Dependant Visa Immigration Applications and Evidence of Your Relationship With Your Partner

Posted onJuly 9, 2024

The Home Office has updated its guidance to Home Office officials on the evidence caseworkers should look for when assessing whether a partner relationship has been established when assessing some types of visa applications.

In this blog, our Immigration Solicitors pick out the highlights on the updated Home Office Guidance, ‘Relationship with a Partner’, dated 5 July 2024.

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Appendix Relationship with a Partner

Several UK visa applications require an assessment of a visa applicant's relationship with their partner under the Appendix Relationship with Partner.

The Relationship with a Partner Guidance dated 5 July 2024 explains what the relationship requirements for partners are and how Home Office caseworkers should decide whether a visa applicant has met them. The July 2024 Guidance on evidence of relationship with a partner applies to applications under:

Appendix Skilled Worker
Appendix Student
Appendix Family Reunion (Protection)
Appendix Global Business Mobility
Appendix Global Talent, Appendix Start-up
Appendix Graduate
Appendix Gurkhas and Hong Kong military unit veteran discharged before 1 July 1997
Appendix High Potential Individual
Appendix HM Armed Forces
Appendix Hong Kong British National (Overseas)
Appendix Innovator Founder
Appendix International Armed Forces and International Civilian Employees
Appendix International Sportsperson
Appendix Representative of an Overseas Business
Appendix Scale-up
Appendix Settlement Family Life
Appendix Settlement Protection
Appendix T2 Minister of Religion
Appendix Temporary Work - Charity Worker
Appendix Temporary Work - Creative Worker
Appendix Temporary Work - Government Authorised Exchange
Appendix Temporary Work - International Agreement
Appendix Temporary Work - Religious Worker
Appendix UK Ancestry
Appendix Ukraine Scheme

There is separate guidance if you are applying for a visa under Appendix FM or as a dependent partner under some other routes.

Specialist Immigration Solicitors can tell you the exact guidance you need to follow and the evidence you need to provide depending on your visa application. For example, if the main visa applicant is applying for a Skilled Worker Visa then a Dependant Visa applicant will need to follow the Dependant Family Members in Work Route Guidance as well as the Relationship with a Partner Guidance.

Who is a partner?

For the Relationship with a Partner Guidance the following people fall within the definition of partner:

Spouse
civil partner
Unmarried partner provided the couple has been in a relationship similar to marriage or civil partnership for at least two years

According to the July 2024 Guidance, there is no requirement for the parties to the relationship to have been living together for at least two years before the visa application but their relationship must be similar to a marriage or civil partnership.

Proving you are in a partner relationship

It is up to you as the visa applicant to prove that you are in a relationship. This means the burden of proof is on you to show your relationship status rather than for a Home Office official to disprove it.

You need to satisfy a standard of proof that is the ‘’balance of probabilities’’, meaning it is more likely than not that you meet the partner requirement.

Whilst you can supply lots of evidence of your relationship the Guidance makes it clear that not all evidence will carry equal weight. Immigration Solicitors can tell you the best evidence to produce depending on your circumstances. For example, if you have official evidence of the relationship, you may not need to supply the sort of evidence that carries limited weight with the Home Office.

Relationship requirements

The relationship requirements that are assessed and checked under this Guidance include:

Both partners are aged over 18 on the date of the visa application
Any previous relationship has ended – it is still possible to get a visa if a previous relationship has not ended in divorce but an explanation needs to be given in the application. For example, a wife may not legally be allowed to file for divorce in their home country but has been in an unmarried relationship akin to marriage for over two years. If a former spouse has died then normally a death certificate will need to be produced as part of the application
The relationship is genuine and subsisting
If unmarried the partners must have been in a relationship similar to marriage or civil partnership for at least two years
The partners have met in person
If married or in a civil partnership the relationship must be valid
The partners are not in a prohibited relationship under UK law or in other words not so closely related that they would be prohibited from marriage or a civil partnership in the UK. Applicants applying for a visa as a partner are asked to confirm on the application form that they are not closely related and this confirmation is normally all the evidence required

Any evidence in support of these requirements must be in English or officially transcribed.

The validity of a marriage or civil partnership

A Home Office official needs to check that the marriage or civil partnership was carried out in accordance with the law of the country in which it took place and is recognised in the UK. For example, if you said you were in a civil partnership but your same-sex relationship is not legally recognised in the country where the ceremony took place you would not meet the validity criteria but you may still qualify as an unmarried partner.

Your evidence of marriage or civil partnership is normally your official document of marriage or civil partnership issued in the country where the marriage or partnership took place. The marriage must be valid so, for example, in England, it must have taken place in approved premises and you must produce your marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate.

Durable relationship

The Guidance refers to the need for Home Office officials to be satisfied that your unmarried relationship is ‘durable.’ This means that if you are not married or in a civil partnership you must be able to demonstrate you have been in a relationship similar to marriage or civil partnership for at least two years before the date of your visa application.

The Guidance explains that for a relationship to be classed as similar to marriage or civil partnership the couple ‘’must usually have lived together as a couple (not just as friends) and shown an ongoing commitment to one another. However, in some circumstances, there may be evidence of a durable relationship similar to marriage or civil partnership where the couple have not, or currently do not, live together’’.

The Guidance recognises that for cultural or legal reasons you may not have been allowed to live openly together in your home country. For example, if in your home country same-sex relationships are not lawful or if living with a partner would not have been culturally or religiously acceptable and led to repercussions.

Your Immigration Solicitors will be able to guide you on evidence to produce if you know that Home Office officials may question your visa application on the grounds of a durable relationship. For example, if you have lived in separate countries as you were finishing your studies before joining your partner who is working in the UK.

Genuine and subsisting relationship

There is an overlap in assessing whether a relationship is durable and if it is genuine and subsisting. That overlap is recognised in the Home Office Guidance.

Home Office officials will start by looking at the information on the visa application form and the declaration signed by the visa applicant’s partner. They will then look at the supporting evidence that accompanies the application and potentially make checks with third parties based in the UK.

If it is difficult to show that you have been living with your partner then you need to give a full explanation and provide the evidence available to you. For example, a Skilled Worker Visa applicant may have needed to come to the UK because their sponsoring employer wanted them to start employment but their partner chose to stay in their home country so their children would be able to finish schooling for that academic year.

When you produce evidence that your relationship is durable, subsisting and genuine a Home Office official will classify the evidence you produce as either strong, acceptable or weak. Immigration Solicitors can advise you on what counts as strong evidence. The lawyers will explain the amount of evidence you will need to provide if you can only obtain evidence that a Home Office caseworker will class as acceptable or weak under the Guidance they are obliged to follow.

The Guidance does allow caseworkers to exercise some ‘’evidential flexibility’’ but it is crucial that your Immigration Lawyers fully explain why you cannot get evidence that is either strong or acceptable. That explanation will help the Home Office official decide to exercise discretion in your favour.

All visa applications by a partner are understandably extremely important for the family involved. That’s why it is best to use specialist Immigration Solicitors who understand the Guidance you need to follow to get your visa through as quickly as possible.

UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors

For immigration law advice call London-based OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.

Our lawyers speak Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French/Mauritian Creole, Spanish, Tamil Tagalog/Ilonggo, Urdu/Punjabi

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