2 years living together proof
Jun 14th 2019, 6:04 am
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 2
2 years living together proof
Hi,
I am an Australian citizen with a British citizen partner, we are unmarried. We are in the process of applying for the unmarried partner visa so I can move back to the UK. We have not been able to find information on whether the two years living together has to be in consecutive years or can be broken up?
I went to the UK in April of 2017 on a Tier 5 Youth Mobility visa to be with my partner. We lived at his parents place until January of 2018 of which we have no utilities or council tax proof for this time. In January 2018 we moved into a house he bought, I was placed on the Council Tax in January 2018. My visa ran out and I had to come back to Australia in April 2019. The proof we have for living together is therefore only 1 year and 3 months not 2 years.
I was wondering if I went back to the UK on a visitor visa and got put back on the Council Tax for another 6 months, ducked out of the country and then back for another 3 or so months, would this be accepted as 2 years proof of living together?
We also do not have proof of other living expenses. He is solely on all utility bills for our time together. We had an agreement that he paid for utilities and I would pay for groceries and other incidentals, this has left us with no proof of shared living expenses. Do we need to put me on some utility bills and can these be just recent ones or will the need to cover the 2 years of living together?
I am also a little worried that being on a visitor visa that I would not be allowed on the council tax or that it would count as 'living together' as it is only a holiday/visitor visa.
Another idea we had was to apply for the fiance visa, get married and then switch to the spouse visa. With this, I haven't found much on fees for switching to the spouse visa. Will we have to pay the fee of £1,033 for switching from fiance visa to spouse visa, or is there just a switching fee I haven't been able to find? It seems like we will have to pay double going this route.
Thank you,
Ash
I am an Australian citizen with a British citizen partner, we are unmarried. We are in the process of applying for the unmarried partner visa so I can move back to the UK. We have not been able to find information on whether the two years living together has to be in consecutive years or can be broken up?
I went to the UK in April of 2017 on a Tier 5 Youth Mobility visa to be with my partner. We lived at his parents place until January of 2018 of which we have no utilities or council tax proof for this time. In January 2018 we moved into a house he bought, I was placed on the Council Tax in January 2018. My visa ran out and I had to come back to Australia in April 2019. The proof we have for living together is therefore only 1 year and 3 months not 2 years.
I was wondering if I went back to the UK on a visitor visa and got put back on the Council Tax for another 6 months, ducked out of the country and then back for another 3 or so months, would this be accepted as 2 years proof of living together?
We also do not have proof of other living expenses. He is solely on all utility bills for our time together. We had an agreement that he paid for utilities and I would pay for groceries and other incidentals, this has left us with no proof of shared living expenses. Do we need to put me on some utility bills and can these be just recent ones or will the need to cover the 2 years of living together?
I am also a little worried that being on a visitor visa that I would not be allowed on the council tax or that it would count as 'living together' as it is only a holiday/visitor visa.
Another idea we had was to apply for the fiance visa, get married and then switch to the spouse visa. With this, I haven't found much on fees for switching to the spouse visa. Will we have to pay the fee of £1,033 for switching from fiance visa to spouse visa, or is there just a switching fee I haven't been able to find? It seems like we will have to pay double going this route.
Thank you,
Ash
Jun 14th 2019, 10:41 am
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2018
Posts: 110
Re: 2 years living together proof
Hi
Fiance visa, then switching to spouse visa is expensive process and requires same amount of documents and proof of finances and intention to get married in the UK.
Cheapest way would be, get married in Australia and apply as wife.even the cost of priority will be lower than switching visa.
but on your original question, I don't think separate few months here and there counts as 2 years. I believe it needs to be consecutive, but I might be wrong. And you need to be able to prove that you have lived together at the same address. Home Office usually don't take your word for it.
Fiance visa, then switching to spouse visa is expensive process and requires same amount of documents and proof of finances and intention to get married in the UK.
Cheapest way would be, get married in Australia and apply as wife.even the cost of priority will be lower than switching visa.
but on your original question, I don't think separate few months here and there counts as 2 years. I believe it needs to be consecutive, but I might be wrong. And you need to be able to prove that you have lived together at the same address. Home Office usually don't take your word for it.
Jun 14th 2019, 4:07 pm
#3
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: May 2010
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 9,660
Re: 2 years living together proof
You have to be living together for a continuous period of 2 years in a relationship akin to marriage and have the documentation to prove it.
Visiting for another 6 months will not be relevant.
Getting a fiance visa, then a spouse visa means paying twice for visa fees.
As advised, get married in Australia and then apply for a spouse visa.
Visiting for another 6 months will not be relevant.
Getting a fiance visa, then a spouse visa means paying twice for visa fees.
As advised, get married in Australia and then apply for a spouse visa.
Jun 14th 2019, 4:26 pm
#4
Joined: Dec 2001
Location: Dixie, ex UK
Posts: 52,446
Re: 2 years living together proof
If you are intending to get married anyway, why are you farting around with cohabiting domestic partner and fiancée visas? 
A CDP visa was never an option for my (American) wife. We got married, having never lived together, and she obtained her visa to live in the UK about a month after we married (it takes longer these days), with two of the weeks of the time in between being our honeymoon.
A CDP visa was never an option for my (American) wife. We got married, having never lived together, and she obtained her visa to live in the UK about a month after we married (it takes longer these days), with two of the weeks of the time in between being our honeymoon.
