# Unmarried partner visa



## SophieH (Jun 8, 2016)

Hi,

I am a British Citizen but am desperately seeking for help on my boyfriends visa. We are hoping to apply for a Settlement of an Unmarried Partner visa and need some pointers.

To give you a bit of background information.

He is from Israel and we have been together for 4 years, we met travelling and travelled for 7 months together before I moved to Israel where I lived/still live for over 3 years now. As I am not Jewish we applied for a relationship view, which took me 10 months but allowed me to live and work here for one year. When this visa ran out I didn't renew it but still lived here for the remaining time, going back and forth to UK. 

In January this year I started working for my family business - registered as Self Employed not PAYE. With my salary I fit into the payment requirements of £18,600 but as I only started in January I haven't completed a tax year yet showing I legitimately fit in to this bracket - I can of course show bank statements though. - (1st question - does this matter/what are the laws for this?)

More questions...

When applying for an Unmarried Partner Visa and they ask for proof of us living together for over 2 years what documents do they require? As I mentioned above I have only had a visa in Israel for a year and that was over a year ago. We have been renting a property under both our names for almost over 3 years though - would this validate our living together?

If it is in fact our bills/flat rental that deciphers how long we have lived together, then how long can we live separately in different countries before those 2 years become vetoed - basically I want to go back to the UK now to be more hands on with work before we can apply for the visa - is this ok?

Lastly, as I mentioned, I started this job in January but have been working from home while spending time in Israel and going back to the UK - does this make a difference to anything?

I would really appreciate anyone's legal or experienced knowledge on this to prevent us applying for an application and getting thrown to the curb with our money robbed!

Thanks so much in advance for replies.

Sophie


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

Applying under self employment requires a* full year's financial accounts *showing earnings of 18,600GBP - anything less won't be acceptable

The two year cohabiting rule means 2 years continuous living together as man and wife; so proof such as joint utility bills, joint finances, insurances, joint rental agreements etc. It must be a full two years continuous living - no back and forth between countries, travelling together, in the country as a visitor.


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## SophieH (Jun 8, 2016)

thanks so much for your help.

Do you know the rules of marriage? How would one go about getting married in the UK if he isn't a UK citizen? Do we need some sort of visa for that?


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

Yes, he needs a visa to marry in the UK. A fiancé visa has the same financial, accommodation and relationship requirements as a spouse visa or an unmarried partner visa. A marriage visit visa is your only choice at the moment as you don't meet the financial requirement. It is a 6 month visa and he will have to leave before the visa expires. Once you are able to meet the financial requirement he can apply for a spouse visa from Israel.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

Why don't you just marry in Israel if you are both living there? Would seem easier than getting marriage visitor visa for the UK

However getting married will not solve the fact that you do not meet the financial requirements criteria.


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## dinosaur_alley (May 25, 2015)

She's not Jewish. Presuming he is, there's no way for them to get married in Israel as Israel only has religious marriage with restrictions on intermarriage.


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## SophieH (Jun 8, 2016)

Hi All, thanks for your replies.
As dinosaur_alley said I'm not Jewish so therefore can't marry here.
We wanted to avoid getting married until he had seen that he likes the UK otherwise we have to reevaluate things as I don't want to stay in Israel.
But if marriage visa is our only option please could someone kindly lay out the points that we nee to fit in to along with how we would go about doing that. I find all the information on the visa website is not as simple and obvious as we had hoped.
Thanks


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

SophieH said:


> Hi All, thanks for your replies. As dinosaur_alley said I'm not Jewish so therefore can't marry here. We wanted to avoid getting married until he had seen that he likes the UK otherwise we have to reevaluate things as I don't want to stay in Israel. But if marriage visa is our only option please could someone kindly lay out the points that we nee to fit in to along with how we would go about doing that. I find all the information on the visa website is not as simple and obvious as we had hoped. Thanks


Please do a search of the forum. There are numerous document checklists which will give you and idea of the documents required.


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## SophieH (Jun 8, 2016)

I just saw that a marriage visit visa is for those who are just here to get married and then move somewhere else?

What is the earliest he can move here, I assume after the tax year is up so I can prove my earnings?.

How do we get married here? What is the visa called that we would need in order for him to be legal to marry here? - and can he work on this visa?

Once married and we have proven my earnings are over £18,600 then what?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

The visa he needs for your purpose is fiancé visa, and you as his sponsor must meet the financial requirement at the time of application. After he is married in UK, he can apply for leave to remain as spouse, which is valid 30 months with the right to work. Otherwise the only visa available to him is marriage visit visa, which requires him to leave UK following marriage.


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## SophieH (Jun 8, 2016)

thanks that's really helpful.
just one thing - what do you mean 'he can apply for leave to remain as spouse'?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

It means if he is on fiancé visa, following his marriage he can apply to the Home Office to stay in UK as spouse of a British citizen for a period of 30 months, with the right to work.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

..... however to obtain a fiance visa YOU, the Brit, would need to meet the financial requirements - and as we have found you cannot do that at this stage. Also the fiance route involved paying for a fiance visa and then for a spouse visa to be allowed to remain.

No, your fiance cannot work on a fiance visa.


The marriage visitor visa does not require to meet the stringent financial requirements, but only allows a 6 month stay in the country - no extentions, no switching to another visa.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

I have already stated that to get fiancé visa, the sponsor has to meet the financial requirement. With limited opportunity to marry abroad because of their personal circumstances, fiancé visa followed by leave to remain makes sense, despite higher costs.


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## SophieH (Jun 8, 2016)

Thank you all so much for your help. Maybe we can get married somewhere else? Cyprus maybe - I understand that is where a lot of Israelis marrying non Jewish people go.

With financial proof does it have to be the end of the tax year or can it be a year from when I started my job, so in January? What proof do they require?


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

Please read Section 9 of FM 1.7 to fully understand the documents needed to support self-employment. As already suggested, search the forum for document checklists specifically for those using Category F. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...708/Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement.pdf


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Cyprus is possible, as is Gibraltar and Denmark, neither has residence requirement for marriage.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

SophieH said:


> Thank you all so much for your help. Maybe we can get married somewhere else? Cyprus maybe - I understand that is where a lot of Israelis marrying non Jewish people go.
> 
> With financial proof does it have to be the end of the tax year or can it be a year from when I started my job, so in January? What proof do they require?


As said previously they need a full financial year's accounts showing earnings of 18,600 GBP. (tax returns, HRMC declarations, proof of tax paid, etc etc)

Your accountant will do this for you. If he can produce a year's financial accounts in January (not all companies have accounts from April to April) that will suffice.


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## SophieH (Jun 8, 2016)

You have all been SO helpful. I truly appreciate your help and descriptive answers - fingers crossed we can sort something out!!!
Thanks again


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## SophH (Aug 28, 2016)

I have another question about our visa application. My husband has just finished university in August and has been working part time and therefore does not reach the financial requirement. I reach the requirement so does this factor in?
Also what is a sponsor when applying for a visa to join a partner? Is this me sponsoring him financially if he doesn't meet the above mentioned requirement and therefore does this mean I need to fill in the sponsorship form?


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## clever-octopus (May 17, 2015)

You can't contribute your earnings to the financial requirement unless you're legally employed in the UK. What you can do is contribute non-employment income, such as cash savings. You could meet the requirement through cash savings only (£62,500 in either or both of your names) or in combination with your partner's salary (you'd need a minimum of £16,000 base in savings, plus 2.5 times the shortfall in your partner's salary)

The only additional form you need should be Appendix 2, so if you're referring to the sponsorship form (SU07) just be aware that is only for adult dependant relatives (i.e. elderly parents or grandparents). The term "sponsor" in this context means your UK partner


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## SophH (Aug 28, 2016)

I am self employed in the uk and british so that should be ok then? 
the only thing is i have only been employed since january 2016 and we planned on applying in a couple of weeks but does it need to be that salary reached in uk financial year?
I have already earnt over the required salary since april as well - would that not be good enough?
we also have savings but not £62,500. together possibly £16,000 but not for 6months (which I believe is the requirment)
what do you mean by plus 2.5 times the shortfall?


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## clever-octopus (May 17, 2015)

Sorry, yes, if you are the UK partner then your income is what's used to meet the financial requirement. The non-UK applicant can only contribute to the financial requirement through employment income if they're legally employed in the UK (i.e. they already have a visa which allows work)

By "salary shortfall" I mean the difference in your salary from the £18,600 requirement. Cash savings can't be combined with self-employment income anyway, so unfortunately that's a moot point I brought up.

I believe under self-employment you use the full financial year as defined for your business, not necessarily corresponding to the UK tax calendar (April-April). Have you read through appendix 1.7 ?

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...708/Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement.pdf

I sympathise as I'm in a somewhat similar position, self-employment is a tricky one.


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## SophH (Aug 28, 2016)

I really hope you are right. I have read through and it seems to me that they require UKs financial tax year. I have to be honest I find the wording somewhat confusing in some of the sections (Section 9.3.3 specifically). Would you mind telling me what you make of it as it seems to me they say that I can give them an assessment of what I expect it to be by the end of the tax year so could basically apply now even if I haven't worked a full tax year?
We have been waiting a year from last January for me to earn enough for the requirements and really hope we don't have to wait until April now.
Very frustrating!


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

FM 1.7 states that you need to provide documents that cover a full financial year. If your financial year is January to January then you can apply. If it's April to April then you will need to wait.


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## SophH (Aug 28, 2016)

thanks for your reply. if i do a self assessment from january to january would this be sufficient? our work tax year is april to april


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

No. All your documents must relate to the full financial year which for you is April to April.


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## SophH (Aug 28, 2016)

I'm SO confused. I have been told by an immigration lawyer (who I haven't paid - thought this may be worth mentioning!?) that if I do a self-assessment for the year that I have worked that this would suffice. This is what I made out of section 9.3.3 in appendix 1.7 as well but if I'm honest I'm not so good at understanding this kind of thing!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Unless you are submitting company tax return CT600, in which case the accounting year may not coincide with tax year, for self-employed sole trader etc, it must correspond to the financial year of 6 April to 5 April (9.3.1).


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## SophH (Aug 28, 2016)

appreciate all your help. will be waiting until april then! what a nightmare.
will no doubt be back then asking more questions!
Happy 2017 and thanks a bunny for saving us the loss of 1.5k x


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## SophH (Aug 28, 2016)

Does anyone know if you can pay extra to speed up the process when applying for a visa. My husband was told by someone when you have completed your application and you get to the payment page you can pay an extra £450 to do the process in 3 weeks instead of 3 months? Is this true?


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

It depends on where he's applying from. Priority service is offered to applicants from some countries , not all. To be clear, if offered it puts your application ahead if non-priority applications but there is no guarantee that it will be processed in a specific amount of time. 

Check the VFS website for the country he's applying from to see if it is offered.


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## SophH (Aug 28, 2016)

It is weird because Israel isn't on the VFS website but it was an Israeli who told my husband that he could do it. I find this all so complicated!


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

Israel is served by TLS:

https://uk.tlscontact.com/il/tlv/page.php?pid=procedure


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