Youth Mobilty Scheme to Unmarried partner visa

[Marc de Winnaar]

Hi,

I tend to agree with the advice given by Joppa dated 21st June 3:49pm. There is no evidence in the immigration rules which suggests it is not possible to switch from the Youth Mobility Scheme into the Unmarried Partner category. You must just make sure you have at least 6 months remaining on your visa from your last date of entry to the UK.

If you require assistance with your application, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Marc de Winnaar

[Joppa]

Originally Posted by Marc de Winnaar

Hi,

I tend to agree with the advice given by Joppa dated 21st June 3:49pm. There is no evidence in the immigration rules which suggests it is not possible to switch from the Youth Mobility Scheme into the Unmarried Partner category. You must just make sure you have at least 6 months remaining on your visa from your last date of entry to the UK.

You don't have to have 6 months remaining on your current YMS visa - the rule just says that in order to switch to a settlement visa like UPV, your current visa must have been issued for more than 6 months, which is of course the case (2 years). You just have to apply before your current visa expires.

[Marc de Winnaar]

....and that you must have at least 6 months validity remaining on your visa from your last date of entry to the UK. As the YMS is still relatively new, it is safe to assume that you currently have at least 6 months remaining on your visa. However, if you are planning to make this application in the future, you will need to plan your travels carefully.

i.e. Don't travel in the last 6 months of your YMS visa if you still need to switch to the UPV.

Regards,

Marc de Winnaar

Originally Posted by Joppa

You don't have to have 6 months remaining on your current YMS visa - the rule just says that in order to switch to a settlement visa like UPV, your current visa must have been issued for more than 6 months, which is of course the case (2 years). You just have to apply before your current visa expires.

[Joppa]

Originally Posted by Marc de Winnaar

....and that you must have at least 6 months validity remaining on your visa from your last date of entry to the UK. As the YMS is still relatively new, it is safe to assume that you currently have at least 6 months remaining on your visa. However, if you are planning to make this application in the future, you will need to plan your travels carefully.

i.e. Don't travel in the last 6 months of your YMS visa if you still need to switch to the UPV.

We seem like splitting hairs(!), but the rule states that 'if we have given you a total of more than six months' permission to live here since your most recent admission to the UK.' Now, as you know, with a long-stay visa like YMS, you are given leave to enter the first time you arrive in UK with your visa, and that leave remains valid until expiry. Any short trips you take out of UK in the meantime have no effect on your visa provided you are returnuing to resume your activity laid down by your visa, as the immigration officer simply date-stamps your passport without giving you a new leave - they used to write 'as previously endorsed' etc but I don't know if they still do or not. 'Admission' here isn't the same as returning to UK after a short absence abroad - it means the initial entry at which your YMS visa was activated - i.e. you were given leave to enter as a YMS visa holder. So you don't have to have six months remaining on your visa, and you can still take a short trip abroad, provided you lodge your UPV application on or before the last date of visa validity.
Of course there is a separate question of the immigration officer clarifying whether you are returning to continue your YMS, and if the visa only has a few weeks remaining, that would be a proper question to ask. You only need to say that you are, and leave it at that, though in that case they may ask for evidence of your intention to leave the country for good, such as a ticket home. You can then say that you intend to apply for your UPV, and pending its outcome, you will be staying in UK.

[Marc de Winnaar]

Joppa, I actually starting to agree with you on this one. The rules are certainly open to interpretation and admission could very well refer to the last visa granted. In the past, I have however heard of a refusal where the applicant did not have at least 6 months remaining on their visa since their last date of entry to the UK. The visa which the applicant held was originally issued for 2 years. This may have been one off occurence and perhaps a misjudgement.

If Crusie has 6 months remaining under the YMS visa at the time of applying for the UPV, then there would be no concerns regarding last admission to the UK. However, if Crusie has to wait until the end of the YMS visa before applying, based on what we have discussed, there is still a good chance that the application will be successful.

If Crusie decides to proceed with an application from within the UK, this must be submitted prior to the expiry date of the YMS visa. Alternatively, Crusie will have to return home, prior to expiry, and submit an Entry Clearance application.

Regards,

Marc

Originally Posted by Joppa

We seem like splitting hairs(!), but the rule states that 'if we have given you a total of more than six months' permission to live here since your most recent admission to the UK.' Now, as you know, with a long-stay visa like YMS, you are given leave to enter the first time you arrive in UK with your visa, and that leave remains valid until expiry. Any short trips you take out of UK in the meantime have no effect on your visa provided you are returnuing to resume your activity laid down by your visa, as the immigration officer simply date-stamps your passport without giving you a new leave - they used to write 'as previously endorsed' etc but I don't know if they still do or not. 'Admission' here isn't the same as returning to UK after a short absence abroad - it means the initial entry at which your YMS visa was activated - i.e. you were given leave to enter as a YMS visa holder. So you don't have to have six months remaining on your visa, and you can still take a short trip abroad, provided you lodge your UPV application on or before the last date of visa validity.
Of course there is a separate question of the immigration officer clarifying whether you are returning to continue your YMS, and if the visa only has a few weeks remaining, that would be a proper question to ask. You only need to say that you are, and leave it at that, though in that case they may ask for evidence of your intention to leave the country for good, such as a ticket home. You can then say that you intend to apply for your UPV, and pending its outcome, you will be staying in UK.

[crusie]

cheers for all this guys has been a massive help.

so if i was planning on going home for christmas say DEC 15 - JAN 15 with my visa expiring on Feb 20 would i best to apply for this visa before i left or when i got back?

or is it all a bit hard would i be best not going?

thanks

[Dave_Ellen]

Hello all,

Since reading the bit about proving that you've lived together for 2 years, i am now convinced that our application will be rejected. We have been living together for 2 years and 3 months. However, the first rent contract was only in my name. We could only provide my partner's credit statements from August 2008. So this would mean we have lived together for 2 years. But now i'm worried because we only have 1 source of living together proof.

We have been to the UK twice before for Christmas, and submitted over 200 hundred photos for this application. I'm sure we have portrayed that we are geniune, have a suitble place to live, and have financial backing, but now i'm preparing for the worse. I think they will reject us based on the fact that we dont qualify to apply.

Does this mean we wouldn't even stand a chance of appealing? Can we provide any other documents in the interview we are no doubt going to need?

If we were to reapplied on a fiance or married couple visa, would this look bad? We dont want to be forced to get married, but now i think we have no choice unless i stay in China for another year. My visa expires in 2 weeks so now i am appling for a 6 month study visa.

This is making me ill, i can barely sleep and cant even eat well. We've done nothing wrong and just want to be together in the UK so we can start a family.

Does it really seem like we have no hope?

Regards,

Dave

[Dave_Ellen]

Originally Posted by moveup

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your query.

The answer to your application is rather simple, you need affidavits from working professionals (friends) who have witnessed your relationship to be true.

The affidavits need to state how the person has come to know you, when and how you met and that they have witnessed the relationship to be true and long lasting.

With regards to photographs, 8 should be fine.

I recommend that the sponsor also gives witness to how your relationship began and that they intend on continuing this relationship with the intent to permanently reside together.

I trust this helps.

Thank you for your quick reply. We do have a letter from a friend who is a doctor saying that she has known us for 2 and a half years, but this doesnt imply we have lived together for 2 years. We also submitted letters from me (the sponsor), my partner, mum (co-sponsor), my partner's mum and my sister. We have fully described how we met, our relationship, that we intend to live together and have that we have never even spent a day or night apart. The visa lady said our application was good and that based on what she saw we have a good chance. But she didnt review the docs and doesnt know about this problem. If she had known, she may been able to tell us there and then that our chances are slim.

We've since found stuff we purchased online to show the address. At least we can take this to the interview. It's just a shame that there isn't a checklist item for 'evidence of living together'. If there was, we would have known to prepare more stuff about prooving this. We weren't to know this 2 years ago when i only put my name on the first rent contract. I did this as i at the time i thought it needed to be in my name for me to get my living allowance from IBM. I later learned both names would have been fine, so thats what we did on the next contract.

Many thanks for your reply,

Dave

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by Dave_Ellen

It's just a shame that there isn't a checklist item for 'evidence of living together'. If there was, we would have known to prepare more stuff about prooving this.

Actually, it's a big point in your favor that there is no definitive checklist. No matter what was on it, there are those who would produce exactly what is on the list even when there is no real relationship.

The immigration people are granted a certain amount of discretion. Bring all the evidence you have with you, and just let the interviewer see how genuine the relationship is. If the visa lady said she thinks you have a good chance, go with that, bring whatever further evidence you have with you and just be sincere and up front with the interviewer.

There are no absolutes these days, but as long as the relationship is genuine, chances are you may well just get that visa. If not, is getting married really that awful a prospect? Especially if you want to start a family?
Cheers,
Bev

[Dave_Ellen]

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

Actually, it's a big point in your favor that there is no definitive checklist. No matter what was on it, there are those who would produce exactly what is on the list even when there is no real relationship.

The immigration people are granted a certain amount of discretion. Bring all the evidence you have with you, and just let the interviewer see how genuine the relationship is. If the visa lady said she thinks you have a good chance, go with that, bring whatever further evidence you have with you and just be sincere and up front with the interviewer.

There are no absolutes these days, but as long as the relationship is genuine, chances are you may well just get that visa. If not, is getting married really that awful a prospect? Especially if you want to start a family?
Cheers,
Bev

Thank you so much for replying! We would love to get married, but not just for a visa. We dont fully understand the logic behind marriage, especially when you compare eastern and western marriages. We really want to learn more about it at our church in the UK and go from there.

We fulfilled the requirments of the checklist, submitted 3 large folders of supporting docuementation and have been upfront about everything.

I just hope they see it.

I'm not a crying type, but last night i fell apart. Lucky Ellen is much stronger than me. This is a nightmare.

Thanks again for replying, it's given me renewed hope.