Appeal allowed :)

[elbuttano]

Hi all,

My partner has just had her family visa refused. We applied as unmarried partners. We have been together for 7 years and during that time I have flown back and forth from England to Colombia to spend time together at her apartment. We are together approximately 7-8 months of every year (the rest of the time I have to work in UK). My partner also came to England in 2015 and lived with me for 6 months, she was on a student visa. However, the entry clearance officer was not satisfied that we were able to prove cohabitation. Our main issue is that I don't receive any bills, correspondence etc in my name at my girlfriend's address in Colombia - all the bills are in her name. For work I travel two or three times a year back to the UK so I maintain my banking, mobile phone and other official indications of residence from my UK base. I don't clearly have much in the way of evidence to show I've been living with my partner in Colombia for the 2 years they require, even though I've been living with her at her apartment for much longer than 2 years!

Please can anybody help me in working out how best to word the appeal?

With the application we provided 7 years worth of photos of us together in various places all over the world, along with the plane tickets and hotel reservations in both our names. We also provided letters signed by all 4 of our parents stating that we got together in 2014. We believed that the evidence was overwhelming that we are indeed a genuine couple, but it seems they have tripped us up on this "living at same address" point.

I've been trying to think if there is any other evidence I can produce to prove how much time I've lived with my partner in Colombia - phone GPS records, computer IP address records, passport stamps showing entry to Colombia, maybe there's something I haven't thought of?

We would be extremely appreciative of any help from this community. Many thanks in advance.

Steve

Refusal wording in full:

Eligibility
Under paragraph EC-P.1.1.(d) you do not meet all of the eligibility requirements of Section E-ECP of Appendix FM for the following reasons:

Eligibility Relationship Requirement
You do not meet the eligibility relationship requirement of paragraphs E-ECP.2.1 to 2.10 because:
You have applied for entry clearance as an unmarried partner. Paragraph GEN 1.2.(iv) of Appendix FM defines an unmarried partner as “a person who has been living together with the applicant in a relationship akin to a marriage or civil partnership for at least two years prior to the date of application.” I note you have stated in your application form that your relationship with your sponsor started in 2014 and that you have both been living together in Colombia since 2016. However I also note you have stated that you and your sponsor do not have any joint accounts and your sponsor does not receive any correspondence at your address in Colombia. Whilst I acknowledge correspondence from the NHS addressed to you listing your sponsors address, as your passport demonstrates, you have not visited the UK since 2015 therefore this does not demonstrate cohabitation for at least two years prior to the date of application. Therefore the documents you have submitted do not demonstrate any evidence of cohabitation. Whilst I acknowledge you have provided numerous photo demonstrating your relationship from 2014 to the present and flight tickets listing both of your names, I am satisfied that these in isolation do not demonstrate that you and your sponsors have been living together in a relationship akin to marriage. I am therefore not satisfied that your sponsor is your partner for the purposes of Appendix FM and therefore that your partner is present or settled in the UK or being admitted for settlement on the same occasion as you. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-P.1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. (E-ECP.2.1)

[UtterlyBrilliant]

For me, the main point to address in the refusal is "you have not visited the UK since 2015 therefore this does not demonstrate cohabitation for at least two years prior to the date of application." I think an any appeal should be focused on covid and travel restrictions (dont know if columbia was also on the red list at any point) which may have made it tougher to travel since 2019.

[CR001]

living together in a relationship akin to marriage

For an unmarried partner visa, this evidence of living together in both names inls mandatory. There is no discretion and appeal is highly likely to fail.

For all intents and purposes, UKVI will view your relationship as boyfriend/girlfriend

[CR001]

For me, the main point to address in the refusal is "you have not visited the UK since 2015 therefore this does not demonstrate cohabitation for at least two years prior to the date of application." I think an any appeal should be focused on covid and travel restrictions (dont know if columbia was also on the red list at any point) which may have made it tougher to travel since 2019.

Not travelling to the UK since 2015 and using covid as an excuse would not be a valid reason.

[elbuttano]

Regarding "not travelling to the UK since 2015" in the refusal letter, this refers to some evidence we provided to show that my partner visited England and lived with me in 2015. Since then we have lived together in Colombia for 5 years (other than my trips to the UK for work). I just don't have any "official" documents to show I've been at the address all this time. All I have are email confirmations from online orders that have been sent to me while living here (Amazon etc), not sure they would be accepted? Hoping there may be other ways to prove where I've been living that I haven't thought of...

[UtterlyBrilliant]

For me, the main point to address in the refusal is "you have not visited the UK since 2015 therefore this does not demonstrate cohabitation for at least two years prior to the date of application." I think an any appeal should be focused on covid and travel restrictions (dont know if columbia was also on the red list at any point) which may have made it tougher to travel since 2019.

Not travelling to the UK since 2015 and using covid as an excuse would not be a valid reason.

The wording suggests the co habitation period is particularly relevant in the last 2 years.

[CR001]

The key point is that you need to have beeb living together in a relationship akin to marriage, with shared financial commitments etc for at least 2 years, ie joint tenancy, joint utility bills, bank statements etc. You don't meet this requirement even before covid.

Living together akin to marriage is not the same as visiting each for a few months every year.

Presumably you entered Columbia as a visitor and didn't not have a visa for long tems residence allowing you to live and work there.

[elbuttano]

Thanks for your replies so far.

We do not visit each other for a few months each year, we live in Colombia together and a few times a year I have to return to the UK for work.

There's no tenancy agreement as the apartment is fully owned. Utility bills in Colombia are always in the homeowners name, you wouldn't add someone's name to the accounts who is not the homeowner. I do have bank statements that show transfers to my partner for help with the paying of bills.

What else might they consider as evidence of "living together in a relationship akin to marriage"?

[TODMATT]

Hi all,

My partner has just had her family visa refused. We applied as unmarried partners. We have been together for 7 years and during that time I have flown back and forth from England to Colombia to spend time together at her apartment. We are together approximately 7-8 months of every year (the rest of the time I have to work in UK). My partner also came to England in 2015 and lived with me for 6 months, she was on a student visa. However, the entry clearance officer was not satisfied that we were able to prove cohabitation. Our main issue is that I don't receive any bills, correspondence etc in my name at my girlfriend's address in Colombia - all the bills are in her name. For work I travel two or three times a year back to the UK so I maintain my banking, mobile phone and other official indications of residence from my UK base. I don't clearly have much in the way of evidence to show I've been living with my partner in Colombia for the 2 years they require, even though I've been living with her at her apartment for much longer than 2 years!

Please can anybody help me in working out how best to word the appeal?

With the application we provided 7 years worth of photos of us together in various places all over the world, along with the plane tickets and hotel reservations in both our names. We also provided letters signed by all 4 of our parents stating that we got together in 2014. We believed that the evidence was overwhelming that we are indeed a genuine couple, but it seems they have tripped us up on this "living at same address" point.

I've been trying to think if there is any other evidence I can produce to prove how much time I've lived with my partner in Colombia - phone GPS records, computer IP address records, passport stamps showing entry to Colombia, maybe there's something I haven't thought of?

We would be extremely appreciative of any help from this community. Many thanks in advance.

Steve

Refusal wording in full:

Eligibility
Under paragraph EC-P.1.1.(d) you do not meet all of the eligibility requirements of Section E-ECP of Appendix FM for the following reasons:

Eligibility Relationship Requirement
You do not meet the eligibility relationship requirement of paragraphs E-ECP.2.1 to 2.10 because:
You have applied for entry clearance as an unmarried partner. Paragraph GEN 1.2.(iv) of Appendix FM defines an unmarried partner as “a person who has been living together with the applicant in a relationship akin to a marriage or civil partnership for at least two years prior to the date of application.” I note you have stated in your application form that your relationship with your sponsor started in 2014 and that you have both been living together in Colombia since 2016. However I also note you have stated that you and your sponsor do not have any joint accounts and your sponsor does not receive any correspondence at your address in Colombia. Whilst I acknowledge correspondence from the NHS addressed to you listing your sponsors address, as your passport demonstrates, you have not visited the UK since 2015 therefore this does not demonstrate cohabitation for at least two years prior to the date of application. Therefore the documents you have submitted do not demonstrate any evidence of cohabitation. Whilst I acknowledge you have provided numerous photo demonstrating your relationship from 2014 to the present and flight tickets listing both of your names, I am satisfied that these in isolation do not demonstrate that you and your sponsors have been living together in a relationship akin to marriage. I am therefore not satisfied that your sponsor is your partner for the purposes of Appendix FM and therefore that your partner is present or settled in the UK or being admitted for settlement on the same occasion as you. I therefore refuse your application under paragraph EC-P.1.1(d) of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. (E-ECP.2.1)

The refusal seems to be correct and there's no point in appealing this from my point of view no harm in doing this if you think the refusal unfair and did you use a solicitor for this application?

[secret.simon]

What else might they consider as evidence of "living together in a relationship akin to marriage"?

In the UK, they would accept letters from government departments (DWP, HMRC, etc) addressed to one or both partners in the same address at broadly the same time (same month, etc). Would you have something similar in Columbia? Were both of you registered at the same address with government bodies (local authorities, etc) and do you have proof of such common registration?

[elbuttano]

I am registered to this address with Colombian immigration, but I don't believe there is any mechanism to access/request those records.

The good news is since yesterday we have now found a utility bill in my name, it's for the water service. The bills for that arrived digitally and to an old email account so we didn't realise. So we now have the water bill addressed to me (since 2017) and the gas/electric in my partners name.

We can also request a document from the apartment building administration where we live which confirms we have both lived at this address for X years and have paid the monthly admin/community fees etc.

Do you think this will be enough?

[ALKB]

I am registered to this address with Colombian immigration.

What does this mean?

Do you have a residence permit for Colombia?

If not, you are visiting, not residing, just like time spent in the UK on a visitor visa or visa waiver would not be counted as 'living together'.

Also, the income you are showing to meet the financial requirement, does that come from the UK? Are you paying tax, national insurance, etc? Then you are obviously resident in the UK while your partner is resident in Colombia.

[elbuttano]

Hello,

I'm just looking for some general information about submitting the online form for a paper appeal via the website at: https://immigrationappealsonline.justice.gov.uk/IACFees

--
How and when do supporting documents for the appeal get sent?

Do I need the documents ready when I submit the form?

Can I send supporting documents in digital format via a form or email address? Or do I have to send physical documents in the post?

Will the judge reviewing the appeal have access to the documents from my original application, or should I resend the important ones with the appeal?
--

I am outside the UK and appealing against an entry clearance decision.

Thank you

[Sie1on1]

Yes the judge will have access to original documents of the application. But you need to make an appeal bundle and send it to the tribunal email address

[manci]

All I have are email confirmations from online orders that have been sent to me while living here (Amazon etc)

If you are registered with Amazon or other suppliers of goods at your Columbian address, and have proof of deliveries, that may help.

Also how frequent and of what duration have been your trips to the UK?

Getting married would also be a solution.

I am registered to this address with Colombian immigration, but I don't believe there is any mechanism to access/request those records

It is difficult to see why, if you tried, you couldn't get confirmation of this from the Colombian authorities. Do you have a R(resident) visa? See https://medellinguru.com/resident-visa/

I am outside the UK and appealing against an entry clearance decision.

If your partner has been given the right to appeal (check the refusal letter) the procedure is described here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... orm-iaft-2

An appeal is a lengthy process and if you managed to collect more evidence of cohabitation it may be more expedient to re-apply.

[elbuttano]

Hello. I just wanted to post an update but unfortunately my original post from last year is locked otherwise I would add to it there: immigration-for-family-members/paper-ap ... 17246.html

We appealed a visa refusal for my Colombian girlfriend to join me in the UK as an unmarried partner. A couple of people here in the forum said an appeal would be unlikely to succeed, but we went ahead with it anyway. Good news - the judge of the First-tier Tribunal allowed the appeal. She said there was more than enough evidence submitted in our original application to have granted the visa.

We had the case decided on the papers and we had no solicitor or legal help.

The judge said:

I have read the support statements from the Appellant and Sponsor together with the documentary and photographic evidence. I am satisfied that they have easily met the evidential burden of establishing this with clear and persuasive evidence which is all in their bundle that they have been in a relationship together since 2014, that they have cohabited since 2016 to date and that their relationship is subsisting.

I am therefore satisfied that having established that at the time of the application the Appellant met the definition of unmarried partner and no other challenge was raised in relation to their application that it would be disproportionate for the purpose of their Article 8 appeal to refuse the application.

The conclusion was:

On the facts as established in this appeal, there are substantial grounds for believing that refusing the Appellants application would result in treatment in breach of ECHR.

We were also rewarded with a fee award for the appeal "as the evidence before the decision maker was enough to allow the application"

Something else of note - the Respondent did not submit anything to the court and it's as if this annoyed the judge:

On the file I had no Respondents bundle and only had the refusal letter because it was provided by the Appellant.

Our timeline is as follows:

April 2021 - Application submitted
May 2021 - Visa refused
June 2021 - Appeal submitted
February 2022 - Appeal allowed

We got the decision on February 25. Since then we have heard nothing. Am I right in thinking the Home Office has a certain time period to respond to the judge's decision? They could hypothetically appeal it if they wanted to? Should we just be waiting for an email from HO and what is the average time that takes?

Many thanks, and good luck to anybody else who is also appealing - our case goes to show it is not always a lost cause.

[CR001]

Topics merged.

[AmazonianX]

Hello. I just wanted to post an update but unfortunately my original post from last year is locked otherwise I would add to it there: immigration-for-family-members/paper-ap ... 17246.html

We appealed a visa refusal for my Colombian girlfriend to join me in the UK as an unmarried partner. A couple of people here in the forum said an appeal would be unlikely to succeed, but we went ahead with it anyway. Good news - the judge of the First-tier Tribunal allowed the appeal. She said there was more than enough evidence submitted in our original application to have granted the visa.

We had the case decided on the papers and we had no solicitor or legal help.

The judge said:

I have read the support statements from the Appellant and Sponsor together with the documentary and photographic evidence. I am satisfied that they have easily met the evidential burden of establishing this with clear and persuasive evidence which is all in their bundle that they have been in a relationship together since 2014, that they have cohabited since 2016 to date and that their relationship is subsisting.

I am therefore satisfied that having established that at the time of the application the Appellant met the definition of unmarried partner and no other challenge was raised in relation to their application that it would be disproportionate for the purpose of their Article 8 appeal to refuse the application.

The conclusion was:

On the facts as established in this appeal, there are substantial grounds for believing that refusing the Appellants application would result in treatment in breach of ECHR.

We were also rewarded with a fee award for the appeal "as the evidence before the decision maker was enough to allow the application"

Something else of note - the Respondent did not submit anything to the court and it's as if this annoyed the judge:

On the file I had no Respondents bundle and only had the refusal letter because it was provided by the Appellant.

Our timeline is as follows:

April 2021 - Application submitted
May 2021 - Visa refused
June 2021 - Appeal submitted
February 2022 - Appeal allowed

We got the decision on February 25. Since then we have heard nothing. Am I right in thinking the Home Office has a certain time period to respond to the judge's decision? They could hypothetically appeal it if they wanted to? Should we just be waiting for an email from HO and what is the average time that takes?

Many thanks, and good luck to anybody else who is also appealing - our case goes to show it is not always a lost cause.

Congratulations, its already over the time and HO can not appeal. There is no average time. People keep quiet and dont hear anything for months without end. Dont just keep silent waiting, get on their back.

[elbuttano]

Thank you. I sent UKVI an email via this page https://ukvi.mysecurepay.co.uk/Home:

And their reply was:

Thank you for contacting UK Visas and Immigration International Contact Centre.
With regards to your enquiry,
We are unable to confirm whether an appeal decision has been received from the courts.
We do not have access to specific case information . Please wait for formal contact or a decision letter before taking any further steps.
Regards,
UK Visas and Immigration

It's not very helpful that they don't have access to specific case information. What if somebody didn't hear about their visa for two years or something - how would they be able to chase it?

[vinny]

Note also their current Implementing allowed appeals Guidance.

[alana7]

Congratulations. Keep the at them they usually take about 8 weeks to respond after the appeal is allowed if they do not appeal but keep at them to remind them of your judgement. In regards to their bundle only having your refusal letter that is their usual mo.
I had a withdrawal from them last July and I got my BRP in October but I emailed after 6 weeks and then they replied 3 weeks later that the BRP was being sent and my appeal was successful after their withdrawal. Persistence and patience prevails.

[elbuttano]

Update (or not). We still haven't heard anything from UKVI, it's now over 3 months since the judge allowed our appeal. I've chased them a couple of times but I got a generic, copy and pasted, message back both times, then when I press them for something more specific, I get a short message back just saying the visa is 'still being processed'.

Are others experiencing a similar delay? Is it partly due to the Ukrainian situation with the HO prioritising those applications?

[GBOPSON]

I like your courage to challenge this refusal. Can you please update us, if you have been contacted and if you have received your awarded fee?