Migration agent for UK visa applications

[MacGyver]

Hi,

I'm a UK citizen and my partner isn't . Circumstances have led to the need to head back to the UK sooner rather than later. We have an awareness of the requirements (particularly financial) for the UK spouse visa but want to make sure we provide all the necessary evidence to avoid any hiccups along the way.

Can anyone recommend a migration agent based in UK or Australia that specialises in UK visa applications?

Thanks

[Marisawright]

There's no need to use an agent for a UK spouse visa.  It takes patience to complete but it's straightforward.  Most of it's done online and you can save your progress and come back to it later, so I'd recommend just signing up, getting started and see how you go.    If you really find it too hard, then find an agent but I think you'll find you don't need one.

Once you've submitted all the forms, you book an appointment online to visit the consulate for a biometric interview.  The officer will check your partner's application.  In our case, my oh had made a small mistake and the officer pointed it out and gave him a chance to fix it, so it was all more relaxed than we expected.  

The main hurdles are the accommodation requirement and the financial requirement.  When we did the application, you had to submit the details for both those on a separate, hard-copy form which we nearly missed, as it wasn't clear on the online system.   I think it may all be online now.  

For the accommodation requirement, you must provide an address in the UK where you will be living.  We just used my sister's address, with her permission, as she has a spare bedroom.  They never checked.  

For the financial requirement, they require bank statements on bank letterhead (you may have to get your partner's bank to print them off specially, as prints from internet banking usually doesn't have the bank letterhead on it).   You must provide evidence that you've had the required funds for 12 months, unless you're using the proceeds of a house sale - in which case you need the documents relating to the sale, letter from your solicitor or conveyancer, sale contract etc.

[MacGyver]

Hi Marisa,

Thanks for all the info in your response. My main worry is providing the correct documentation to evidence our relationship given we are not married. We have lived together longer than the required two years for an unmarried couple, have joint bank accounts, flights and photos to our respective families/countries etc but from googling on the internet and searching this forum it doesn't seem all that clear exactly what evidence is sufficient. A lot of posts I've read seem to be focused on couples living in different counties evidencing an ongoing relationship via email and message logs but that doesn't apply to us.

I just have the fear we'll miss an important element in our evidence as I cant locate a concise list of documentation to provide to evidence our relationship and dont want to make a costly mistake

[Marisawright]

This article covers it pretty well, I think. The first thing is to prove you've lived at the same address for the required length of time.  That means producing letters, bank statements, utility bills etc with the same address on it.  This is one of the reasons why it helps to have things in joint names, so you get documents showing both your names on the envelope.  However, documents sent to you individually, but at the same address during the same time period, are OK.

https://www.ukvisa-eco-friendly.com/unmarried-partner-visa.html

The more difficult thing is proving that you weren't just sharing a house, you were the equivalent of marriage for the whole period. This article has some good ideas of the kind of things you can use to prove that:

http://lifelongvagabonds.com/complete-guide-to-uk-spouse-settlement-visa-supporting-documents.shtml

[MacGyver]

Hi Marissa,

Just wanted to say thank you for the information and advice. The links you provided are excellent and very reassuring for preparing our documentation/application

Thanks again

[MacGyver]

Further to my previous post I was hoping for additional advice regarding unmarried partner supporting documentation. I have read through everything I can get my hands on for this (including Marissa's excellent links above); however my main concern is the lack of "joint" evidence we have to provide.

Lease agreements covering the two year period are in my name only, as are utility bills for those addresses. We have lived together in a relationship well beyond the required 24 months but to evidence this we have joint bank statements covering only the last 21 months and individual bank accounts at the same address covering a longer time frame (well beyond 24 months) during which we were living together in a relationship but not using joint accounts. We have payslips, tax summaries, individual mobile phone bills, doctor accounts/bills and a range of other "official" documentation evidencing we have lived at the same address, I'm just a bit worried about the absence of more joint evidence. We also have flight tickets, hotel bookings, travel documentation and photographs together all over the world including photographs with each others family and friends, spanning the two year period and beyond.

I was just hoping for some feedback regarding the lack of joint evidence (eg joint rental agreement, utility bills etc) and whether the above documentation will compensate for this?

Any advice/guidance gratefully received

Thanks

[Marisawright]

3 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Further to my previous post I was hoping for additional advice regarding unmarried partner supporting documentation. I have read through everything I can get my hands on for this (including Marissa's excellent links above); however my main concern is the lack of "joint" evidence we have to provide.

Lease agreements covering the two year period are in my name only, as are utility bills for those addresses. We have lived together in a relationship well beyond the required 24 months but to evidence this we have joint bank statements covering only the last 21 months and individual bank accounts at the same address covering a longer time frame (well beyond 24 months) during which we were living together in a relationship but not using joint accounts. We have payslips, tax summaries, individual mobile phone bills, doctor accounts/bills and a range of other "official" documentation evidencing we have lived at the same address, I'm just a bit worried about the absence of more joint evidence. We also have flight tickets, hotel bookings, travel documentation and photographs together all over the world including photographs with each others family and friends, spanning the two year period and beyond.

I was just hoping for some feedback regarding the lack of joint evidence (eg joint rental agreement, utility bills etc) and whether the above documentation will compensate for this?

Any advice/guidance gratefully received

Thanks

How about some statutory declarations from friends or people in authority swearing to your couple status?