Another unmarried partner question (well, lots of them)

[pepto]

Hi Everyone,

I just found this forum, so far I've read loads of good information here.

I am a UK citizen and I have spent the last 7 years living abroad in an Asian country. I have been in a relationship with my girlfriend for 5 1/2 years total, and we have been living together for 3 years 9 months. We both recently lost our jobs and I will be headed back home in July, and we hope to apply for the unmarried partner visa so that she can move over to the UK later in the year.

The problem is that the agency who handle all of the visa applications here are a bit useless and don't really tell us anything more than is included in the official visa application guidelines, which are far from being detailed.

I'd like to give you a quick rundown of our application and ask and one experienced with applying for this visa what you think our chances are.


-We have a copy of the contract for our apartment that shows me as the main renter and my girlfriend as a co-inhabitant


-There are no such things as joint bank accounts in this country and we pay for most things in cash so it is difficult to show financial evidence of the marriage-like relationship. We did buy a car just over a year ago that is in her name, but for which we have receipts showing that I ordered it and paid the original deposit of 50% (around 1500 pounds). We also have some evidence of plane tickets and a hotel room booked for both of us and paid for by her credit card in the US last year.

As my girlfriend is a bit of a clean freak she throws everything away, which means we don't have any old copies of bills from more than a year ago. We were very lucky though that the gas and electricity companies have supplied us with documents showing each bill from when we first moved in addressed to both of us.

We also have our payslips for the last few years, but as we worked for a small company these are just made in excel, printed out and stamped with the company seal. They don't really look that official and to be honest we probably could have faked something like that.

We are a bit concerned that this might not be enough. Any thoughts?


-We have some postcards from my family addressed to us both, wedding invitations, boatloads of photos and evidence of numerous holidays together (including trips to my brothers wedding 5 years ago) but after reading some experiences online it seems like these aren't really that valuble.


-I am leaving mid-July, but won't be arriving back in the UK until mid-August, which is when my partner will be applying. Hence I won't have found a job by then. I will be moving in with my parents who are retired and have a large house that we can stay at for as long as we like at no cost. I am a bit worried that both of us being unemployed for the last few months (I still have no job but she is now a student with a 600 pound bursary every month) might hurt the application, even though we have around 25,000 pounds in savings between us. We would like to wait until I have found a job before applying but that would likely push the application back to September/ October which would mean that the earliest travel date would be pushed to next year. We were thinking to go ahead and apply in August anyway, but if you think that this is a big hole in the application we can delay it for a month or 2. The thing is, I don't want to rush finding a job just to write it on the visa app and we would like for my partner to come over as soon as possible.

Whew, sorry for the long post, but any advice/ comments would be much appreciated.

[ElenaW]

Sorry but from what you have stated it doesn't seem like you have enough proof of cohabitation. I realize you've been together for a long time and living together for more than 2 years but this visa is hard to get and there needs to be definite proof of regular bills and such coming in both your names to your shared address.

Have you thought of getting married and applying for a spousal?

[pepto]

Sorry but from what you have stated it doesn't seem like you have enough proof of cohabitation. I realize you've been together for a long time and living together for more than 2 years but this visa is hard to get and there needs to be definite proof of regular bills and such coming in both your names to your shared address.

Have you thought of getting married and applying for a spousal?

To be honest, we don't want to actually get married until we have lived together in the UK together for a while. Also, when we do get married we want to do it with a big ceremony which we cannot justify paying for now, we would rather keep our savings as financial backup for the time being.

While we don't have any actual copies of bills, the gas company supplied us with a document that shows all of our bills and has both of our names on it, and the electricity company have given us a similar document with my name as the contracted person and her name as the person who pays. These date all the way back to 2006. Is this sufficient enough?

[pepto]

Oh, and thanks for the quick feedback!

[ElenaW]

If I'm not mistaken there need to be six different documents to prove cohabitation which you don't seem to have. Since you have been living together for sometime this will go in your favour but I personally wouldn't risk it if I wasn't sure of the outcome.

[pepto]

Thanks for the follow up but I cannot find any information online about these 6 documents that are required to show cohabitation.

In the Supporting Documents Checklist part of the application document it has a generic list, but is way too general and could mean as few as 11 documents, including employment, financial and accommodation records.

This is precisely the reason that I have joined this forum...because they simply don't give you enough information about what is needed to successfully obtain this visa.

[Wanderer]

Thanks for the follow up but I cannot find any information online about these 6 documents that are required to show cohabitation.

In the Supporting Documents Checklist part of the application document it has a generic list, but is way too general and could mean as few as 11 documents, including employment, financial and accommodation records.

This is precisely the reason that I have joined this forum...because they simply don't give you enough information about what is needed to successfully obtain this visa.

They need to be leases, bank statements, utility bills etc in both or joint names, distributed evenly over the 24 months. Stuff like Blockbuster Video spam/Dominos Pizza obviously carries less weight! Things from reputable orgs/companies with your common address on.

Also if in a language other than English they'd need to be translated professionally and notarised.

[pepto]

They need to be leases, bank statements, utility bills etc in both or joint names, distributed evenly over the 24 months. Stuff like Blockbuster Video spam/Dominos Pizza obviously carries less weight! Things from reputable orgs/companies with your common address on.

Also if in a language other than English they'd need to be translated professionally and notarised.

Great, thanks for the info!

The documents that we have are equivalent to every gas and electricity bill for 3 1/2 years in both our names condensed into a few pages, and we have contacted our internet provider to see if they can supply the same.

We also have payslips showing the same address for the whole period (although the ones that our small company used were made in Excel by the CEO...but do have the company stamp), the equivalent of council tax for the last year and receipts showing that we purchased a car together 13 months ago. Additionally we have the original contract for our apartment with both our names on it and another one for when we re-contracted 2 years later.

Along with other bits and pieces -registration for my partners bicycle from 3 years ago (an official government document in this country believe it not not!), my health insurance payment receipts for 3 years (unfortunately she only has hers for the last year, maybe better to omit these?) and miscellaneous things like wedding invitations addressed to the 2 of and registration with the local dry cleaners, we have quite a lot of stuff which satisfies the criteria you listed.

Anyone out there who has actually succeeded in getting this visa who would like to chime in and share their story or give some comments?

[bbbb]

here just have a look. The saving could be enought Beside ur parents provide u the maintenance it would be better to submit her application together , Don t let her behind. U have a strong case the evidences u have + photos + statement from friends and ur parent + letters emails from friends family where she is mentioned, could make it

[pepto]

Unfortunately, my visa here is running out at the ned of this month so I have to leave earlier. Also, she is studying here and will have to wait until mid October when the course ends to come to the UK.

Today we spoke to our internet and telephone company and they are sending us records of our bills for the last 2 years with both of our names on them. This means we now have evidence of 4 bills (gas, electricity, telephone and internet) per month for a period of over 2 years with both of our names on them. I hope that our savings and the fact that we will be living with my parents will counteract my unemployed status. I am going to write a letter explaining that I have a Masters degree and several years of international business experience and that I am confident that I will be able to secure a good job in a short time.

[Wanderer]

Today we spoke to our internet and telephone company and they are sending us records of our bills for the last 2 years with both of our names on them. This means we now have evidence of 4 bills (gas, electricity, telephone and internet) per month for a period of over 2 years with both of our names on them.

Are they in English?

[pepto]

Are they in English?

Nope, but we have contacted a professional translator.

The agency who handle all the visa applications here have told us that we can translate the documents ourselves, but with some of these official documents we are thinking that the translator is the way to go, even if it is going to cost us 35 pounds per page.

Any comments on this? Are the agency wrong for telling us that it is ok to translate the documents ourselves?

[Wanderer]

Are they in English?

Nope, but we have contacted a professional translator.

The agency who handle all the visa applications here have told us that we can translate the documents ourselves, but with some of these official documents we are thinking that the translator is the way to go, even if it is going to cost us 35 pounds per page.

Any comments on this? Are the agency wrong for telling us that it is ok to translate the documents ourselves?

I think u can, but they will still need to be checked and notarised by presumably a qualified translator who's also a notary - never got that - how can a notary certify the translation without being a translator themselves?

[pepto]

Just an update on our visa application...

We prepared all of our documents as I mentioned earlier and included a letter from my parents stating that we could live in their house free of charge indefinitely, and even included a copy of the deed to the house to prove that they own it.

We did all of the translations ourselves, signed and dated them and this didn't seem to be a problem.

My partner is Japanese and flew to Tokyo to apply for the visa on a Tuesday in late August. From this year, all settlement visa applications in Japan have to be sent to Manila for processing, and we were expecting 6-12 weeks and a possible interview...but the passport arrived in the mailbox exactly 1 week after the application with the visa attached! We are so happy and she will be joining me in the UK at the end of November.

It's pretty crazy that they sent the application to Manila, processed it and sent it all the way back to Japan in 1 week...now that is efficiency!

Thanks to everyone who gave advice here, and good luck to the rest of you who are going through the application process now!