The Proposed Civil Partner Visa UK offers an opportunity for couples to formalise their relationship and begin their journey toward a life together in the UK.
Our solicitors at Rees Clayton Immigration can help you with eligibility requirements, application procedures, and professional application guidance. Call or email us at 02033939272 for more information about your fiancé or proposed civil partner visa.
For those who are engaged to a British or Irish citizen, have already settled in the UK, are pre-settled, have a Turkish businessperson or worker visa, or are refugees or humanitarian protection seekers who wish to form a civil partnership in the UK within six months of their arrival, the UK Proposed Civil Partner Visa is an option. One must be outside of the UK to apply for a UK Proposed Civil Partner Visa.
You cannot settle in the UK immediately after applying for a Proposed Civil Partner Visa UK. It is possible to apply for an extension of stay using the Civil Partner visa route from within the UK once a civil partnership has been registered. After five years on a UK Civil Partner Visa, you may be eligible for permanent residency or indefinite leave to remain.
Please ensure that you fulfil the following criteria before applying for a UK Proposed Civil Partner Visa with UK Visas and Immigration:
Your partner is a citizen of the UK or Ireland, has made the UK their permanent home, has been awarded pre-settled status, is a Turkish businessperson or worker, is a refugee, or has humanitarian protection;
Depending on your specific situation, the specific criteria you must meet could change. If you need legal counsel consult our immigration lawyer at Rees Clayton Immigration.
To meet the relationship requirements for this visa, the most important thing is to prove that your civil partnership is legally valid.
This can be achieved by showing documents of a legally recognised civil partnership certificate in the UK.
Nevertheless, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) will also demand evidence of the legitimacy and persistence of your relationship. This means that your civil partner connection must be sincere, long-lasting, and free from dishonest motivations.
This is in place to make sure that individuals don’t just go into a civil partnership to sneak around UK immigration laws.
You can show the validity and sustainability of your civil partnership in a number of ways, most of which require presenting a variety of documents and evidence collected throughout your relationship with your civil partner.
If you want to obtain a UK Proposed Civil Partner visa, you need to provide proof to UKVI and the Home Office that your civil partnership is real and active.
This is possible if you provide a number of supporting documents with your visa application. The following are just a few examples that could be given:
For a UK Proposed Civil Partner Visa to be granted, your partner needs to meet one of the following criteria:
Any British citizen accompanying you to the UK in your capacity as a partner is also considered a British citizen in the UK. Anyone who is allowed for settlement on the same occasion as you is considered to have indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
According to the Marriage Act 1949, the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Act 1986, and the Civil Partnership Act 2004, you and your prospective civil partner cannot be involved in a relationship that is prohibited by law. You have a chance of getting this visa if you satisfy these conditions.
In other words, you and your intended spouse can’t have any ties to the following:
Any person who is a half-brother or half-sister is considered a “sibling” in this list.
To apply for a proposed civil partner visa, both individuals involved must be at least 21 years old, and the younger person must not have had any familial relationship with the older person before this age:
You are required to have personally met with your prospective civil partner. To prove that you “met,” you must provide evidence of an actual, in-person meeting that led to the development of a friendly relationship between the two people. Meeting in person and then communicating by phone or letter is not sufficient for a UK Proposed Civil Partner Visa.
To prove that you can support yourself effectively in the UK without using public funds, you’ll have to meet a financial requirement.
The UK Proposed Civil Partner Visa application requires proof of a gross annual income of £29,000 or more from your prospective civil partner (or from both of you jointly if you are both in the UK with lawful leave to remain) unless an exemption applies.
The minimum income requirement does not yet include a separate component for children.
When it comes to the financial criterion that the sponsor can “adequately maintain and accommodate” the family member being sponsored to join or remain in the UK, there are different factors to examine if your prospective civil spouse is receiving specific state benefits or entitlements.
When applying to join the UK as a proposed civil partner, extend your stay as a civil partner, or seek indefinite leave to remain as a civil partner, you will need to meet the financial criteria.
Several complicated immigration regulations relate to the proposed civil partner visa’s financial requirement, and one of them is the need for documentary evidence. Applicants must provide evidence that the financial criteria have been satisfied. Refusal of a visa application through this route often occurs due to the absence of required financial proof.
Several methods can meet the UK Proposed Civil Partner Visa financial requirement:
Different concerns apply if your intended civil partner receives state benefits or entitlements.
Proposed Civil Partner Visa applicants who rely on cash savings to meet the financial requirement should note that the level of cash savings required in an entry clearance and extension application is different from that required for indefinite civil partner leave.
In rare cases when visa refusal would violate ECHR Article 8, the couple’s other credible and stable income, financial support, or funds may be considered.
Our immigration solicitors are experts in Proposed Civil Partner Visa and help UK applicants manage the difficult evidence requirements.
One of the requirements for entry clearance as a proposed civil partner is proof that you and your spouse will have sufficient housing, either privately owned or rented, that does not require public funding.
In order to proceed, you will be required to present documentation that proves the property’s ownership or occupancy, your exclusive legal right to occupy it, and the absence of overcrowding or violations of public health standards.
To apply for a Proposed Civil Partner Visa, you must demonstrate to the Home Office that you meet their English language requirement, unless an exemption applies.
You must show that you can communicate effectively at the CEFR level A1 or higher to apply for admission clearance on the Proposed Civil Partner Visa route. After 2.5 years of being a civil partner and successfully switching to this status, you will be able to ask for extra leave to stay one, but you will need to prove that you can communicate at least at the CEFR level A2 in English.
To fulfil the English language requirement of the Proposed Civil Partner Visa, you can:
To often avoid the English language requirement, you’ll need to provide evidence of either:
Submit your Civil Partnership visa application online. Furthermore, you should submit your application well in advance of your intended trip, as the permission to enter the UK is dependent upon the approval of your visa.
As part of the application procedure, you must fill out the form and provide any necessary supporting documents. You run the risk of having your visa application denied if you do not fill out the form completely and precisely.
When submitting your application, you must also pay your expenses in full.
Following the submission of your application, you may be required to schedule a visit to a local visa application centre to provide your biometric data, which includes a picture and fingerprints.
The lack of sufficient documentation evidence is the most common reason for rejecting an application for a Proposed Civil Partner Visa.
The documents required to apply for a UK Proposed Civil Partner Visa are quite precise according to the Immigration Rules. The specific documents required to apply for a Proposed Civil Partner Visa UK will vary based on your individual circumstances.
Do not use pre-made paper forms if you want to apply for a Proposed Civil Partner Visa. Be very careful. Consult an immigration attorney to ensure that the documents on the list are appropriate for your case.
Similarly, if a required document is missing, incorrectly formatted, or incomplete, an application for a Proposed Civil Partnership Visa may be rejected. Appeals can take months to resolve, and the outcome isn’t always obvious. Making a new application will be more time-consuming and expensive.
In order to increase the chances of a successful application for a Proposed Civil Partner Visa, our immigration solicitors assist clients in gathering the necessary paperwork and providing expert advice. Additionally, they ensure that the supporting documents adhere to the Immigration Rules.
Applicants submitting their UK Proposed Civil Partner Visa applications from outside the UK are currently required to pay a cost of £1,846 to the Home Office. The current application fee from the Home Office to become a civil partner from within the UK or to stay longer as a civil partner is £1,048. Using the Priority Service will incur additional charges.
After the date of your appointment at the visa application center, it may take up to 24 weeks for your application for a UK Proposed Civil Partner visa to be processed.
But be aware that if any of the following hold true, this might take a little longer:
If you require faster processing of your visa, you might be eligible to utilise the Home Office’s super-priority processing service.
A decision is typically communicated within 30 business days of submitting an application through the Priority Service. Applications from outside the country do not qualify for the Super Priority Service. Only applicants located outside of the UK are eligible to apply for Proposed Civil Partner Visas. You cannot change your visa category to “Proposed Civil Partner” if you are already in the UK.
You will initially have six months of validity on your UK Proposed Civil Partner Visa if your application is approved.
Once your civil partnership is authorised, you can apply to change your status to “Civil Partner” without leaving the UK.
You will be given 30 months of extended leave to reside in the UK if your application for civil partner status is successful. Your Civil Partner leave can be extended for an additional 30 months before it expires.
Being a civil partner of a British citizen or settled person allows you to spend five years in the UK before you can apply for indefinite leave to remain.
If the Immigration Tribunal rejects your application for entrance clearance, leave to remain, or settlement as a Proposed Civil Partner Visa, a UK immigration solicitor can advise you on your options, including whether to file a new application or appeal.
In addition to preparing excellent visa applications, our immigration solicitors provide expert legal counsel and representation for all phases of appealing a decision to enter the UK.
You can rely on us to represent you in immigration appeal hearings before the Upper Tribunal, help you prepare appeal bundles, represent you at First-tier Tribunal and higher court hearings, and provide you sound advice on whether or not to challenge a decision made by the Home Office. We write appeal bundles, reasons for appeal, and applications to appeal.
A dependent is a child who wants to come with the main applicant as part of their visa application.
You can bring your dependant children into the UK as long as they are under the age of 18. Submit your applications for both of these documents simultaneously with your application for the Proposed Civil Partner Visa. Your sponsoring Proposed Civil Partner Visa will require proof of income up to a particular amount, which is determined by the number of dependent children being sponsored.
Due to the extensive list of qualifying requirements and supporting documents that must be fulfilled, the application procedure for the UK Civil Partner visa may experience a slight delay.
Our immigration solicitors at Rees Clayton Immigration can assist you if you need any guidance with your Civil Partnership visa, including if you’re unclear on how to apply or what steps you need to take to be eligible for this visa.
Our group of expert and competent immigration lawyers has years of expertise practicing UK immigration law. We can assist you in doing the same.
Whether you need expert advice on how to demonstrate your eligibility for a UK Civil Partner visa, help compiling the necessary paperwork, or assistance after your application has been rejected, we are here to help you.
Dial 02033939272 or send us an online message to speak with one of our immigration advisors about the services we provide and what we can do for you.
