Question regarding cohabitation evidence

Hello everyone!

Been lurking around this forum for a while now, you guys are doing an amazing job in supporting this community. I have a quick question myself that I hope somebody might be able to help with.

I am a British Citizen living in Israel, and my partner and I submitted a Unmarried Partner Settlement Visa earlier in July. Paid priority too but that doesn't seem to mean much these days and we are still waiting for any updates from UKVI

Anyway, as far as we can tell we meet all the required financial criteria. As the sponsor I earn more than the required amount and do have a job offer in the UK, dated for next November. Naturally, we've submitted the required paperwork to prove this.

I believe tricky part in our application is the cohabitation for at least 2 years part. We have been living together for over 2.5 years, however the apartment we've been living in is owned by my partner, therefore we did not sign a lease contract when I moved in, however we did sign a Memorandum of Understanding which we have also submitted as part of our application. We've also submitted multiple documentation that prove that I have been living in this address for the last 2+ years.

Our main concern right now is the fact that in our rush to submit the application we've completely forgot to add any evidence that my partner actually lives in this residence too. We did provide UKVI with an official document from the local land registry office stating that the land is owned by my partner, however we've just recently noticed that nowhere does it state the actual address, rather just the plot numbers and such.

With that being said, we are getting quite worried that an ECO handling our application would refuse our application on the grounds that we did not provide sufficient cohabitation evidence Are our worries justified? If so, do you think we would be required to provide additional documentation or would we be outright refused?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Hello everyone!

Been lurking around this forum for a while now, you guys are doing an amazing job in supporting this community. I have a quick question myself that I hope somebody might be able to help with.

I am a British Citizen living in Israel, and my partner and I submitted a Unmarried Partner Settlement Visa earlier in July. Paid priority too but that doesn't seem to mean much these days and we are still waiting for any updates from UKVI

Anyway, as far as we can tell we meet all the required financial criteria. As the sponsor I earn more than the required amount and do have a job offer in the UK, dated for next November. Naturally, we've submitted the required paperwork to prove this.

I believe tricky part in our application is the cohabitation for at least 2 years part. We have been living together for over 2.5 years, however the apartment we've been living in is owned by my partner, therefore we did not sign a lease contract when I moved in, however we did sign a Memorandum of Understanding which we have also submitted as part of our application. We've also submitted multiple documentation that prove that I have been living in this address for the last 2+ years.

Our main concern right now is the fact that in our rush to submit the application we've completely forgot to add any evidence that my partner actually lives in this residence too. We did provide UKVI with an official document from the local land registry office stating that the land is owned by my partner, however we've just recently noticed that nowhere does it state the actual address, rather just the plot numbers and such.

With that being said, we are getting quite worried that an ECO handling our application would refuse our application on the grounds that we did not provide sufficient cohabitation evidence Are our worries justified? If so, do you think we would be required to provide additional documentation or would we be outright refused?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

You do have to prove that you've been living together so you would need evidence of both of you living at the address, not just you.

Unfortunately there is no way to know if they will ask for more evidence or not. But the more solid the rest of your application is, the more chance there is that they will request additional information rather than refusing you outright.

The best thing to do is gather everything that you should have sent so that you have it ready to send if they do request it, then keep your fingers firmly crossed.

You do have to prove that you've been living together so you would need evidence of both go you living at the address, not just you.

Unfortunately there is no way to know if they will ask for more evidence or not. But the more solid the rest of your application is, the more chance there is that they will request additional information rather than refusing you outright.

The best thing to do is gather everything that you should have sent so that you have it ready to send if they do request it, then keep your fingers firmly crossed.

Thanks for the quick reply! We will do our best to gather everything we might need as soon as possible just to be on the safe side.

I also forgot to mention that we also provided bank statements from my account to my partner's labeled as 'Bills', so that might help nudge the odds a bit more towards our favour.

Thanks for the quick reply! We will do our best to gather everything we might need as soon as possible just to be on the safe side.

I also forgot to mention that we also provided bank statements from my account to my partner's labeled as 'Bills', so that might help nudge the odds a bit more towards our favour.

Would you like to list everything that you included?

Would you like to list everything that you included?

Sure thing:

Relationship History Letter
Cover Letter
Israeli Land Ownership Document – Tel Aviv – Jaffa Land Registry Office, Confirming my partner owns the land in which the property resides (No address though)
Various bills and official documentation sent to myself with the correct address
Invoices for goods sent to myself with the correct address
Letters from friends/family confirming we've lived together
Bank statement confirming that I've periodically transferred money to my partner's account, labelled as 'Bills'.

Etickets for flights to vacations we've taken together since 2014
Various photos of us both in Israel and in vacations abroad since 2014

Sure thing:

Relationship History Letter
Cover Letter
Israeli Land Ownership Document – Tel Aviv – Jaffa Land Registry Office, Confirming my partner owns the land in which the property resides (No address though)
Various bills and official documentation sent to myself with the correct address
Invoices for goods sent to myself with the correct address
Letters from friends/family confirming we've lived together
Bank statement confirming that I've periodically transferred money to my partner's account, labelled as 'Bills'.

Etickets for flights to vacations we've taken together since 2014
Various photos of us both in Israel and in vacations abroad since 2014

What about financial evidence?

On that front we should be OK:

Payslips from the last 12 months proving that I earned more than the required amount

Official, stamped documents from bank approving my account ownership

My balance/transfer activities from the July 2016 to July 2017. Stamped by bank.

Signed contract from UK employer with start date stated as beginning of October (I recently pushed this forward by a month as the visa processing time was longer than we had anticipated)

On that front we should be OK:

Payslips from the last 12 months proving that I earned more than the required amount

Official, stamped documents from bank approving my account ownership

My balance/transfer activities from the July 2016 to July 2017. Stamped by bank.

Signed contract from UK employer with start date stated as beginning of October (I recently pushed this forward by a month as the visa processing time was longer than we had anticipated)

Did you send bank statements matching the payslips, i.e.all the deposits shown on them?

What about your accommodation in the UK?

Did you send bank statements matching the payslips, i.e.all the deposits shown on them?

What about your accommodation in the UK?

Indeed. The balance/transfer activities should correlate with all deposits and transfers to and from my account during the notes period.

As for UK accommodation, we supplied the contact details of a friend in London. That has changed recently as my future employer in the U.K. will provide accommodation in the first month following our arrival.

Indeed. The balance/transfer activities should correlate with all deposits and transfers to and from my account during the notes period.

As for UK accommodation, we supplied the contact details of a friend in London. That has changed recently as my future employer in the U.K. will provide accommodation in the first month following our arrival.

You need more than contact details of the person you'll be living with. You need to provide a letter from them giving you permission to live there when the visa is granted, the land registry document for their property and if applicable, a recent mortgage statement.

You need more than contact details of the person you'll be living with. You need to provide a letter from them giving you permission to live there when the visa is granted, the land registry document for their property and if applicable, a recent mortgage statement.

Thanks for the info. We weren't aware of this initially.. In any case if UKVI request additional documents in regards to this matter my future employer should be able to provide this.

** Update **

A decision was made on Monday, October 2nd although it looks like the DHL package would only arrive this upcoming Sunday so we'll have to patiently wait for the decision letter and/or vignette 

No "Request for new information" emails from UKVI during the waiting period, although our friend living in the UK did receive a phone call from UKVI on the day the decision was made to confirm that we will be staying with him upon our arrival.

Will update with the final decision once the passport is back in our hands. In the interim, can we be optimistic due to the fact that someone in UKVI bothered to call our UK accommodation or is it just a generic part of the process that does not imply anything in regards to the decision, one way or another?

Thanks again!

Will update with the final decision once the passport is back in our hands. In the interim, can we be optimistic due to the fact that someone in UKVI bothered to call our UK accommodation or is it just a generic part of the process that does not imply anything in regards to the decision, one way or another?

Honestly, I've never heard of them contacting anyone about accommodation before, so not sure if it means anything - normally if they need confirmation or more information about accommodation, they will email the applicant to ask for it.

** Update **

A decision was made on Monday, October 2nd although it looks like the DHL package would only arrive this upcoming Sunday so we'll have to patiently wait for the decision letter and/or vignette 

No "Request for new information" emails from UKVI during the waiting period, although our friend living in the UK did receive a phone call from UKVI on the day the decision was made to confirm that we will be staying with him upon our arrival.

Will update with the final decision once the passport is back in our hands. In the interim, can we be optimistic due to the fact that someone in UKVI bothered to call our UK accommodation or is it just a generic part of the process that does not imply anything in regards to the decision, one way or another?

Thanks again!

I'd take that as a good sign.

Thank you for your replies ksand24 and larrabee! We will sit tight through the weekend and try to keep our calm