Background
Our client, Miss C met her partner, Mr B on an online dating app and officially established their relationship soon after they met. The couple did not want to get married; instead, they wanted to enter into a civil partnership. Therefore, Mr B found us online and instructed us to assist with his partner’s application to enable Miss C to come to the UK, and they can register their civil partnership in the UK.
According to the Appendix FM of Immigration Rules, ‘partner’ means the applicant’s spouse, civil partner, fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner or unmarried partner. The civil partner can be a same-sex or an opposite-sex civil partner because Section 2 of the Civil Partnership Act required the Secretary of State to amend the Civil Partnership Act 2004 by 31 December 2019 so that people of the opposite sex could enter into civil partnerships. The regulations came into effect on 2 December 2019, the date upon which opposite-sex couples could register their intent to form a civil partnership.
Compared to the standard spouse visa, the applicant under this visa route needs to approve that the applicant and their partner intend to entry to the UK to enable their civil partnership to take place in the United Kingdom. We helped Miss C to gather several documents proving that Mr B proposed to her, and they intended to register their civil partnership in the UK, such as evidence of the proposal. (Though it is not provided in this application, if you plan to have a ceremony to celebrate with your family and friends, you can also include the booking confirmation or the communication with a venue in the UK, which is helpful as well.) We also provided other documents showing the genuineness of their relationship.
In terms of financial requirements, we helped Mr B to obtain a letter from his employer confirming the certain points required by the Home Office. Along with Mr B’s payslips and bank statements, it shows that Miss C can meet the financial requirements.
Result
We helped Miss C to book her appointment to enrol biometrics and uploaded all the documents beforehand. Miss C’s application was approved within 3 months. The couple is living in the UK happily and preparing for their civil partnership.
