Fiancée visa – check-list / advice

I’m pleased I stumbled upon this site, and have been reading through all the posts.

We’re planning to apply / submit in 3-weeks’ time, and understandably the nerves are starting to kick-in, as we don’t want to get it wrong and risk a refusal

I’d really value any advice / guidance I can get

So far, we’ve assembled (or they’re in-hand / on-route) the following documents:

My Fiancées Passports (current & previous) & travel documents (as she’s working in Hong Kong)
Her CEFR A1 English certificate
Her TB results
Her passport sized photograph
Proof of relationship / intention to marry:

Skype logs, showing first / initial contact & last 6-months of calls & messages
Facebook messenger logs for last few months
Email communications from start of relationship, prior to Skype
Photos of meeting in person (does it matter if they’re printed on regular paper?)
Original conformation from Registry Office booking civil ceremony
Original letter from Minister confirming booking of wedding blessing ceremony & hire of church hall for reception​

Original decree absolute for me
Her CENOMAR
Completed VAF4A form (including on-line form & payment details)
Completed Appendix 2 finance requirements, supported by:

Last 6 wages slips for me (newest within 28-days of application) - original
Latest P60 – original
Copy of current tenancy agreement
Original letter from Landlord confirming she will be added to tenancy agreement (in maiden name initially, then redrafted in married name)​

Completed sponsor form (SU07) from me
Covering letter (joint) outlining how we meet criteria & documents included​

Am I missing anything required? And is there anything I should include to add weight / increase chances?

Thanks,

Swan

Hello swan and welcome to British Filipino, hope you collated all those documents with use of the forum

Just a couple of things, I'm sure the other guys will add.

1. Note that the tenancy agreement needs to have at least six months left on it at time of submission, this is to cover the six month initial visa. Layout of house/flat is good to include to show there is room for her, maybe details from the letting agency or landlord. I took all the information from the Rightmove site including pictures of the house.
2. Did you get a letter from your employer stating that you have worked for the company x years, being paid at x and that your position is permanent?
3. A copy of the biometrics part of your passport signed as original seen by UK solicitor? You could send your original Birth Certificate too, or solicitor signed as original seen copy.
4. Six months bank statements showing your salary payments, original bank statements or signed by the bank online copies?
5. Flight and hotel bookings with a copy of the Passport Philippine/HK entry stamp

Note that you will get all the original documents back that you submit, remember to photocopy everything to be sure.

With the photos we just submitted six photos per page (A4) with captions under the photo stating when and where it was taken, twenty photos submitted in all including photos with family members.

I must say, you have done quite well with supplying proof of the wedding, good to enhance the application where you can.

Like I said, others will chip in, good luck sir.

PS: Always use DHL to send your documents overseas, expensive yes, but fast and reliable.

Hiya Timmers,

And thanks for your reply. Yes, the majority of the documents I’ve created are on the advice and examples I’ve read here. And it’s helped interpret the gov.uk’s own guidance

Thanks for the advice, couple of return questions if I may:

1. The tenancy contract runs Jan-Dec, being renewed each January, so it won’t have six months left, but the landlords letter does mention the extend the agreement. I’ll add some additional details about the house within the covering letter.

2. I don’t have a letter from my employer yet, is that required? I understood that 6 monthly payslips & P60 proved the financial requirements? Does the letter need any specific points included, I can get one fairly easily, just only wont to request it once from HR

3. I have photocopy (colour) of my passport, but not annotated. Does it need to be a solicitor or annotated at all, as I don’t know any

4. Bank statement, no problems, which section will they relate to the financial requirements? (I wont to ensure I organise the evidence pack)

5. My passport has Philippines details in, I’ll add the flight booking / conformation to the pack.​

Thanks again for your advice and welcome

The letter from your employer is very important, you need a letter stating how long you have worked for the company, whether your job is permanent or temporary, how much you are paid and for how long you have been paid that amount of salary for.

Regarding the passport copy, I would pop into a Solicitors office and get a Solicitor to sign as per original, costs around £5. Ring round first though as all Solicitors do not offer this service.

Regarding the finances, the UKVI are looking for evidence that you earn over the £18,600 requirement, highlighting your salary on your bank statements will help with this. You can even get your line Manager to sign your payslips if you like.

Letter from landlord should be fine regarding the renewal dates, the UKVI just needs to be sure that your loved one has adequate accommodation that covers the six month visa term.

If you feel that you need to further explain some of your finances further to make it clearer to the UKVI then use the additional pages in the application, a couple of sentences explaining a point could mean the difference of getting the visa or not.

Keep all your visa paperwork handy as you will need the majority of it when you apply for the FLR(M) after you are married, we applied three days after we were married and submitted our documents in person at the UKVI office in Liverpool using their premium service.

We tend to go over the top here, playing it safe

can I ask regards the passport, if I photo copied every page is that not good enough on its own ?

Why not just pop down to the local Solicitors office and get the copy signed, its easy and only costs £5, other than that you could submit your original Birth Certificate and just a copy of your passport, the most important page of the passport being the biometrics page of course.

It isn't worth taking any risks for something so easily obtainable, the visa is expensive, time consuming and stressful, better going out of your way a little to achieve your goal

The UKVI needs at least one conclusive id from you.

​

Thats how it was for us. We attached a letter from the landlord stating that he would renew the lease when it was up.

Yes, you cannot go wrong with an explanatory letter for sure, leaves the UKVI no reason to doubt.

Copy of passport does not need to be annotated. Or at least it shouldnt do unless the ECO has a lapse of vision on the day.

I seem to recall that we did not annotate anything.

I don't think it does if you submit your Birth certificate, I believe you did that yourself, they need at least one form of guaranteed identification I would have thought.

Better safe than sorry.

Are we confusining "annotated" with "authenticated"?

Authenticated is the word we are looking for, proving the documents are true, annotation is usually the small print on an official document for example a marriage certificate giving formality and proof that the document is true and legal.

Exactly. That is why I said that it isnt necessary to annotate the passport copies. An annotation is a supplementary note or comment as in :

"A note by way of explanation or comment added to a text or diagram...."


Or maybe 007 was thinking of "notarising" - different word again.

The passport doesn't need to be certified any more according to the government guidance notes. But you should include every page, including blank ones.

It's better to do a greyscale copy. When I took my passport to a solicitor once they told me it is illegal to take colour copies of passports!

The best option is, if you are not sure whether or not to include something, just include it.

So any extra things will help ie: solicitors signature, but am I correct in thinking a black and white copy of every page of my passport is good enough ?
sorry just posted this without seeing above thanks for all your help

That's good information, what's with not being able to copy your passport in colour I wonder?

Thanks again for all the advice, both here and in other threads, so vauluble and much appreciated.

I've just finished my covering letter, and wanted to post here for advice / crtique. I'd also value any suggestions on how to actually present the documents? should it be all loose in a document folder, each set of documents (e.g. bank statements) stapled but all loose in a folder, or should I put group documents in plastic wallets within folder?

Anyways, the covering letter :

Dear Sirs,
This letter details the contents of the visa application pack, and sets out how it demonstrates that we meet the criteria.

I am undertaking sponsorship; the completed sponsorship form is included.
Financial requirements
I meet the financial requirements by earning more than £18,600 (actual amount earned £xx,xxx pa), documents with the application pack that demonstrate this:

• Appendix 2 (financial requirements form) – Original
• Letter from Employer – Original
• 6 most recent wage slips – Original
• Latest P60 – Original
• 6 months – Original

We will be living at my, rented (private tenancy), which is a 2-bedroom mid-terrace, and I am sole occupant. Supporting documents:

• Tenancy agreement (2012 – current) – Original
• Letter from Landlord confirming Anna will be added to the tenancy upon arrival – Original
• Latest utility (Electricity & Gas) bill – Original

Relationship & Marriage
We first met online in October 2013 and started dating soon after. Because of our work commitments, we were unable to meet until December 2014, when we spent just over 2-weeks together; it was during this time together that we got engaged. From the very beginning we’ve always kept in touch on a throughout the day, initially via email, but we soon progressed to more instant Facebook Instant Messenger (text & audio calls) and Skype (video, audio & text messages).

We are planning to be married on 19th December 2015, a civil service at the registry office followed by a blessing ceremony at the family church, with a reception at the church hall.
Supporting documents included:

• Skype Logs (initial contact and last month) – printout
• Facebook Messenger screen grabs (last 2-weeks) – printout
• Emails from prior to Skype – copies
• Collection of photos together – index sheet
• Boarding cards from trip to Philippines – Original
• Hotel receipts (3) from time together in Philippines – Original
• Conformation email from Registry Office – printout
• Conformation letter from Church – Original
• Anna’s CENOMAR – Original
• Decree Absolute – Original

In addition, the following documents are included as required for the visa application:

• Visa application form – printout
• Passport (Anna’s) – Original
• Previous passports (Anna’s) – Original
• Passport (Mine) – Photocopy (all pages, greyscale)
• Work Visa Hong Kong (Anna’s) – Original
• CEFR A1 English Certificate
• TB Certificate (Anna’s) – Original

Yours faithfully,

Regarding presentation of document, don't put anything in folders, I remember the wife telling me that they just take everything out of the plastic wallets and dump them in an individual post bag ready for transportation the Embassy, with that in mind it may be a good idea to tie everything up in order with an index of the documents on the front following the order of the forms.

Oh, and remember to photocopy all the documents you want back, for example your original documents, your loved one will get these back with the visa.

The list looks complete to me but wait to see what the other more eagled eyed people think of it.

Good luck

Yes. My understanding is that they remove the documents from whatever binder you submit them in, so no point in spending a lot on a gold leafed binder.