Home Office Interview – Genuine and Subsisting Relationship
Information regarding the United Kingdom Border Agency’s (UKBA) approach to assessing the genuineness of a relationship for visa purposes and some examples of interview questions:
GENUINE AND SUBSISTING RELATIONSHIP
If you are applying to enter the UK, or for permission to stay or settle here, you will need to satisfy the UKBA that your relationship is genuine and subsisting. When they consider your application they will look at all the information available and your individual circumstances and if your relationship is genuine and subsisting they will expect you to be able to show evidence that you:
- are in a current, long-term relationship;
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are living together with your partner;
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share responsibility with your partner for any children;
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share financial responsibilities with your partner, such as a joint mortgage or tenancy agreement, a joint bank account or joint savings, and utility bills in both your names;
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and your partner have visited one another's home country and family; and
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you have made plans about living together in the UK with your partner.
The UKBA may make further investigations about the genuineness of your relationship if:
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they are informed or have evidence that your marriage is or may be a sham marriage or a forced marriage;
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you or your partner do not appear to have the capacity to consent to the marriage, partnership or relationship, for example because of learning difficulties;
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they have evidence that you or your partner are subject to unreasonable restrictions, such as being kept at home by their family or being subject to unreasonable financial restrictions;
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you do not attend an interview, without reasonable explanation, when they ask you to;
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you cannot provide any information about your intended living arrangements in the UK or about moving to the UK;
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they are concerned about the circumstances of your wedding ceremony or reception;
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you and your partner cannot provide accurate personal details about each other and your relationship;
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you and your partner cannot communicate with each other in a language you both understand;
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there is evidence of money having been exchanged for the marriage to be contracted (unless this is part of a dowry);
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you do not share financial or other domestic responsibilities;
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you and your partner do not live together (unless one of you is working or studying away from home);
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your partner is a qualified medical practitioner or professional, or has worked as a nurse or carer, and you have a mental or physical impairment which means that you need medical assistance or personal care in your home;
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your partner has previously sponsored another partner to come to or remain in the UK;
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your partner obtained settlement through a previous relationship and that marriage, partnership or relationship ended soon afterwards;
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you and your partner were in a relationship at an earlier date and have sponsored or been sponsored by other people in the meantime;
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they have evidence that you and your partner have previously had a sham or forced marriage, or have lived in the UK unlawfully; or
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you have applied for leave to enter or remain in the UK in another category and been refused.
EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS:
It is important to note that these may not be the exact questions used in the interview but are examples of the kind of questions they will ask when assessing the genuineness of your relationship. They will be based on the criteria above.
1. How/when did you meet?
2. Where did you meet?
3. Tell me about your wedding? (details about the day)
4. Have you ever been on Holiday together? Where? Tell me about it?
5. Who does most of the cooking in the house?
6. What type of food do you eat?
7. Which side of the bed does your partner sleep on?
8. What colour is your partner’s toothbrush?
9. How many brothers and sisters does your partner have? What are their names? When did you last see them together as a couple?
10. Are your partner’s parents still alive? Where do they live?
11. Tell me the name of your partners friends? When did you last spend time together with them?
12. What are your partners interests?
13. When did you start living together?
14. What are your shared financial responsibilities?
15. Give us an outline of a normal week for you both.
Generally you will be asked these questions about both yourself and your partner in separate interviews and they will be looking to see if your answers correspond.
- NEW NMC Registration Process as of 1 October 2014 - 17 September 2014
- TIER 4 (GENERAL) STUDENT APPLICATIONS – maintenance funds requirement increases as of 1 July 2014 - 6 August 2014
- Home Office Interview – Genuine and Subsisting Relationship - 7 October 2013
