Visa Application

Good luck

Yep. The ECO should give you a discount on your fees for quality of presentation.

Wouldn't that be nice! Basically I want to leave them in no doubt as to the nature of our relationship. They are going to get 30 or 40 photos, including weddings and numerous selfies taken together, a screenshot of us chatting on a Skype video call. Snippets from Facebook. A print out of the whole Team Kaye website (thankfully it's not too big yet). Some chat logs, etc. Hopefully they will give in halfway through and admit there's no contesting this application

On earlier points, I didn't copy the entry stamps... but I did send a certified copy (Post Office do this for £7) of the bio page of my passport (which is what they ask for). I also sent a certified copy of my driving licence (photocard, both sides and paper counterpart, both sides) as a second form of government issued address proof.

We only submitted a photocopy of the relevant pages of my passport . But instead submitted my original birth certificate.

BTW, to anyone after historical data on Facebook (particularly messages), you will know what a pain in the ass it is to continually scroll up, and up and up (in our case 60k messages in the last year and that's only a fraction cos we talk all day on other messaging services too). Facebook allow you to download an archive of all of your account activity (including messages). Go to Accout Settings and at the bottom of the page there is a small link offering to download your Facebook data.

Yeah, I don't wanna touch my birth certificate with a bargepole! It's Brazilian, written in Portuguese and certifying that would be a NIGHTMARE! I've been very fortunate that I haven't had to show it to anyone through this process (marriage/visa).

Ah. Makes sense. You dont want to confuse them .

If your parents registered your birth with the British Embassy in Rio, then you can obtain a "Consular Record of Birth" from your local Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages - though they may need to access the records at the Liverpool Main Registry.

They didn't. I travelled here on a Brazilian passport. I looked into all of this when I thought I would have to present the birth cert for the wedding, it was going to be a nightmare involving Brazilian authorities, translation, certification, etc, etc. Weeks of running around given I couldn't even get an appt. for the Brazilian consulate for weeks.

Not sure if I've overdone it. But I've now compiled approximately 200 sides of A4 with nothing but relationship proof. It contains, all itineraries (booking confirmations for flights, hotels, rental car), chat logs (3 recent 24hr logs showing several hundred iMessage messages sent each day, and some Facebook messages exchanged earlier in our relationship), several sides of photos (showing approx. 70 photos of us and the wedding, the month/visit they were taken and where), a complete copy of all blog entries on Team Kaye chronicling our story. Screenshots showing our FaceTime goodnight calls (we say goodnight in both time zones to each other every day.)

Now let's see them refuse that

Here's my checklist.

The eagle eyed will notice the Zoopla thing in the Accommodation section... and also, since the application pack is gonna be so huge, I was cheeky enough to submit my own guidance notes LOL The notes explain the Zoopla comment, I redacted them and attached here.

I noticed you included a supporting evidence guidance notes. We did the same. Basically an in yer face itemised list of the supporting evidence. With any brief explanations where necessary.

Do you intend to include the checklist, as we did and that was essentially our first page..

We also included a covering letter outlining our compliance with the relevant section of the immigration law ( sections this that and the other of the bla bla act - cant remember it now...) as in we know we comply so dont fook it up up and here's the evidence enclosed.

This is turning into something more than an application for a visa! It's like an epic. I expanded on the guidance notes by responding to as much UKBA guidance and immigration law I could find! It might come in handy to someone in order to understand the level of prep that some put into this. Fingers crossed for us, I'm about to draw a line under it.

I think in total we have a single large Lever Arch file containing original documents and a copy for VFS/UKBA. Total weight is approx. 4kg and the file is almost full.

Comments on the notes most welcome. I know some say don't tell them stuff they don't need to know, but we have nothing to hide and no reason to believe we don't have a very strong case (thanks for persuading me to increase the content on the relationship).

Attached are the guidance notes and the latest checklist.

Just need to add some neon lights and increase the font several sizes.

But seriously. Looking good.

Quick update... so many places to potentially foul up! I decided to withdraw the application made in Jan, and submit a new one. This ensures that the dates on all our evidence is good with respect to the UKBA deemed application date. I hadn't realised it was the date the application was paid for, but thought it would be the date we hand over all the docs to VFS. I was wrong. So quick refund request and a re-application was necessary. Wonder when I'll get my money back

Have to say, since UKBA data was migrated to .gov.uk, it's a right old mess! Although the style and readability is generally massively improved... which has to be a good thing... There are lots or inconsistencies, errors and omissions... which is not so good!

Interesting what you say there about withdrawing your original application. I seem to recall this was never possible in the past. How did that work? Straight forward?

Very straightforward. You apply on visa4uk for a refund, which is a click-the-button, supply-the-reason affair. They then decide if you're eligible (within a certain timeframe of the payment and before biometrics are taken), and refund the money to the card you used to pay.

I tried to download the attachments but it has error.....
I want to use your checklist as my reference for my application.
Thank you so much.