CanLady

Hi all,

I have been reading through all the forums the past few days and have found more information on here than on the actual UK Visa and Immigration site. Their wording seems to be quite ambiguous and I want to try and see what the options are for my partner and I.

I am a Canadian and my partner is British. We have known each other since we were kids but have only been dating since Jan 2016. We moved in together in June 2016 and have been living together for just over a year now. I did 6 months in the UK and now he is at the end of his 6-month stint here in Canada. As you know, one can only stay in either the UK or Canada as a visitor for a max of 6 months. He was lucky enough that his work in the UK allowed him to work remotely from here (Canada). But he has to be back in the UK by August 1st.

My question is: we want to start our life in the UK, permanently. No more 6 months here, 6 months there. He has an excellent job there (clearly ) and we find the cost of living and standard of living there to be preferable than to here in Vancouver (just a personal opinion shared by us). Because of his job, it would be financially easier for us to start our life in the UK than for him to try and find a similar job here in Vancouver. The pay would just never compare and the cost of living and housing here in Vancouver is becoming unreachable for almost everyone (that's a whole other story). He also has an incredible network of friends and family in the UK. All around, just a better move for us.

We are looking at all the different visa options but I don't think we have a hope, at the moment. We are not engaged yet (although that is the plan). I didn't want that to pressure us into an early engagement/marriage just for a visa. We have also not cohabitated for the minimum requirement of 24 months. How on earth do they expect people from different countries to obtain that requirement - are people genuinely moving back and forth every 6 months for 2 years? Changing jobs, moving houses, etc every 6 months? We've only done it twice in a year and it's been hectic! I can't imagine trying to do it another two times. We want to start our life and start saving for a house, etc and having to move so much (and then buy and sell everything repeatedly) is a lot to handle, emotionally and financially.

Anyways, the end of my very long post is that we satisfy every requirement, except for the 24 months of cohabitation. Are we out of luck then? What are people doing in our situation? Long distance relationships don't count (as I understand it) because they want you actually living in the same house, continuously, for 24 months, correct?

What should we do? I understand why the authorities have put these measurements into place - but how does the average person, in a real and genuine relationship, do this without rushing into an early engagement/marriage?

az2014

It seems you are misunderstanding the 24 months cohabitation akin to marriage. Visiting each other as tourists does NOT count.

Your easiest option is to get married and apply for a spouse visa.

BritInParis

Most people will either meet whilst working or studying in the UK, in the other person's home country or a third country. Others will have an arranged marriage and therefore do not need to live together beforehand. Some will meet online and will build up a relationship that way before deciding whether to get married. Presumably you have lived in the same country together previously if you met as children.

az2014 is correct in that you cannot visit each other for 24 months and then claim it as continuous cohabitation. As it stands you either need to decide to get married or find a visa for one or both of you which allows you to live in the same country.

How old are you both?

DaveLovesDee

I know visitors to Canada can't work there, but does this also apply to remote-working for a UK company?

BritInParis

My understanding is that Canada does permit this.

DaveLovesDee

Thanks. BiP.

SM19

You could look into applying for the Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme) visa, assuming you're between 18 and 30. It would give you 2 years there, during which you could either get married and flip the visa into a Family Visa or see how tight the timing is on the 2-year cohab rule and do the same thing?