I am a New Zealand citizen and currently residing in the UK under a Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa. This visa began in March of 2010. My partner of 8 years in an English passport holder (he was born in the UK but moved to New Zealand as a child), we came over to the UK together, deciding not to apply for an Unmarried Partner visa at that stage for two reasons a) we were unsure if we wanted to stay in the UK for more than two years and b) as we had been students for four years of our relationship our 'evidence' was not exactly on order - yes we lived together but we didnt always have official tenancy agreements, both our names on utility bills etc.
We have now decided we would like to stay in the UK and apply for an Unmarried Partner Visa for myself but are worried about a few issues that I am hoping some kind person on this forum can help me with.
Firstly I understand I can apply from the UK rather than returning to NZ as I had leave to stay in the UK for 2 years, correct?
I feel we have pretty good evidence for the last 4 years, we lived together, both on the tenancy of a house (in New Zealand), then we lived with my parents for 6 months to save to come over here (I hope a letter from them to this effect, will suffice?) Then we travelled together for 3 months (documented with tickets, travel insurance and photos), we than had a year lease here which had both our names on. For this entire period we have had joint bank accounts also. Now for the problem - our current lease, effective from September 2011 only has my name on it, we get our joint bank statements to this address but are not on any of the utility bills together (it is an existing house share, bills already set up).
Basically im hoping that someone can give their opinion on whether it is a waste of time to apply given our current lease situation and the opinion voiced on this forum that "Unmarried Partner applications come under a great deal of scrutiny. Especially when the foreign partner's current visa is close to expiry."
We would love to stay in the UK but dont want to through a lot of money at an application that will be denied. The other question, I know, is marriage, yes we may well get married eventually but it is not something we really want to do now and feel like if we suddenly did in the next few months it may be viewed as a marriage of convenience by the home office anyway?!? Oh and we both have permanent work contracts if this makes any difference?!
Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer
