Unmarried Less than 2 Years - Appeal

[Gwils234]

Hi

I am a British citizen and my partner is Ukrainian, we have been in a relationship since September 2013 and living together or 'cohabiting' since May 2014. The reason for this was due to him being at University in another city in the UK and myself working and living elsewhere so it was not possible to 'cohabit'. The HO refused the visa on the only basis that we had not been cohabiting for 2 years minimum.

We have been granted right to appeal and currently proceeding with this with legal representation.

Has anyone recognised or heard of any case when the court or the home office have withdrawn and allowed anyone in a less than 2 year relationship to stay. Obviously our relationship is genuine, we have a house, dog, hundreds of photographs and about 15 witness statements including two friends who will be supporting us in court. We are both degree educated, his English is recognised in form of a MA through University, we're engaged, joint account, he's a beneficiary on my pension, we are providing text messages going back to our contact since February 2013 and so on. We are hoping the ruling will allow for him to stay understanding that the relationship is genuine and we don't 'officially' fall under the cohabiting rule until Nov this year. Neither of us have any criminal convictions, no visa rejections, both make over £18600 and we are both employed. Basically we have a normal life like every other british citizen.

If all else fails, we are and have been planning to get married however the HO retaining his passport has put this on hold! another issue to deal with.

We will be applying for a marriage visa to allow us to get married.

I guess I'm desperately looking for a reassurance here.

[physicskate]

There is no basis for your appeal. The two years cohabitation is very strict. You have lived together less than a year...

[Casa]

You can't apply for a marriage visa from within the UK. You can however, marry here and then apply to switch to spouse on form FLR(M).

[Obie]

I think you could appeal and at the same time, work on the possibility of of getting married.

At present, appeal are taken as much as 10 months to be heard. Chances her you mat have attained 2 years cohabitation before that .

[Gwils234]

I have been informed that some appeals have been won when the cohabiting period is less than 2 years.

In our case we could not live together as the university my partner was living at would not allow me to move in also and I had work commitments however we can prove we spent every weekend together.

We are in the process of trying to get married. There must be consideration for taking into account personal circumstances. Our lawyer states we have a strong case I just wanted to know if anyone had won an appeal based on less than 2 years cohabiting although in our case it was impossible to live together yet we were visiting each other

[Gwils234]

Stating there is no basis for my appeal due to the only refusal is cohabiting on a permanent basis for less than two years surely cant be right - in that case what is the point in the appeal process? why didn't the HO just state 'no appeal'?

The fact we are a same sex couple also takes into account article 8 of the human rights act as he will face persecution and no legal protection if he returns to Ukraine and if I was to move there with him it would be impossible for us to hold a relationship with virtually no recognisable rights as a couple.

The home office accepts we are a couple, our lawyer believes we have a strong case, I make more than enough money to support him and me, he makes more money than me! £24k his employers have also issued a letter stating their intent to make him permanent which argues the point that he will not be a burden on the tax payer. I have never used our state benefits system and only every contributed, never committed a crime.

We are in the process of getting married and currently this is an intention to marry, we are giving notice very soon. We have our own house, dog and life here, I am British so this must weigh something here through the appeal process.

I am hoping but I must fight this through, appeal after appeal if necessary.

[physicskate]

Stating there is no basis for my appeal due to the only refusal is cohabiting on a permanent basis for less than two years surely cant be right - in that case what is the point in the appeal process? why didn't the HO just state 'no appeal'?

The fact we are a same sex couple also takes into account article 8 of the human rights act as he will face persecution and no legal protection if he returns to Ukraine and if I was to move there with him it would be impossible for us to hold a relationship with virtually no recognisable rights as a couple.

The home office accepts we are a couple, our lawyer believes we have a strong case, I make more than enough money to support him and me, he makes more money than me! £24k his employers have also issued a letter stating their intent to make him permanent which argues the point that he will not be a burden on the tax payer. I have never used our state benefits system and only every contributed, never committed a crime.

We are in the process of getting married and currently this is an intention to marry, we are giving notice very soon. We have our own house, dog and life here, I am British so this must weigh something here through the appeal process.

I am hoping but I must fight this through, appeal after appeal if necessary.

The entire criteria for unmarried partners is that you must live together for 24 months or more and be in a subsisting relationship. Period. They do not take into consideration what burden (or not) the applicant will be on the taxpayer. That isn't really the criteria!

Of course your lawyer thinks you have a strong case! They all do because they want your money!

They don't refuse applications from inside the country without giving a right of appeal if the current leave is expired.

This part isn't aimed at you - I get super annoyed when people put in baseless applications and ride out the time requirement that would make them eligible!!

[Gwils234]

Kate grow up and shut up Gary.

[Choc-Ice]

Hi

I am a British citizen and my partner is Ukrainian, we have been in a relationship since September 2013 and living together or 'cohabiting' since May 2014. The reason for this was due to him being at University in another city in the UK and myself working and living elsewhere so it was not possible to 'cohabit'. The HO refused the visa on the only basis that we had not been cohabiting for 2 years minimum.

We have been granted right to appeal and currently proceeding with this with legal representation.

Has anyone recognised or heard of any case when the court or the home office have withdrawn and allowed anyone in a less than 2 year relationship to stay. Obviously our relationship is genuine, we have a house, dog, hundreds of photographs and about 15 witness statements including two friends who will be supporting us in court. We are both degree educated, his English is recognised in form of a MA through University, we're engaged, joint account, he's a beneficiary on my pension, we are providing text messages going back to our contact since February 2013 and so on. We are hoping the ruling will allow for him to stay understanding that the relationship is genuine and we don't 'officially' fall under the cohabiting rule until Nov this year. Neither of us have any criminal convictions, no visa rejections, both make over £18600 and we are both employed. Basically we have a normal life like every other british citizen.

If all else fails, we are and have been planning to get married however the HO retaining his passport has put this on hold! another issue to deal with.

We will be applying for a marriage visa to allow us to get married.

I guess I'm desperately looking for a reassurance here.

Hiya,

I have been to First Tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal without any representation. I can confirm to you that they are VERY VERY strict with the 24 months! You have a better chance under Article 8 than the UPV.. I was in very similar situation(University), and we (Partner and I) couldn't move in together! I couldn't prove the 2 years co-cohabiting period but I thought why not since we have a child together.

Application was refused and it took almost 2 years to get this sorted..I won the first appeal at FTT (very nice judge) , HO office appealed the decision (citing that judge didn't follow the rule) and was allowed to go UT. 4 Months later UT judge ruled relationship was genuine and HO should grant leave under immigration rule as its stand on the day. To cut story short- I only got leave under 10 yrs route! At the end I was just to exhausted to even check what was type on the BRP

Consider all your options- but know that HO won't accept anything apart from you having lived together BEFORE the application and not you reaching that during appeal..Good luck

[Casa]

Gwils234 I can see that you are new to the forum, but please post with respect or not at all.

[physicskate]

Gwils234 I can see that you are new to the forum, but please post with respect or not at all.

At least he put a smiley face?!

[Casa]

Better than a grumpy one!

[Greenie]

I was going to respond to this thread with some constructive advice but given that you clearly only want people to post what you want to hear and are rude to them otherwise I've changed my mind.