Hi all, just looking for some advice and real experiences with a UK spouse visa.
My partner and I have been together for 3 years while and see each other consistently every week. She stays with me around 4 days a week, and the rest at her place about 25 minutes away. Most of our day to day life is at my home, and we also have a joint bank account and her main spending account registered to my address.
I live in a separate family home owned by my parents, and they are happy for her to move in permanently and will provide a letter confirming this. The hope is that she can find secure work that is during the daytime whilst permanently living with me.
We haven’t fully moved in together yet mainly due to practical reasons. She works late restaurant shifts (often finishing 11pm–12am), so staying closer to work is more realistic. There were also safety concerns after an incident on a late-night train where a man made her feel very uncomfortable, so she avoids longer journeys late at night. She has also crossed paths with him on other occasions. On days she’s not working late, she is usually with me.
I also have responsibilities at home, including looking after a senior dog and three cats which affects how we organise things day to day.
She has been in her current job for over a year. Last year she was actively applying for roles related to her master’s for several months. She progressed through one process where the hiring team wanted to bring her on, but HR later declined due to the time left on her visa not aligning with the job start. This, alongside her grandmother being seriously ill in hospital in her home country at the time, affected her confidence, so she chose to stay in her current job whilst we planned this visa.
Her current place is all-inclusive, so bills and council tax are under the landlord’s name, meaning there isn’t much in her own name at that address. We’re currently going through the application and have around 3–4 weeks before her visa expires, so we want to make sure we’re doing everything correctly.
A lawyer told us we would need to already be fully living together at the time of application or move in immediately, which didn’t seem practical in our situation. He was arguing with me over the phone about it.
Has anyone applied successfully without fully cohabiting at the exact time of application, but with a similar setup and clear plans to live together?
Would really appreciate hearing real experiences.