Help-- Unmarried Partner Visa Application

Hi, all--

I'm hoping someone might have some advice or suggestions for me.

I’ve been with my boyfriend for about two and a half years, and we’ve been living together for two years (since late September 2003). He’s a dual citizen (Brit dad, American mom), and has been in the US for about five years now. We never thought we’d have to worry about visa issues, so we really weren't careful at all about making sure we had documentation of our living together. Then in late July we found out that his dad has terminal liver cancer, and by mid-August he and his sister decided to move back home at the beginning of October to be with their dad until “the end.” We’re hoping I can get an Unmarried Partner visa and follow him to Scotland a few months after he leaves. This has given us a month to get everything ready for my application. The problem: while we have plenty of documentation of our relationship itself, we have little documentation of our having lived together for the first year.

We met and started dating during my junior year of college New York City in May 2003 (we have dated documentation of the day we met). I then went off to study abroad in London for the summer- we have a bunch of postmarked letters from then. I came back in August 2003, and started my senior year of college, but couldn't get college housing because I wasn't taking enough credits to be full-time. I was staying with my parents in New Jersey initially, but was spending the majority of my time at Ben's place in NY. In mid-September we decided that I might as well move in, and by October 1st 2003 I had moved in with Ben and his flatmate. I graduated in May 2004, his flatmate moved out in September 2004, and Ben and I have held the apartment alone since then.

The problem: as I was still in college but not in school housing, all my mail went to the address my university had on record as my "home address": my parents house (where the school bills were being paid). Ben and I never bothered to put me on the lease or the utility bill, which we definitely would have done had we anticipated needing a visa. I have processed rent checks, but only from after John moved out when I took over a full half of the rent.

Once I graduated and got a job, I directed all my work-related mail to my apartment, so post-September 2004 I have PLENTY of mail. Our landlord has agreed to sign a letter stating my move-in date as October 2003, and my parents have agreed to write a letter confirming the duration of our relationship and that while they were receiving my mail my senior year, I was living full-time with Ben. Proof of our relationship in general is no problem, and we’re pretty alright with the financial element and with proving we’re skilled and employable. Unfortunately we don’t have a joint bank account— we could easily have opened one had this been planned, but again, we’ve only had a month.

I’ve heard that it may help that we’re not intending to stay long-term in the UK. We are going over solely to be with his dad, and we are both applying to graduate programs in the US to start next August (we will defer if his dad is still here). I’ve also heard that it might help that our destination is way up in the Scottish highlands, where Ben’s dad lives. His dad is providing proof of accommodation, and is writing us a letter stating his support of our application and a general explanation of his illness and the reason we're coming over.

So that's the story. Can anyone suggest anything additional I might dig up that could help? With the lack of official mail tying me to Ben's address during the first year, I'm really on edge as to whether I should even be applying, but it's incredibly frustrating because we DO fulfill the requirements, it’s just hard to prove that we do. Does it sound like we have enough documentation that it's worth applying? I just don't want to spend the application fee and emotional stress if our visa is a lost cause.

Most importantly, if we apply and get turned down, will I be prevented from visiting him in the UK? Or from applying again, for this or another visa?

The reason we’d like the Unmarried Partners visa in particular is because we don’t know how long we’ll be there, and because while I do have savings, if we end up there for a year eventually I’ll need to be working. Any advice would be very much appreciated—this all feels very rushed and last minute.

Thanks so much to anyone who has actually read this far!

-arb243

I’ve heard that it may help that we’re not intending to stay long-term in the UK.

That was bad information.  The UP is for settlement in the UK, and settlement means there is a view towards migration.  And so if your view is not towards migration, it's a detriment to your case rather than a benefit.

To your question about being refused affecting your chances to visit, one app is for settlement, the other is for non-settlement and in *theory* have nothing to do with each other as long as your credibility is intact.  Get an entry clearance and Bob's your uncle!

By the way, if you arrive and do not declare your relevant immigration history, you can be done for illegal entry.  *EVEN* if the IO does not ask about it. 

Arb- just a quick note that I have found lots of great information from the stonewall immigration group, formerly the UK Lesbian/Gay Immigration Group. Their website lists loads of info and resources, and there's a message board there that's monitored by UK immigration solicitors. Look em up at http://www.stonewall-immigration.org.uk

Best of luck on this process... I'm going through the UP visa route right now, and am heading down to LA next week to hand over documents. Hope your partner's dad isn't in too much pain--what a horrible reason to have to immigrate.

Best,
-B

Thanks so much for the responses. I applied for my visa last Monday, and while it wasn't exactly an easy in-and-out experience, in the end, I got it, which is the important part. At some point soon I'll post in the visa stories section, because now I have one!

The important part of what I learned though, is that if there is anything less than straightforward in your visa application, the more information you provide, the better off you are. In the end, what helped us most was our finances, the many letters from friends attesting to the nature of and duration of our relationship, and some postcards we had sent each other during our first year together which, in the words of our visa officer, "were not the sort of thing you'd be sending to your best friend." Nothing dirty, of course.

The situation with my boyfriend's father also helped our case, in that it explained why we hadn't bothered to get more documentation of our relationship-- we never thought we'd be applying before three months ago.

The whole operation was extraordinarily stressful, but it worked out well in the end. I'm just glad i have it and the application process is over.

Baylor-- best of luck to you!

Hi arb!

I am interested in your situation, because I have a somewhat similar situation.

My gf and I have lived together for just over 3 years, & by the time we apply for our UP visa, it will have been 4 years.  We will be able to document 2 years together without any problem, so I'm not worried about failing to get the basic visa.

However, if we could prove all 4 years, it's my understanding that my gf could get ILE rather than FLE, and if we could do that it would be great.

Our situation is similar to yours in that we don't have documentation for our first half to three-quarters of a year living together.  We moved into an apartment together in August 2002.  We do have a lease for that apartment that has me as the lessee and my gf as the only other resident of the apt.  But that's all we have.  Before we moved in together, my gf was living with her parents, and like you, she took quite a while to change her official address and would just pick up her mail now and then from her parents.  So the bits of mail we do still have for her for that time period (pay stubs and bank account) are all to her parents' address, until about Spring of 2003.

Given your experience, I am wondering if the lease and perhaps letters from her parents or other people confirming that we moved in together in Aug 2002 would do the trick.  Is this basically what you had for the beginning of your time living with your bf?

Just a quick note... in the airport in LAX trying to get back home tonight. Left home (Seattle) at 4:00 this morning, flew down here to LA to go to my appt at the consulate here. Long story short, I got my UP visa!!! Hooray!

The person at the window started off by saying, "And your partner... is she here?" I said "No, he's not. Here is his passport and his support letter though." He apologised immediately and was quite courteous (though very business--not at all chatty) through the interview.

Now the Mr. and I can live in the same country legally. What a thought!

Next, on to London to find a flat for us and the two dogs.

Let me know if anyone wants details regarding the process we went through, docs we presented, experience at the consulate, anything. Will be glad to share.

-Baylor

To prove that we were together for the first year, we had: a letter from the landlord confirming the date that I moved in, a letter from my father attesting that I moved in with my boyfriend when I said I did, and that my parents were still getting my mail at the time, letters back and forth from the three months before we moved in together (during which I was out of the country), and a lot of letters from friends saying that they visited us during the first year and that we were definitely living together.

My suggestion would be to get a letter from your landlord, if possible, and to definitely get a letter from your girlfriend's parents, because our visa officer definitely liked the fact that both of our parents ("the inlaws," as he put it) were in support of and willing to vouch for our relationship. Then get as many letters as possible from friends, coworkers, anyone who knows you and your relationship with your gf. Friends with particularly "respectable" positions seemed to help-- ie, a friend who is also a lawyer and thus can submit a well-worded letter on firm letterhead.

Photos and trip itineraries from that year also helped, particularly photos that were clearly dated (my birthday two years in a row with my bf & family there, holiday photos, etc.).

Because they could tell when we went up to the window that our case was going to need to be more closely reviewed, they asked us to come back in a few hours. When we came back, they brought us into an interview room and asked us some questions about why we didn't have more documentation, our potential long-term plans as a couple, and so on. They were actually very nice about it, but in case they ask you, just make sure that you are able to clearly express why you don't have more documentation.

Finally, a stupid little detail-- we organized our materials in a binder with sheet covers and a table of contents detailing everything. The night before our interview, I transferred our documents from my beaten-up flexible binder, which I had been carrying around and adding to for weeks, to a newly-purchased hard-covered binder. Then we got there and discovered that in the NY office, all your supporting documents must be passed through little slots in the safety windows, set up sort of like a bank teller or a subway token booth window. Had we kept the flexible binder, we could have passed on the whole thing, but as our new setup wouldn't fit through the safety hole we ended up handing over a big stack of unorganized papers. Luckily they didn't mind, but so much work for it to not have mattered anyway...

Best of luck to you!

arb243

PS-- AND CONGRATS TO BAYLOR!!! YAY!!!

Finally, a stupid little detail-- we organized our materials in a binder with sheet covers and a table of contents detailing everything. The night before our interview, I transferred our documents from my beaten-up flexible binder, which I had been carrying around and adding to for weeks, to a newly-purchased hard-covered binder. Then we got there and discovered that in the NY office, all your supporting documents must be passed through little slots in the safety windows, set up sort of like a bank teller or a subway token booth window. Had we kept the flexible binder, we could have passed on the whole thing, but as our new setup wouldn't fit through the safety hole we ended up handing over a big stack of unorganized papers. Luckily they didn't mind, but so much work for it to not have mattered anyway...

LOL....i did exactly the same thing.
Congrats on getting your visa and also to you too baylor

Thanks for all of that information, arb!

It seems like we won't be able to go for ILE anyway because I have not been a citizen for 4 years, and will not have been by the time we apply.  So we'll just go for the FLE; we have plenty documentation for 2 years, so we shouldn't have any problems.