to consider a stint working or volunteering abroad together. In that situation your partner would need to go back to Australia and apply from there.

[Dim]

I am not an expert here but I thought the 2 year rule is only for the relationship itself and not the cohabitation. As long as you can prove you've been in a relationship for 2 years or more (e-mails, photos, call logs, etc.) then you will fulfill the criteria! So if your partner goes back to Oz and you continue the relationship then you might be able to apply in December! Also see if you can prove the relationship 2 year period before her Youth Mobility Visa runs out?

[vinny]

It is living together, akin to marriage, for at least two years.

[Dim]

I guess I was mistaken! Thanks Vinny for clarifying it!