Unmarried Partner Visa--Evidence of Living Together?

[tetedanslesetoiles]

Hi everyone!

I am an American here in the UK under a T-4 visa that my partner and I are thinking of changing to an "unmarried partner" visa in November when we qualify. I have been doing a PhD (in my last year) and my income and my partners' income together more than meet the requirement and since he is going back to uni in the next year or so, I feel it is best to do this now to avoid future headaches (especially since Theresa May wants to boot us all out upon graduation! EEEK GIRL CALM DOWN).

In November, I will have six months of pay slips and be ready to submit all of that no problem.

The big issue we're having here is providing evidence we have been living together for two years (even though we have). We rent from a private residence as lodgers and I never signed a lease and am unsure if my landlord actually pays income tax on our rent. We also technically don't pay rent as much as we pay for the upkeep of the house (we pay bills instead of rent). My partners family is local and we didn't anticipate applying for this visa so soon (the plan was to wait a couple more years, but the fact remains that due to his going back to uni we may not meet the income requirement in two years time--and I do have the possibility of being rejected for an extension of my visa due to all of the new laws the Tory government is trying to put in place)--because of this, we have very little correspondence addressed to both of us, if any at all and definitely nothing official. His bank statements have all been going to his dad's house (as his dad lives like 2 miles away) and he has still been registered at his local GP that he's been going to his whole life, but is out of my catchment area. Now that his parents have sold their house, he is just now making the transition to registering to a GP with this address and transferring bank details.

I can likely get a statement from my landlord saying we have been living in his house for two years (though he may not mention we pay rent). Other than that, all I have are things like plane tickets addressed to both of us, Amazon packages sent here for him, a few unofficial correspondence pieces for both of us, pictures of us and we have friends and family who are willing to signed sworn statements that we have lived together for two years, evidence on my hospital records that we were cohabitating from one year ago (I was hospitalized four times last year and he was listed as my emergency contact and listed as cohabitating with me/listed at the same address).

Are we setting ourselves up to fail here?

[tetedanslesetoiles]

I can't edit, but I should add that actually, he has pay slips for the past year coming here (he started a job last November and it will be one year of payslips). It is the year before I'm worried about, even though we WERE living together then.

[Casa]

You need to convince the case worker that you are living in a relationship 'akin to marriage'. e.g not simply 'house mates'. Do you share any joint commitments, finances etc, anything in joint names?

[tetedanslesetoiles]

You need to convince the case worker that you are living in a relationship 'akin to marriage'. e.g not simply 'house mates'. Do you share any joint commitments, finances etc, anything in joint names?

No. Some of my friends who have been through this are trying to say its okay and that we can "prove it" via letters, Facebook messages, etc., but otherwise all we have is a letter from our landlord saying we have lived together for the past two years in his house and his payslips coming to the house over the last year/me listing him as an emergency contact at the same address with my hospital. I am worried if we apply next year, we won't meet the income requirements because my job is only fixed contract and I may take a break to finish my PhD before working again. My school could also deny me the PhD extension scheme if they want or they may omit students staying past their degree. I don't think I'll have trouble getting a job because if I can do the extension scheme I can change my visa over fairly easily by then (we'll definitely have all documents in hand by then)...but it is all a risk and stressful.

I guess maybe speaking to a lawyer might be a good idea in this case as some lawyers' case studies have said that rental agreements and then letters from people have been sufficient. Maybe it'll be a good idea to double check with someone who deals with this stuff day in and out before submitting the £650 fee and then possibly being rejected and stuck with another mammoth fee for applying as a doctoral extension scheme.

If they do tighten up allowing students to stay beyond their graduation date, is this going to be effective immediately as I graduate next September?

[Wanderer]

You need to convince the case worker that you are living in a relationship 'akin to marriage'. e.g not simply 'house mates'. Do you share any joint commitments, finances etc, anything in joint names?

No. Some of my friends who have been through this are trying to say its okay and that we can "prove it" via letters, Facebook messages, etc., but otherwise all we have is a letter from our landlord saying we have lived together for the past two years in his house and his payslips coming to the house over the last year/me listing him as an emergency contact at the same address with my hospital. I am worried if we apply next year, we won't meet the income requirements because my job is only fixed contract and I may take a break to finish my PhD before working again. My school could also deny me the PhD extension scheme if they want or they may omit students staying past their degree. I don't think I'll have trouble getting a job because if I can do the extension scheme I can change my visa over fairly easily by then (we'll definitely have all documents in hand by then)...but it is all a risk and stressful.

I guess maybe speaking to a lawyer might be a good idea in this case as some lawyers' case studies have said that rental agreements and then letters from people have been sufficient. Maybe it'll be a good idea to double check with someone who deals with this stuff day in and out before submitting the £650 fee and then possibly being rejected and stuck with another mammoth fee for applying as a doctoral extension scheme.

If they do tighten up allowing students to stay beyond their graduation date, is this going to be effective immediately as I graduate next September?

UPV is subject to heavy scrutiny, you need proper docs that show you have provable cohabit, Facebook is not enough - u need letters with provenance, HMRC, Utilities, etc, letter's from people don't count at all.

Bear in mind too you'll have to pay the £500 NHS surcharge on top of the £650....

[tetedanslesetoiles]

You need to convince the case worker that you are living in a relationship 'akin to marriage'. e.g not simply 'house mates'. Do you share any joint commitments, finances etc, anything in joint names?

No. Some of my friends who have been through this are trying to say its okay and that we can "prove it" via letters, Facebook messages, etc., but otherwise all we have is a letter from our landlord saying we have lived together for the past two years in his house and his payslips coming to the house over the last year/me listing him as an emergency contact at the same address with my hospital. I am worried if we apply next year, we won't meet the income requirements because my job is only fixed contract and I may take a break to finish my PhD before working again. My school could also deny me the PhD extension scheme if they want or they may omit students staying past their degree. I don't think I'll have trouble getting a job because if I can do the extension scheme I can change my visa over fairly easily by then (we'll definitely have all documents in hand by then)...but it is all a risk and stressful.

I guess maybe speaking to a lawyer might be a good idea in this case as some lawyers' case studies have said that rental agreements and then letters from people have been sufficient. Maybe it'll be a good idea to double check with someone who deals with this stuff day in and out before submitting the £650 fee and then possibly being rejected and stuck with another mammoth fee for applying as a doctoral extension scheme.

If they do tighten up allowing students to stay beyond their graduation date, is this going to be effective immediately as I graduate next September?

UPV is subject to heavy scrutiny, you need proper docs that show you have provable cohabit, Facebook is not enough - u need letters with provenance, HMRC, Utilities, etc, letter's from people don't count at all.

Bear in mind too you'll have to pay the £500 NHS surcharge on top of the £650....

Yeah I know. It'll be like £1100 and if that's rejected then I'm forced to cough up about the same amount nine months later for the PhD extension scheme (well not cough up, but prove I have it).

I have been reading online that some people have passed through with letters from their landlords and notarized witness statements. I think contacting a lawyer in this case is a good idea. Don't want to get caught with my pants down.