Applied 21st Jan - Thursday
Home office received 22nd Jan - Friday
Visa expiry date
28th Jan - Thursday
Acknowledgement dated 27th Jan - Wednesday
Received acknowledgement 30th Jan - Saturday
Received paperwork and passport - 20th February Saturday
Visa approval later dated - 18th February 2010 Thursday
Valid until -
18th February 2013
Interestingly, the validity is from the date of issue i.e. 18th February and not from 29th January..... this seems to be a moot point with some consultants stating that one can apply five to six months in advance and still get a visa extended from the original date of expiry.....
I had enclosed a self addressed special delivery envelope. I was quite surprised to get it on a Saturday as I thought that they would have to pay extra for a Saturday delivery.
I paid by postal order as this is the fastest mode of payment and I had only a week left on my HSMP.
Income shown was salary from employer plus dividends from my own company.
documents sent -
1. 12 months' payslips
2. maintenance funds - 3 months bank statements.
3. personal bank account statements showing salary and dividends. the payments were highlighted with a marker, I used different colours for the salary and the dividends.
4. business bank account statements showing dividends clearly marked. these were the dividend payments transferred to the personal account.
5. a gross income breakup showing the gross salary month by month from jan 2009 to dec 2009 and monthly dividend payments from may 2009 to dec 2009. this is to make it easy for the caseworker to understand exactly how much was earned in every month.
6. draft accounts for my company with accountant's report, profit and loss and balance sheet.
7. dividend vouchers and minutes of directors meeting for every month from may 2009 to dec 2009.
8. income statement prepared by my accountant stating the total income earned by me including salary and dividend income.
9. payment/invoice summaries prepared by my accountant for the income generated by my company.
10. A letter from my employer. the only reason I had to put in this letter was because the company employing me changed their name and half the bank statements showed the old name so I just wanted this point clarified.
I wish everyone else good luck.....
many thanks
