# UK unmarried partner visa document checklist - 2018



## guyfromoz (Jan 20, 2018)

Hi all,

First, a huge thank you to the community for the invaluable information on these forums. I've been lurking here for over two years and have found the quality of advice to be extremely useful. So, thank you.

I (Australian) will be applying for a UK unmarried partner visa with my partner (British citizen) as sponsor. We both currently reside in Australia. We've been together for 11 years so have plenty of evidence, meaning half the battle is cutting down the paperwork to a reasonable level as to not overwhelm the ECO or bury essential documents. 

I'm hoping for some advice/criticism/confirmation of our documents checklist as per below:

*Applicant documents*
- Online visa application form VAF4A
- Application payment receipt
- Priority payment receipt
- Introduction letter (<1000 words)
- Current passport and photocopies of every passport page
- Previous passport and photocopies of every passport page
- Australian birth certificate (confirming meeting English requirement)
- 2x passport size photos
- Flight itinerary (which is booked but flexible)

*Sponsor documents*
- Photocopy of passport bio page only
- Introduction letter / letter of support (<1000 words)

*Financial requirement documents*
- VAF4a Appendix 2 (meeting this entirely via cash savings route - category F) including declaration that funds are combined cash gift from applicant's parents and our personal savings
- 6 bank statements in joint names confirming greater than 62,500GBP balance at all times over a 6 calendar month period (the final statement will be an interim statement i.e. dated exactly 1 day after the 6 calendar month period)
- Letter from bank confirming bank account details and balance
- Declaration from applicant's parents stating cash gift amount 

*Proof of cohabitation/proof of relationship*
- Lease agreement in our names for our Australian rental property from 2015-2016
- Lease agreement in our names for our Australian rental property from 2017-2018 (in a different city)
- Rental ledger from both rental agencies demonstrating every rent payment over the 36 month period with both of our names as tenants
- Individual bank statements to matching addresses - one statement per 6 month period per person
- Joint bank statements from 2017Q3 and 2018Q1
- 4x joint account utility bills (roughly one per half year)
- Flight itineraries (3 per year) for joint trips dating back 3 years
- 20x photos over the last 10 years (concentrating on the most recent 2 years and including with family, friends, graduations, family weddings, etc)
- Email log screenshots demonstrating communication dating to 2010 (5 screenshots)
- Whatsapp log dating back to 2011 (10 screenshots)
- iPhone messages screenshots dating back 2.5 years (10 screenshots)
- Facebook friend date screenshot (2007) (1 screenshot)
- Mobile phone call log from mobile carrier (5 screenshots)
- Joint invites to weddings, engagements, etc (5)

*Accomodation documents*
- Airbnb short let booking information and receipt for 1 bedroom apartment, 1 month stay in London, including contact details for owner of the apartment
- Bank statement showing Airbnb booking cost being deducted from joint account
- Enquiry emails to letting agencies in London demonstrating plan for arranging long term accomodation

*There are additional evidence documents listed below that I consider probably unnecessary but would very much appreciate some input on:*
- Broadband home internet bills in joint name
- Additional flight itineraries in joint names (we fly together around 8 times a year)
- Additional photos (we have literally hundreds of photos together)
- Additional communication screenshots
- Copies of qualifications (we are both professional workers in relatively high demand sectors)
- Handwritten birthday/anniversay/Christmas etc cards
- Photos and description of London short let apartment
- More of any of the documents listed above

So that's a long list! It's easy to get lost in the documentation and lose perspective of what's needed, which is why I've posted this here. 

I will be taking advantage of the scanning option at VFS, so will be colour photocopying every document onto A4 size which I understand VFS will then take and scan (the A4 photocopies), leaving me to retain all original documents (aside from my passport of course). 

The only other question I have right now is whether there is actually a distinction between evidence of relationship and evidence of cohabitation (i.e. living as if married/de facto) for unmarried partners?

Thank you all so much in advance.


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

You don't need your birth certificate. Your Australian passport proves that you meet the language requirement.

Since you are submitting your passport/s you don't need copies of every page of your passport. 

You need a paper trail identifying where the money came from so a couple of examples of bank statements showing deposits from your earnings and the parent's bank statement showing the money leaving their account along with your corresponding statement showing the deposit.

None of the following things are needed or relevant:

-Rental ledger from both rental agencies demonstrating every rent payment over the 36 month period with both of our names as tenants
- Flight itineraries (3 per year) for joint trips dating back 3 years
- Email log screenshots demonstrating communication dating to 2010 (5 screenshots)
- Whatsapp log dating back to 2011 (10 screenshots)
- iPhone messages screenshots dating back 2.5 years (10 screenshots)
- Facebook friend date screenshot (2007) (1 screenshot)
- Mobile phone call log from mobile carrier (5 screenshots)
- Joint invites to weddings, engagements, etc (5)

Also not necessary:

- Broadband home internet bills in joint name
- Additional flight itineraries in joint names (we fly together around 8 times a year)
- Additional photos (we have literally hundreds of photos together)
- Additional communication screenshots
- Copies of qualifications (we are both professional workers in relatively high demand sectors)
- Handwritten birthday/anniversay/Christmas etc cards
- Photos and description of London short let apartment
- More of any of the documents listed above

Limit your photos to 10-15.





> - Lease agreement in our names for our Australian rental property from 2015-2016
> - Lease agreement in our names for our Australian rental property from 2017-2018 (in a different city)
> - Individual bank statements to matching addresses - one statement per 6 month period per person
> - Joint bank statements from 2017Q3 and 2018Q1
> - 4x joint account utility bills (roughly one per half year)


To prove that you've been living in a relationship akin to marriage you need evidence of joint bills, joint tenancy and joint bank accounts. Your evidence must be in the form of official post addressed either jointly or singly spread fairly evenly over the last 2 years. You need 6 examples each from at least 3 different sources. If you have 6 things in joint names, that would be all you would need. If you have one thing in joint names then you would each need 5 pieces of official post addressed singly. Acceptable evidence includes things like utility bills, bank statements, letters from the tax authority or driver's licence bureau, letters from your doctor, letters from your university.


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