# Successful Unmarried Partner Visa - Supporting Documents & General Points



## GeorgeAdelaide (Dec 4, 2013)

Hi everyone,

After a long 6 month process, we finally received our shiny unmarried partner visa this morning  We definitely wouldn't have had this positive outcome without the help of this forum so I wanted to pay it forward and outline everything I have learnt over the past few months. Hopefully something here will help future applicants!

*1. *When considering your options, read over this document with a fine tooth comb:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...337420/Annex_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement.pdf

It details exactly what your options are and is crucial in regards to the financial requirements. I have seen people be turned down over 50p (£0.50) so do read this to ensure you are calculating your annual income correctly!

*2. * Ask questions if you are ensure! This forum is a fantastic source of information and everyone is here to help. Even if it seems stupid and obvious, ask!

*3. * If you can afford it, pay for priority. It may seem like an extra cost to an already expensive process but it is definitely worth it to have peace of mind sooner rather than later!

*4. * Listen to the mods! Joppa, Nyclon et al are real experts in this field and they know what they are talking about. I have seen many posters here discuss what their lawyers have advised them and most of the time, it is all wrong! We were successful with using only this forum for advice. If we can do it, so can you 

Below is our checklist of supporting documents with a few notes:

*APPLICANT*
Printed VAF4A Applicant Form (you can start filling this in on Visa4UK without having to pay, as long as you re-save it every 7 days)
Application Payment Receipt 
Priority Application Receipt
2 x Passport Photos (Name on back of each)
Passport
Old Passport
Introduction Letter (No more than 1000 words; keep it brief, to the point and as professional as possible)
Letter from Employer
2 Months worth of Pay Slips
2 Month worth of Bank Statements (From Bank Directly & Stamped)
Proposed Flight Itinerary

*SPONSOR*
Letter of Support (No more than 1000 words; keep it brief, to the point and as professional as possible)
Copy of Passport - Bio page and stamped pages across relationship period (Do not need to be certified as they can look up British passport details on their system)
Passport Photo (Name on back)
VAF4 Appendix 2
Work Offer Letter
Work Contract
Letter from Employer confirming continued permanent employment

*FINANCIAL (CAT B)*
Spreadsheet outlining exact pay dates and stating explicitly how we were reaching the £18.6k limit
12 Months Pay Slips (note attached explaining no slips for October - February due to working/living in Sydney)
12 Months Bank Statements (payments circled in pencil; ordered directly from Natwest)
P60

*ACCOMODATION*
Tenancy Agreement
Letter from Landlord agreeing to a 3rd tenant (Currently live with friend)
Property Inspection Report
Water Bills

*RELATIONSHIP*
Spreadsheet detailing exact timeline of relationship and how long we have lived together
22 months worth of tenancy agreements
Letter from father explaining 3 month co-habitation in his house
6 letters spanning the 25 month co-habitation period addressed to each of us (Job Offers; Deposit Protection Schemes; Bank Letters; Reference Checks)
Joint Bank Statements
Holiday E-mail Confirmations
14 photos spanning 2+ year relationship (Proper printed photos, stuck onto A4 and annotated)
Money transfer confirmations during our 6 month separation
Screenshots of communication during 6 month separation (6 screenshots in total; one for each month & varying methods - Facebook; Viber; FaceTime etc. Always keep this to a minimum - they do not want to see every message you have sent each other over the course of your relationship!)

Then general notes:

- Where possible, everything should be an original. If you can't get an original, try to get it signed or stamped from the appropriate body. As a general rule, anything you can print from your computer is not an original (excluding holiday confirmations and facebook logs etc)

- Make a copy of everything and bind them in two stacks using string or large elastic bands. Also, write 'COPY' in the top right hand corner of all copies in pencil to make the ECO's job easier. Do not use folders or dividers, they will just get rid of them.

- Make an extra set of copies for yourself should there be any issues.

- All financial documents cannot be more than 28 days old on the application date. This is the date you submit the form online and pay.

- If you want to explain an aspect of a document, do not deface it. Write an explanatory note and staple it on, to ensure it doesn't get lost.

And to end, my final timeline:

Country applying from: Australia
Type of visa applied for: Unmarried Partner (with Priority)
Date application submitted (online): 12 August 2014
Date biometrics taken: 19 August 2014, and all documents submitted at VFS Sydney
Office location processing your visa: Manila
Projected timeline given: Decision within 10 working days
E-mail: Decision has been made: 22nd August 2014
Date visa received: 26th August 2014


Wow, that's a long thread! Sorry for the overload of information but hopefully it will be helpful to someone! I asked a lot of questions along the way so feel free to take a look back at my old posts or send me a private message - I'll be more than happy to help!

All the best,

Georgina


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## bluesky2015 (Sep 3, 2013)

GeorgeAdelaide said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> After a long 6 month process, we finally received our shiny unmarried partner visa this morning  We definitely wouldn't have had this positive outcome without the help of this forum so I wanted to pay it forward and outline everything I have learnt over the past few months. Hopefully something here will help future applicants!
> 
> ...


Congrats on your visa, that was very quick  and thank you for the detailed post, it will really help alot of new members.


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## JGun (Dec 27, 2014)

Wow! Thank you for such an informative post!!! I'm a US citizen and my girlfriend of 3 1/2 years is a UK citizen. We met while working on board the Cunard ocean liner, Queen Mary 2. For the past few years we've been trying to live together as much as possible while continuing to work on Cunard cruise ships (as musicians), mostly on the Queen Elizabeth. It's been very tricky trying to make our series of 3-5 month contracts line up so that we can be together, but we've managed to do it for more than 2 years. The problem is that we are unsure as to whether this time living together on the cruise ship will count as "official cohabitation". I've been scouring this site as well as the internet in general for anything that will help us but can't seem to find anyone that's been in a similar situation as us. If you have any wisdom on this matter, it would be most appreciated. A couple of other questions:

1) Why did you include the employment letter and pay slips from the applicant. Everything I've read says that anything to do with the applicants pay will have no affect on anything (only the sponsor's salary matters)
2) If the visa is approved, will I be able to leave the country to go visit my family whenever I want or is there a limit to how much?

More questions to come... gotta go for now

Thank you SO MUCH!

Jeff


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

There is a question on the application about the applicant's employment. If the applicant is employed they should provide proof of employment. It does not have any bearing on the financial requirement. 

Regular holidays to visit family are fine. To qualify for ILR you can be out of the country no more than 270 days in the 3 years leading up to ILR and no more tgan 90 of those days can be in the previous 12 months.


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## JGun (Dec 27, 2014)

Just a side note to question number 2...

I imagine that being married will make it easier to be granted a long term USA visa for my girlfriend, as I'm unsure whether the USA has anything called an "unmarried partner" visa. 

1) Am I correct in this assumption?
2) If we decide to get married at some point while I'm in UK on unmarried visa, are we allowed to do that? Obviously, we wouldn't be able to marry in the UK since that would require a fiance visa, but how about getting married somewhere else, such as back in USA (she would be on a visitor visa only).


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Please don't ask the same questions on numerous threads. Have already answered your queries. What nyclon refers to about 270 days is about citizenship (naturalisation). There is no exact limitation for ILR, except that you haven't been away more than 50% of the time and you have been ordinarily resident in UK. Of course, if you have been away that long, you may get ILR but not citizenship.


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## Builderbobbo (Aug 6, 2015)

*Passport Requirement*

Hi, thank you for this amazing post! The infomation has helped greatly!

My question relates to the passport aspect of the application. My passport will be expiring in December 2016, so in 1 year and 4 months time. Would this be a clear reason to deny me the unmarried visa, considering it is valid for 2 years? 
I can renew my passport once it expires, however I intended applying this week but if the passport is an issue it will delay my application by at least 8 weeks in my country (South Africa)

Thanks so much in advance!
Regards
Brandon


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## annabelsre (Aug 13, 2015)

This is so incredibly helpful - thank you!


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