# Unmarried Partner Visa - should I apply if I'm just shy of 2 yr cohabitation period?



## Canada909 (Mar 24, 2013)

Hi all,

I am a Canadian living in the UK on a Youth Mobility Scheme. My boyfriend is a British Citizen and we currently live together. 

I would like to apply for an unmarried partner visa so that I can remain in the UK after my YMS visa expires on 25th June 2013; however, we will be just short of the 2 year cohabitation period since we started living together when I arrived in the UK on 26th June 2011 (1 day after my YMS visa began) and I would be applying the day before my YMS visa ends (on 24th June 2013) via the premium service. I have been advised by my immigration solicitor that my application will almost certainly be refused for not quite meeting the 2 year cohabitation requirement - if you have any previous experience with a situation similar to this I would greatly appreciate your thoughts as to whether it's worth applying for or not. 

Alternately, if you have any suggestions on how we can make up those additional days please let me know. I thought that I may be able to leave the country when my YMS visa expires and enter on a tourist visa and then after living together a couple extra days I could apply for the unmarried partner visa; however, I do not know if this cohab period would be considered because I wouldn't be employed as I would have to leave my job if I wasn't able to work.

Any assistance would be great. Thanks!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Canada909 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I am a Canadian living in the UK on a Youth Mobility Scheme. My boyfriend is a British Citizen and we currently live together.
> 
> ...


Don't try what amounts to a visa run. You face a great danger of being denied entry, as they are on a lookout for people finishing YMS and trying to find ways of prolonging their stay, possibly by working illegally. Or you may just be given a few days to pack your bags and go home, and if you don't, they will look for you, arrest and remove you as illegal immigrant. This will make getting another visa much more difficult in the future. 

You may be lucky and they allow you to switch to unmarried partner leave, and I have seen cases where a few days short didn't matter. On the other hand, like your solicitor says, they are within their powers to refuse your application. So there is a risk associated with applying. Or just marry before your Tier 5 expires. Provided you meet the financial requirement and you can evidence genuine committed relationship, you stand a good chance of being granted leave to remain.


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## ekf16 (Dec 11, 2012)

Me and my partner had exactly the same situation as you, he was on a YMS and his visa expired 3 days before we met the 2 year living requirement. We applied for the unmarried partner visa in person at a premium appointment 2 weeks before his YMS expired and were successful without any problems at all!
So I would say from our experience you should be fine to apply a few days before the visa expires. 
Although you can apply from inside the UK on a YMS, you cannot apply from inside the UK on a visitor visa, you would have to apply from Canada if you came back on a visitor visa. They also would probably be a bit suspicious at border control about you returning straight after a visa expiry. Make sure you apply before your current visa expires so you retain the right to work while they are dealing with the application.

By the way, we also saw an immigration lawyer before we applied and he said it would be fine as long as we applied at some point within 28 days prior to the "2 year living togther" mark.

I would highly recommend the premium appointment service if you can afford it - we went to Sheffield PEO, the staff were soooo friendly, and the thing was dealt with in 2 hours  No months of waiting for an outcome. They didn't question us about our relationship.

if you have more questions about the application form/what evidence to provide etc. I'm happy to tell you more about our experience


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## perox123 (Jan 30, 2012)

We were in the exact same position. We spoke to a lawyer and she said that our worse case would be that they would send our application off for processing (we also went for same day). In the end, we had no issues-had more than enough evidence. I would definitely say use the same day if you can afford it-well worth it so you don't have months of waiting!

Obviously, the ECO could be well within their right to deny, but it's not a certainty!

Also, we applied exactly 28 days before his visa expired as I wanted to make sure that we would have time to sort things out if it was a no! So don't feel like you have to wait until the day before.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!


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## Canada909 (Mar 24, 2013)

Thanks for your insight, Joppa. Much appreciated!


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## Canada909 (Mar 24, 2013)

ekf16 said:


> Me and my partner had exactly the same situation as you, he was on a YMS and his visa expired 3 days before we met the 2 year living requirement. We applied for the unmarried partner visa in person at a premium appointment 2 weeks before his YMS expired and were successful without any problems at all!
> So I would say from our experience you should be fine to apply a few days before the visa expires.
> Although you can apply from inside the UK on a YMS, you cannot apply from inside the UK on a visitor visa, you would have to apply from Canada if you came back on a visitor visa. They also would probably be a bit suspicious at border control about you returning straight after a visa expiry. Make sure you apply before your current visa expires so you retain the right to work while they are dealing with the application.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for your responses EKF16 and Perox123  This is very reassuring! If you have any further tips or information in regards to the application process or premium service interview that you think may be useful, that would be great if you could share. We began living together the day I entered the UK; however, the first piece of mail that has both of our names on it didn't arrive until 1.5 months after I arrived - do you think this will be a problem? Thanks again!


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## Canada909 (Mar 24, 2013)

Elk16 and Perox123 - just wondering if your applications were approved recently (I'm just conscious that the UKBA is becoming increasingly stringent on the number of visas they are granting so I'm hoping that your cases were quite recent and not too much will have changed by the time we apply!).


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## perox123 (Jan 30, 2012)

If it makes you feel better, ours was approved 2 weeks ago! So pretty recent


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## Canada909 (Mar 24, 2013)

perox123 said:


> If it makes you feel better, ours was approved 2 weeks ago! So pretty recent


Oh wow great news! Congrats!


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## ekf16 (Dec 11, 2012)

Ours was approved last week 
Not sure about the evidence - my partner and I both had mail from the first month he arrived (although we were living with my parents at the time so all mail was addressed to us separately).
When did you open a bank account? maybe if you opened it in the first month you could get some kind of letter confirming this?


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## sogden (Sep 1, 2014)

ekf16 said:


> Me and my partner had exactly the same situation as you, he was on a YMS and his visa expired 3 days before we met the 2 year living requirement. We applied for the unmarried partner visa in person at a premium appointment 2 weeks before his YMS expired and were successful without any problems at all!
> So I would say from our experience you should be fine to apply a few days before the visa expires.
> Although you can apply from inside the UK on a YMS, you cannot apply from inside the UK on a visitor visa, you would have to apply from Canada if you came back on a visitor visa. They also would probably be a bit suspicious at border control about you returning straight after a visa expiry. Make sure you apply before your current visa expires so you retain the right to work while they are dealing with the application.
> 
> ...


Hi there, 

I am in the exact position as you all were and I am desperate for some advice. I am 3 days short (arrived on the 9th December when my visa started on the 6th). 

What would you recommend in regards to when to apply? What documentation your proivded etc? Any help would be so very much appreciated. 

I know this thread is a few months old but hoping you'll see this soon 

Sorry and thanks!

Shari.


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## ekf16 (Dec 11, 2012)

sogden said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I am in the exact position as you all were and I am desperate for some advice. I am 3 days short (arrived on the 9th December when my visa started on the 6th).
> 
> ...


Hi! I hope I can help you, I remember how confused and worried about everything I was - it's such a horrible feeling. 
As far as being 3 days short, it shouldn't matter - at least it didn't for us. As I said, our immigration lawyer advised us to apply any time in the 28 days prior to the visa expiring, and we applied 2 weeks before. They were not at all concerned about us being a few days short.

I would really recommend the in-person appointments, if you can get to a PEO and if you can afford the extra money. It gives you the chance to explain any unusual situations directly to the caseworker, and they were very nice (at least they were in Sheffield - can't speak for any of the other PEOs).

In terms of documentation, we did have a lot. I made sure I had something in my name or my partners name to the same address for every month for 2 years. They were things like bills, bank letters, NHS letters - anything from a big organisation or the government. However, the caseworker said we had provided too much, and next time we should only bring about 12 letters, spread over the 2 years. I think it is always better to provide too much evidence than not enough though.

We made sure we both had letters from our employers stating how much we earn and the type of contract we were on. And we had wage slips for the previous 12 months. And bank statements to show the money was going into our accounts.

We had lived with my parents for part of the 2 years, then in a flat with a joint tenancy agreement, so we provided letters from my parents and our estate agents verifying that. We also provided the contract for our joint tenancy.

I think they are the main things you need to provide, but I may have forgotten a lot. The other thing it might be good to include is some photos of you and your partner together, or emails or IMs showing that you have a genuine relationship. I don't know if they even looked at stuff like that, but like I said it doesn't hurt to have too much evidence. 

Hope that helps, if you have any more questions I'll do my best to help. I just want to say that I haven't looked at the rules for over a year, so I don't know if anything has changed. All I can do is tell you what we did, but there might be other people who have applied more recently with more advice 

Good luck with everything - if you meet the requirements and you can prove it, then you don't need to worry, it's not as scary as it seems


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## sogden (Sep 1, 2014)

Thank you so much for this - it sort of eases the nerves! 

I am about to book the in-person appointment for approximately 26 days before my visa expires. 

I'm still freaking out though. Will let you know how it goes. 

Thanks every so much.


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