Fiancee visa - 'witness statements'?!

We're planning to lodge our fiancee visa application in Australia next week and are getting a little nervous as the time draws closer, terrified that we've forgotten something or that some piece of evidence won't be enough.

A post in a forum on another site said we need 'witness statements' from family and friends.
We have been studying the guidelines at www.ukvisas.gov.uk, at the BHC website and reading all the forums we could find but one thing we don't have is 'witness statements' . We didn't see anything about witness statements in any listing of documents to include - particularly not for the fiancee visa. How many would we need to have and what do they have to say? Is it ok if they are just from my family? It's going to be hard to get signed copies from his family and friends now because they're too far away.

... panicking quietly...

Maybe you should post your query on that other forum?

It is certainly not a requirement to produce "witness statements"! Indeed it is not a requirement for parents to agree to the marriage, or even be told it is going to happen.

OK, such statements are not going to do any harm, so to say "we need" them is going far too far.

Now "evidence of contact" is needed .... to ensure that the ECO looking at the application does not conclude that it is a marriage of convenience (or will be after the marriage). But that "evidence of contact" needs to be just from the two of you, and does not have to involve anyone else, if you don't what to.

Thanks for the reassurance, John. Your advice is, as always, rational and balanced.

We've known each other since July, have spent every single weekend together since then, have travelled overseas together and at the end of September we moved in together.
We have
emails sent between us,
my 'weblog' posts (my online travel diary) detailing things we did,
photos of us together as a couple and with other people,
air tickets and stamps in our passports from travel together,
admission tickets from other activities together,
correspondence from my Mum ddressed to both of us,
a couple of bills in joint names.
He is coming to Australia to be with me when I submit the application and we'll have tickets and stamps in our passports from that, too.

We also have;
Personal statements outlining how our relationship developed, when we decided to get married, our discussions about the wedding, our plans for the future and some personal background that will hopefully show we're both upstanding citizens
A month-by-month summary of his incomings and outgoings
6 months Bank statements (his and mine)
6 months Pay advice slips (his)
A letter from his employer confirming a recent pay rise
Mortgage statement (his, on the house we will live in)
Description of property from the mortgage
Photos of the house inside and out
6 months worth of utility bills on the house
Details of his car loan
Details of my assets and savings in Australia
Print-outs of some ads for suitable jobs for me after we are married and I'm allowed to work

Some things we haven't done:
set a date for the wedding (we're talking to family and friends trying to make it so everyone has time to arrange travel get there)
booked the registrar (apparently we can't do this until after I get the visa and come back into the country, also we're not sure where we are going to have the wedding yet - maybe in the Brecons where we live or maybe closer to where his family and friends are)
I don't have an engagement ring (we decided it was more important to us for him to come to Australia to be with me during the application).

Can you suggest anything we may have overlooked or whether the above three things would be a problem?

Can you suggest anything we may have overlooked

No, I can't! I think you have all the angles covered.

..... or whether the above three things would be a problem?

No I don't think so. Except as regards the marriage date, if asked about that, it might be helpful to indicate that what the rough plan is. Getting married two months after getting back with the fiancée visa? 5.5 months after?

The Registrar ... indeed no Notice of Intention to Marry can be given until you get the fiancée visa in your passport. But some statement that you intend to go to the Register Office about two weeks after you get back ... that might help.

The ring? The two of you have not yet had a chance to go to Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter! (I say putting in a plug for that!) Prices there distinctly cheaper than on the High Street .... lots of expertise! Imagine 50 or so jewellery shops within easy walking distance of one another .... it is very competitive there. My wife's engagement ring was made to order there! Maybe you plan to do the same?

Thanks, John - we will definitely check out those jeweller's shops you mention. Maybe we'll find our wedding rings there!

One last question (really! LOL);

I have been in the UK for 8 months on visitor visas. I originally came into the country intending to visit friends and then travel around for a few months and then leave but while I was here I met my (now) fiancé and was disinclined to leave him - we felt we had something special between us and wanted to give the relationship time to develop. When I had been here for three months we travelled abroad together for two weeks then came back again and although I was questioned about my intentions and had to show my bank statements indicating sufficient funds, I was given another 6 months tourist visa. I have not breached the terms of these visas, I have not been working and I have not overstayed. My bank statements show regular withdrawals of living expenses.

Is this likely to be a problem when I go home and apply for the fiancée visa?

Thanks in advance!

I have not breached the terms of these visas, I have not been working and I have not overstayed. My bank statements show regular withdrawals of living expenses.

Is this likely to be a problem when I go home and apply for the fiancée visa?

No problem at all .... just ensure that you leave the UK prior to the expiry date of your current permission to stay.

Do ensure that the VAF2 application form is completed honestly .... not that I am suggesting you would do otherwise! There is no problem you admitting you have been to the UK, and indeed no problem you admitting you met your intended during your visit.

Hope it all works out.

Naiad wrote:Thanks, John - we will definitely check out those jeweller's shops you mention. Maybe we'll find our wedding rings there!

One last question (really! LOL);

I have been in the UK for 8 months on visitor visas. I originally came into the country intending to visit friends and then travel around for a few months and then leave but while I was here I met my (now) fiancé and was disinclined to leave him - we felt we had something special between us and wanted to give the relationship time to develop. When I had been here for three months we travelled abroad together for two weeks then came back again and although I was questioned about my intentions and had to show my bank statements indicating sufficient funds, I was given another 6 months tourist visa. I have not breached the terms of these visas, I have not been working and I have not overstayed. My bank statements show regular withdrawals of living expenses.

Is this likely to be a problem when I go home and apply for the fiancée visa?

Thanks in advance!

that should not be a problem as you will be applying for a Category Leading to Settlemrent Visa...

Had you been applying for a visitors or student visa then there would be problems.....because clearly you have not been visiting per se as you have 'extended' your visitors visa (6mnths and agin 6 mths) and as such you dont really have very strong ties with Oz otherwise you wouldnt have been away for such a long time -

Chess wrote:....because clearly you have not been visiting per se as you have 'extended' your visitors visa (6mnths and agin 6 mths) and as such you dont really have very strong ties with Oz otherwise you wouldnt have been away for such a long time -

Yes exactly. And that's exactly the reason we have chosen to settle in the UK rather than Australia. In terms of which country to live in it's all the same to us but from a practical point of view my fiancé has a house, mortgage, car and good job in the UK while I have no major ties in Australia so it's obviously better for us to do it this way.