So I spent the last 5 months preparing all my documents, reading every forum I could and I finally got my visa approved 2 days ago! Since this forum was such a big help I wanted to share my information of what I did in hopes to help someone else. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask and I will do my best
I came into the UK from Canada in January 2014 on a YMS Tier 5 Visa valid until January 1 2016. I left the UK in May and did not return until the end of December, which scared me because I did not meet the 2 years minimum of living in the UK with my partner. I did however live with my partner for the rest of the time that I lived in the UK and have been dating him for a total of 3 years. As part of my application I provided letters from his parents, his grandparents, my parents, and one of our best friends to further explain my leaving and to support our proof of relationship as we are not married. The next thing that scared us was that I met the minimum financial requirements but he did not, so we only provided pay slips and work contracts from my job and did not include his at all on the application. We did state on the application that he was working but did not share his employer information or income on the application.
Here is a list of all the documents we provided:
-Immigration Application
-Passport sized photos (required)
-Passports
-Tenancy Agreement (with both our names)
-Council Tax (with both our names)
-Bank Statements (joint account)
-Supporting letters from sponsours parents, sponsours grandparents, applicants parents, letter from current employer, letter from bank, letter from supporting friend
-P45 and P60 (from applicant only)
-Pay Slips of Applicant from the last year
-Work Contract of Applicant
I applied for the same day premium service on November 15 and had my appointment scheduled for the Cardiff office on December 10. Everyone was very nice at the visa & immigration office. I gave them all my documents and they gave me a number and asked me to wait in the waiting room. I waited with my partner for 1.5 hours until I was called for my biometrics to be taken. I then waited another 30 minutes and was then called to one of the desks for my answer. They explained that my visa application had been approved and asked me to check my documents to make sure everything was returned, and then it was done!
I believe the most important thing is to provide more then they ask for, provide everything you can. We provided all of my pay slips for the past year, bank statements from our joint account for the past year, tenancy agreements from both our previous flats and council taxes. When I was at my appointment they sent one of the married couples out to the bank to provide more information to support their documents, so I was very pleased that I provided everything. If you have any questions for me, please do ask.
Would really appreciate it if you could please answer some questions for me: