Sponsoring my wife's aunt and grandfather visit

[jamilleh]

Hi All,

Let me start by saying I am really impressed by the quality and wealth of information available here.

I am a British Citizen and my wife is Canadian. We got married in windsor (Canada) and applied for her settlement visa in april 2011 which was received a day later. She will be travelling to join me in the UK on the 7th of July.

Since the basic wedding (Nikkah and marriage registration took place already in canada none of our relatives were able to attened) we have decided to have a formal wedding back in the UK in July for which relatives from both sides will be attending from Pakistan.

My wife and I both work in our respective countries. She has now handed in her resignation but has sufficient savings. I am already sponsoring my uncle to attend the wedding from Pakistan and we want her grandfather and aunt to attend as well.

Her aunt works as a doctor in Pakistan and her grandfather is now retired with substantial savings of his own. Both live in seperate houses and both of them have visited the UK atleast once as general visitors but not on their current passports.

Questions I have are:

1) Since she has been issued a UK settlement visa and has sufficient savings can she alone sponsor her aunt and grandfather under family visitor application or does it require us to jointly sponsor them, or do I solely sponsor them if at all possible?

2) Will it affect my uncle's application in any way which will be submitted around the same time but in Islamabad whereas their applications will go to Lahore I assume?

3) We have arranged accommodation for them in our house but the property is in my parents name. My father is currently in Pakistan so cant sign any documents. Would it be better to book a hotel room and show that?

4) Since we are already married in Canada but just want a wedding in UK as well is that a good enough reason or would they be better off applying under different reason or even as general visitor rather than family visitor?

Sorry for the length of this post but I'm really worried about all the complexities.

[batleykhan]

Hi All,

Let me start by saying I am really impressed by the quality and wealth of information available here.

I am a British Citizen and my wife is Canadian. We got married in windsor (Canada) and applied for her settlement visa in april 2011 which was received a day later. She will be travelling to join me in the UK on the 7th of July.

Since the basic wedding (Nikkah and marriage registration took place already in canada none of our relatives were able to attened) we have decided to have a formal wedding back in the UK in July for which relatives from both sides will be attending from Pakistan.

My wife and I both work in our respective countries. She has now handed in her resignation but has sufficient savings. I am already sponsoring my uncle to attend the wedding from Pakistan and we want her grandfather and aunt to attend as well.

Her aunt works as a doctor in Pakistan and her grandfather is now retired with substantial savings of his own. Both live in seperate houses and both of them have visited the UK atleast once as general visitors but not on their current passports.

Questions I have are:

1) Since she has been issued a UK settlement visa and has sufficient savings can she alone sponsor her aunt and grandfather under family visitor application or does it require us to jointly sponsor them, or do I solely sponsor them if at all possible?

You cant have joint sponsorship. One or the other must act as a sponsor

2) Will it affect my uncle's application in any way which will be submitted around the same time but in Islamabad whereas their applications will go to Lahore I assume?

No

3) We have arranged accommodation for them in our house but the property is in my parents name. My father is currently in Pakistan so cant sign any documents. Would it be better to book a hotel room and show that?

It is not neccesary for you to get permission from your parents for this. You must make sure there is enough space in the house to accommodate all people

4) Since we are already married in Canada but just want a wedding in UK as well is that a good enough reason or would they be better off applying under different reason or even as general visitor rather than family visitor?

Family visitor is much better. Explains in full details of your and their intentions for the visit.You should give good reasons for them to return home after visit like job, family, land , business etc

Sorry for the length of this post but I'm really worried about all the complexities.


Hope that has answered your queries.

[jamilleh]

Thank you so much for your reply.

I guess the question that remains is:

Who should sponsor them, myself or my wife? Or we sponsor one of them each?

Can my wife even sponsor them seeing as she only recently got her settlement visa?

Do we need to attach our financial information or are their finances sufficient? Especially if my wife sponsors one or both of them does she need to show her canadian savings?

Do we need to do individual letters for each of them?

[batleykhan]

Thank you so much for your reply.

I guess the question that remains is:

Who should sponsor them, myself or my wife? Or we sponsor one of them each?

Can my wife even sponsor them seeing as she only recently got her settlement visa?

Do we need to attach our financial information or are their finances sufficient? Especially if my wife sponsors one or both of them does she need to show her canadian savings?

Do we need to do individual letters for each of them?

Ideally it should be you rather than your wife.

Sponsor all 3 of them together. You can show the amount of savings jointly to satisfy the ECO that you have sufficient funds available to support,maintain and accommodate them during their short stay. If these people have savings of their own, they can show banks statements with their application.

You will need to send sponsorship letter, along with letter of employments, wage slip, bank statements and evidence that there is enough accommodation space for them. They will need to show evidence that they will return home for reasons I gave earlier.

[jamilleh]

Could you help me compile a list of requisite documents:

So far

1)VAF1B x3 (one for each applicant?)
2)Sponshorship letter (1 or x3)?
3)bank statements (already sent one set for my uncle's application to him)
4)P60 already sent to uncle
5)Letter of employment (sent to uncle)
6)Emails (sent to uncle)
7)engagement pics (should I include pics from Nikkah in canada?)
8)accommodation letter from parents + title deed/hotel booking
9)copies of venue booking receipt

do need to include items 3-5 for my wife?

do either my wife or me need to send notarised copies of our passports?

[batleykhan]

Could you help me compile a list of requisite documents:

So far

1)VAF1B x3 (one for each applicant?)

Yes

2)Sponshorship letter (1 or x3)?

3.One each per person

3)bank statements (already sent one set for my uncle's application to him)

Are they no longer than 6 weeks old from time application will be lodged. If not you need upto date ones

4)P60 already sent to uncle
5)Letter of employment (sent to uncle)

Fine

6)Emails (sent to uncle)
7)engagement pics (should I include pics from Nikkah in canada?)
8)accommodation letter from parents + title deed/hotel booking
9)copies of venue booking receipt

Fine and ok

do need to include items 3-5 for my wife?

Yes if she is sponsoring them seperatley


do either my wife or me need to send notarised copies of our passports?

Does not need to be notarised. Just copies of the last page with photo and information