Lived with partners' parents' for 1 yr, but don't know how to prove?

Hi all!

I'm finding this forum very useful in getting together my application. I still have a few questions, though.

I'm switching from a Tier 4 visa to a UP FLR(M) visa with my partner, who is a British citizen. The majority of the documentation we have seems to fit well - There's just a small hiccup.

Our financial info meets the criteria, no problem. We also have our previous two tenancy agreements, as well as a bunch of bills/statements/etc. to prove we were living there. However, before living in the two previous places, we both lived with his parents. We didn't pay any rent/bills/etc., so don't have any way of proving us living there through that. My partner has statements/HMRC letters/etc. from there because he's lived there since he was born, so mostly everything is sent there for him..But I don't have anything. The only documentation I can find that could be relevant is a HMRC letter from July 2012, but I don't think that will be sufficient.

I've seen loads of posts from those who are applying for fiancee/spouse visas that have lived with parents, and thus provide letters from the parents/a land registry/a copy of the mortgage/deed of the house, but is that enough? Does anyone have any suggestions for things that I could possibly provide that don't include bills/a tenancy agreement/that such?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

What other mail do you have for when you lived at his parents' house?  Do you only have the HMRC letter, or anything else?  Your own bank statements delivered to their address?  NHS letters? 

This is going to sound absolutely ridiculous, but because I lived in University halls of residence for my first year at uni - October 2011 - July 2012 - The majority of my correspondence was left as that address for the summer, including my registered address with the bank..I wasn't registered with a GP at the time because I didn't need to go to one. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I wasn't even thinking of applying for this visa at the time, otherwise I probably would have switched it/kept more things..   

Do you have a 2 year history without including when you lived at his parents?

Do you mean in terms of our relationship? If so, we have known each other since 2009, met in person in 2010 and then started our relationship in late 2011, when I moved to the UK to commence my full-time studies (underneath the Tier 4 visa). I have plenty of proof of that..But is that enough to suffice?

I think KFdancer is asking if you have lived together for 2 years not including living with his parents.

One of the most important requirements for the unmarried partner visa is being able to demonstrate cohabitation for 2 years or more.  If you can't provide things like joint bank statements, utility bills, lease/mortgage statements (and so on), you can provide other official mail that shows both of you sharing the same address.  Things like NHS or GP letters, DVLA, TV license, telephone bills/statements, HM Revenue and Customs, and so on.

Unfortunately, if you cannot provide concrete evidence of living together at the same address for 2 years, it is unlikely the visa will be granted.

Well, the only issue is from when we've lived with his parents'..other than that, for the last year and a half (or slightly a bit more) we have lived in other places, where we have (or had) tenancy agreements, bills, etc. so can prove that no problem..

It's just difficult, because whilst living with his parents', we didn't pay bills or rent, nor did we sign any tenancy agreement or that such..My partner has some statements from his parents', but purely because he's lived there almost all of his life (apart from the year and half we've lived in other places). Has no one else gone through a similar issue?

Thank you for your replies, they're very much appreciated! I'm just slightly confused as to what to do.. 

Unfortunately, if you have no proof that you lived together whilst living with his parents you're going to fall short of proving that you have lived together in a relationship akin to marriage for 2 years.   You should consider marriage if you really want to stay together in the UK.

You have to be able to document that you have lived together for at least 24 months.  There is no flexibility with the unmarried partner visa.  If you didn't receive enough mail at his parents address to prove it, you will not be granted the visa.

Your best option is to marry.   

When does your current visa expire?

If you have evidence of living together at the same address for 1.5 years, and you'll be in the UK for a while longer, you could wait until you reach the 2-year mark of living together (with evidence) to apply for the unmarried partner visa.

I'm going to gather as much as I can, I think, in terms of what I have that was sent to me whilst living there, plus everything from living in the place after that and the place we live in now.. I suppose I can only give them what I have.

Worse case scenario, if there is the option of an appeal, does anyone know how long they take? Is it better to re-apply than to go through with an appeal? Has anyone had any experience of this before?

An appeal will take about a year and will only be successful if you provided all the correct documents but they made a mistake in refusing the visa.

Therefore if you don't have all the correct mail and the visa is refused because of it there is no point in appealing because it won't be successful... So you should just reapply when you can meet the requirements.


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If you don't mind my asking, exactly when did you move in with your partner and his parents, and when did you move out and get a place of your own?

I initially thought from the original post that you were missing an entire year's worth of evidence of living together.  You've mentioned later that you've lived in other places for a year and a half (perhaps slightly more) and have evidence of that.  Is it an entire year, or a few months that you have a potential evidence shortfall?

You need to provide letters evenly spaced out throughout the two years from different sources... about every 3-4 months.  If you have even one letter from when you were living with him and his parents, that might be just fine for what you need, depending on the timing of when you moved out and got your own place.

We were living with his parents' for about 7 months. In terms of documents, I don't have much from between that time, although I know that he does.

I was speaking with a neighbor, also from the states, and she was saying that an affidavit (statement) from his parents' / maybe another viable source, such as one of his parents' neighbors, or someone in their community who has met me could help. I'm also just going to include anything I have..invoices/anything that has their address on it, whether or not it's from a government source, since I don't really have that.

My partner and I have commitments here, in terms of the flat we're in together now, what we've been doing, as well as our future plans..Does anyone have any advice in making this stand out in the statement letters we're meant to make?

Also, does anyone know what the visa process sent by post is like nowadays from within the UK? In the terrible circumstance that it does fail, what is the appeal process like - i.e., Would I be able to apply for an appeal whilst still residing in the UK, and could it possibly buy me some more time in the event that I would need it to make another application?

Thanks again for the replies - It's just such a strange/difficult process to wrap one's head around!

Personal statements from friends, family and neighbours are subjective and carry no weight.