Hi All!! I'm so glad that I found this site and to see that there are others out there in my situation, although my situation is slightly different. I am the US partner of a UK resident who moved back to the UK for work in March 2004. After a little research, we discovered that I would be able to come on a same-sex partnership visa (or common-law spouse visa). The same documents that are required for spousal/fiance visas are still in effect, but I'm scared to death about going before the British Consulate here in NYC in December. Let me tell you the documents that we will have when I apply:
TENACY AGREEMENT--Here in New York City, my partner and I had an apartment share. He and I paid rent to the person whose name is actually on the lease and lives in the apartment directly across the hall. What I'm going to do is get a letter from him stating that my partner and I have been paying rent, which included all utilites, since July 2002. The same situation applies for the UK, accept it's a 3 bedroom house, and a letter from his landlord will be presented.
DEATH BENEFIT--My partner is my beneficiary on my life insurance policy from my job in the event of my death, God forbid.
BANK STATEMENTS--Although my parnter and I will not open a joint bank account until November in the UK, I can provide my bank statements from my account in the US as well as his bank statements. By the time I go before the consulate in December, I will have 2 sources of income coming in (1 from my full-time job and the other from a part-time job)
PHONE BILLS--May be tricky since he had a cellular until he left and I don't have a bill for it anymore. We're looking into getting a bill from the phone company, hopefully that works out. My name, however, is on my partner's phone bill in the UK and I will also be presenting a copy of that.
EMPLOYMENT--I will have letter from my parnter's employer as well as letters of references from my current employer(s) in addition to my CV and recent college transcript.
OTHER--other documents will be a certified copy of his passport, and official copy of his divorce decree, my original passport, a letter of support from my partner since he will not be present, and 2 passport photos of myself. We are also going to be signing the registry to document our relationship in November when I visit again.
So like I said, I'm a bit nervous about going before the consulate in NY because I don't know what to expect or what they will say. Even though I hope I have enough evidence to prove that our relationship is both valid and permanent (my passport also indicates that I've traveled to the UK several times since my partner moved back). Also, even though we have bank and accounts and fully employed, we're not the richest blokes there is. I'm also worried because he went back to the UK 4 months shy of his technically living 2 years with me in New York even though we're still together. What do you guys think? Am I being paranoid?
