[tow75]

Hi everyone,

My partner and I will be applying for a visa under the unmarried partner category, and although we're 4 or 5 months away from applying we want to get a head start on things, and would appreciate any thoughts since we've read this category can be quite tricky.

Me (sponsor): Canadian born but with joint UK/Canadian citizenship
My partner (applicant): Canadian citizen, living with me in the UK on a Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa.

We've been in a relationship for 4 years and moved to the UK together in October 2016 and have been living together since.

Timeline:

September 2016: We moved in together at my partner's parents (but don't have much evidence tying us both there)

October 4th 2016: We moved to the UK together and stayed with a friend for a week while looking for a flat (but again not much evidence of this)

October 13th 2016: We found a flat share, but only my partner's name is on the license to occupy. However, we have lots of letters putting us both there (letters confirming our NINs, registering for GPs, bank statements etc) and I paid rent. Would this, in combination with bank transfers from my partner to me for rent be sufficient proof?

April 2017: We moved into another flat share, this time with both our names on the lease.

March 2018: We signed a year long lease on our own 1 bed flat with a joint tenancy and joint council tax bill.

September 30th 2018: My partner's visa will expire.

Our issue here is that my partner's visa expires 2 weeks before October 13th, which would give us the full 2 years living together with sufficient proof. I've read that not having solid proof is a big no-no and can result in being refused, even if we're just 2 weeks short.

So my thoughts right now are that it would be best for us both to go back to Canada when my partner's visa expires and apply from there after October 13th, while continuing to pay rent on our flat in the UK.

We'll be using a solicitor for this but want to make sure we're not given false hope that applying earlier than we should will work.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks very much!

 

[Crawford]

If YOU the sponsor intends to go back to Canada with the applicant, how are you going to qualify under the financial requirements?

The unmarried partner visa can take up to three months to process (has been taking longer recently) so, with you in Canada, under which category would you qualify under (presuming you are going to apply using income).

 

[tow75]

I was planning on using a combination of vacation time from my current full-time job and working remotely. I don't think I could stretch this to 3 months though - I'd read that processing times for the unmarried visa are 6-8 weeks. Didn't realise it could take that long.

To keep my current job (which is a big part of the reason we want to remain in the UK) I'd need to come back to the UK at some point, but I'm concerned that the separation, even if it was for work commitments and even if it was just for a few weeks, would result in us being turned down.

 

[Crawford]

Better for you, the sponsor to stay in the UK, carry on working and do the application as soon after the 13th October as you can.

It is a reasonable course of action that your partner leaves when his visa is up and that the application is submitted when the 2 years are up. A two week break is not going to cause a problem.

You could possibly get a visa within 6 to 8 weeks if you paid for priority service; but I would not guarantee it.

Unmarried partner visa is more difficult to obtain then a spouse visa, so you had better have all your documentation to prove your co-habitation and relationship.

 

[tow75]

Thanks for your reply! It's good to know that 2 weeks won't be a big deal.