Navigating The New UK Unmarried Partner Visa Rules

• Published date: 08 March 2024
• Law Firm: Richmond Chambers Immigration Barristers
• Author: Marika Cash

To enter the UK as a "partner" under Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules ("FM" being short for "Family Member"), there are three possible ways to qualify as a "partner". First, as a "spouse". Second, as a "civil partner". Third, as an "unmarried partner".

The way that this third category - "unmarried partner" - is defined in the Rules has recently changed. Against the tide of increasingly high visa application fees and ever-tighter requirements in the Immigration Rules, the "unmarried partner" definition has seemingly been relaxed: the reference to a couple "living together" (i.e. cohabiting) for two years has been removed from the body of the Rules.

This post will compare the new definition with the old, examine the corresponding update in the newly published Guidance, and consider the implications for potential unmarried partner visa applicants.

The Old Definition of "Unmarried Partner": Living Together for at Least Two Years, and Proving Two Years' Cohabitation

The definition of "partner" was, and still is, tucked away in the introductory "Interpretation" section of the Immigration Rules, in paragraph 6.2.(b) of the Immigration Rules.

Until 31 January 2024, those looking to enter the UK as a "partner" had to fit into one of the following three definitions:

1. spouse; or
2. civil partner; or
3. unmarried partner, where the couple have been living together in a relationship similar to marriage or a civil partnership for at least two years.

(Please note that there is also provision for entry as a fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner, but these are short-term "gateway" routes that allow for a later switch into permission as a spouse/civil partner from within the UK.)

This old definition of "unmarried partner" in subparagraph (c) did not open the route to any and every partner who was "unmarried"; it qualified the definition, limiting it to couples who had been "living together" in a relationship similar to marriage or civil partnership for at least two years.

This meant that it was not enough to have been in a relationship for at least two years. It was also not enough to have been in a relationship similar to marriage or civil partnership for two years. A couple must have been "living together" in such a relationship for at least two years.

As a result, couples who did not live together - or who had not lived together for "at least two years" - could not strictly meet the definition of "partner" in the Immigration Rules, no matter how loving or long-term the...