The Unmarried Partner visa commonly known as the 'Defacto visa' allows the unmarried partner to
enter or remain in the UK on the basis that they are in a relationship with a British citizen or
a person settled in the UK.
You can apply for an Unmarried Partner visa under the 5-year route if you meet all the
requirements of the rules including the English language and financial requirements. The
requirements are the same as for married partners however if you are an unmarried partner, you
must have lived together for a period of at least 2 years.
If all the requirements of Appendix FM are met, you will be granted a partner visa for 2.5 years
under the 5 years route to settlement however if you are not meeting some of the requirements of
the rules and there are exceptional circumstances and insurmountable obstacles preventing you to
relocate to your country of origin, a leave may be granted for 2.5 years under the 10-year route
to settlement.
The applicant applying for entry clearance as an Unmarried Partner of a British Citizen or a person settled person must meet the following requirements:
You can apply for renewal of your Unmarried Partner visa under 5 years route from inside the
UK by
using the application form FLR (M) online prior to the expiry of your initial leave of 2.5
years.
As a result of a successful application for an extension of your Unmarried Partner visa
under 5
years route, you will be granted further leave to remain for 30 months (2.5 years) to be
able to
complete 5 years in the UK and thus apply for ILR as Unmarried Partner under 5 years route.
An
application for an Unmarried Partner visa renewal will be considered in accordance with the
requirements of the Immigration Rules as set out in Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules.
Our highly experienced UK immigration solicitors deal with all types of UK visas and immigration applications. We're authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), so you know you're in safe hands.