Hello - no questions here. I wanted to share some info about our successful unmarried partner visa application because there were some fuzzy places for me that caused a lot of anxiety while I waited.
1. We didn't submit copies. I can tell where they've removed documents that were clearly print-outs I made, but all my originals have been sent back. Seems to have been no issue. I double- and triple-checked all the current guidance from them (uk.gov and the emails I received when applying) and it doesn't say anything about copies, which is why I decided not to send them. I did keep a scan of my entire application for my own records (and just in case they asked for something).
2. We traveled for a large portion of our 2-year cohabitation period (10 months) without a shared residence or even legal resident status in the same country, but they still counted it for us. This includes time I spent in the UK as a visitor and time he spent in the US on an ESTA.
We continued to receive joint banking statements to my mailing address in the US during this time, which I provided (though I clarified in a cover letter that we didn't live there). I also included evidence of us being together, including tickets, foreign visa documentation, photos, texts, social media posts, etc. We were together literally every day of 2017, except 1 week in the summer, until I came back to submit my application. The evidence I gave was at least one ticket/photo/post spaced roughly every two weeks of the whole travel period. I emphasized in the cover letter of this section that while we didn't share an official address together, we continued our family life through international travel together, through me visiting him in the UK, and through him visiting me in the US.
3. We over-submitted financial information where we were worried about some of our evidence. Due to a payroll error, my partner's income appeared to be just below the salary threshold for 3 of the 6 months. He did receive back pay for it, but just in case, we also provided rental income and savings income. We provided way more information than needed, but it all seems to be enough that they didn't ask us any questions. We had a cover letter for this section explaining everything, and that seems to have been fine.
Hope this is helpful to people!
