Unmarried Visa: will it work for us?

[ericads1992]

Hi!

So glad I've found this website since I've been struggling to find any advice on this topic!

Here's my situation:

I'm American and my boyfriend is British. We met studying at uni. We've both still have a year left (we're doing our Masters) but we are currently looking into our options for after we finish uni. Right now, it seems that the unmarried visa would be our best bet. However, I have a few concerns.

We do meet the cohabitations criteria (by the time we're ready to apply for the unmarried visa we will have been dating and living together for 3 years). However, during those three years we lived together in a student house. Does anyone know if that would be a problem?

My second concern is the paperwork proving our cohabitation. While we have 3 years worth of tenancy agreements with our names on it, we don't have any bills or anything like that together. My boyfriend has also recently informed me that he doesn't even have any bank statements to our current address (he has them sent to his parents house). I however do have bank statements to our current address.

To help our case, we've considered opening a bank account together and also ask our landlord to submit a letter confirming our relationship.

I would really appreciate some advice on this! Or if anyone knows of a good solicitor that could be helpful I would be very grateful!

Thank you!

[CR001]

1. Do you/he meet the financial requirement to apply for an unmarried partner visa??

2. You need rock solid evidence spanning two years to prove you are 'in a relationship akin to marriage', and you need more than a letter, tenancy agreement and your bank statement. HO will want to see evidence of commitment and joint financial responsibilities.

3. When you say 'student house', do you mean a house with many other occupants? Do you have a joint tenancy with your partner or do you each have your own tenancy agreement?

Or if anyone knows of a good solicitor that could be helpful I would be very grateful!

No recommendations allowed under the forum T&Cs unfortunately (and solicitors often get the most basic applications horribly wrong).

[ericads1992]

Thanks for the quick response!

1. Yes, I believe we will meet the financial requirement. We are both due to receive some inheritance from our families which we plan on putting into a joint bank account. I believe I read that instead of having an income you can have savings of £18,000, which is what we'll have.

2. As of right now, we will have tenancy agreements and my bank statements, both of which span over the last 3 years. My boyfriend thinks he may have some letters (such as doctors) which are dated and have our current address on them, which hopefully will help as proof as well. We unfortunately don't have any joint financial evidence, however we are planning on opening a bank account together, but that will only be for this year. We've been on holiday together as well and have flight confirmations that list both of our names (I've heard that that helps??) And we of course have photos, but I think I've read that those aren't very useful.

3. Our house is a 7 bed house. We've had differently people living with us for the past few years but we will have been consistently living there for 3 years. It's a joint tenancy.

[CR001]

1. £18,000 is not sufficient unfortunatley. To use savings you need a minimum of £62,500.

Sugfest read the FLR M form, page 63/64 and see the list of example documents HO expects to see. Unmarried partner visas are heavily scrutinised which is why you need substantial rock solid evidence, which I don't think you have.

[ericads1992]

I've been through the UK visa process twice now and I know how complicated it can be so I'm a bit confused on the money bit.

On the Government's website under unmarried visas it says that one of the options for income is having a "cash savings above £16,000"?

[CR001]

Provide the link where it states exactly that.

[ericads1992]

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/proof-income

[CR001]

Yes, so any savings above £16k, so in your case only £2k will be considered a lower level of the income requirement, say £16,600pa.. If neither of you work and you rely solely on savings/inheritance, then you need £62,500.

Page 47 of Appendix FM 1.7 explains the savings route.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... _Final.pdf

[physicskate]

I've been through the UK visa process twice now and I know how complicated it can be so I'm a bit confused on the money bit.

On the Government's website under unmarried visas it says that one of the options for income is having a "cash savings above £16,000"?

Cash savings below £16,000 cannot contribute towards meeting the financial requirement. The calculation for using cash savings is:

16000 + (2.5 x shortfall in earnings below 18600). So if there is no income, that's £62,500. If you earned 10,000, you would need (16000 + (2.5 x 8,600) in savings held for 6 months.