Help with spouse settlement VISA

gingerwolf · Post by **gingerwolf** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:37 am

Hi all,

A Few questions if some one can please advise-

In regards to cohabitation:

My girlfriend started bascically living with me in November of last year, which means she spent every night there without officially moving in. She officially moved her belongings into my apartment in February ( i spent 3 weeks in Decmber and 2 weeks in January back in the Uk ). When we applied for a 6 month visitor VISA - this was turned down due to lack of evidence of relationship and her circumstances in |China ( ie ECO saw no reason for her to come back and so thought she'd become illegal resident in UK ).

At this point I managed to get my job rotation in China extended and we moved into a more permanent apartment until the end of the year.

My problem is that my company pay my accomodation and all utility bills in china so I dont get anything formal to prove where i live or that my wife lives with me.

When we decided to get married after some long discussions in April and started to put together a list of what we needed to show the ECO:

Below is what I do have:

1: Letter from my company in China confirming my residence until END OF 2011 - Including that they pay.
2: A letter from my company stating that they are aware my and the wife live together at this address.
3: A letter from my land lady that she is aware we cohabit at the address.
4: The envelope the ECO kindly sent us our last refusal letter in with my wifes name sent to this address.
5: Her employment contract stating her address.
6: Her bank statement with the address.
7: letters from friends and family saying they are aware we live together and have done since November.

Unfortunately we can not get anything official stating we both are at the adress together as no bills and no joint bank accounts in china.
Also the evidence above is only from April onwards - do you think this is sufficient?? especially as i will state we have been living together since November.

Second Question:

My UK accomodation: With living in China it is difficult for me to pull together some paperwork such as a council tax bill and mortgage statement ( The last mortgage statement I had was given in the visitor VISA application and never returned and my brother can not find any old ones.)

What i can supply is;

1 - A letter from local council stating I am registered as paying council tax at my UK address ( they wont send out e-mailed statements themselves )
2 - Online gas, electric and sky TV bills going back as far as needed - all in my name.
3 - A letter from my brother who I share the house with and is still living there saying he is happy for us to move in as a married couple.

Do you think this is sufficient?

Thanks for the help stew

cynthiacroncancio · Post by **cynthiacroncancio** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 4:57 am

I think you'll be ok, would be very good if you get a letter from a local authority in China stating that your wife and you reside at the adress you reside together.
I applied before (got denied for some other reasons, but didn't have a problem with showing my relationship) and to prove that I was living with my husband I only sent his passport stamps of entry to my country, pictures of our holidays and time spent together (we had pictures of every month) and a letter from him saying that we live together at my address... also, we went to the appointment together and we added our marriage certificate which it was prove that we were married.

gingerwolf · Post by **gingerwolf** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:18 am

Thanks, I have just received my official work permit and 1 yea residency permit - this has my address in chinese and thinking about it my other half should have registered our address in one of her official police documents to show where she resides - guess this will help, on proving we live together in china.

cynthiacroncancio · Post by **cynthiacroncancio** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 1:00 pm

Registering with police is the best official document you can have in your case, also you have to provide all the other evidence you mention before, I think that will be enough. Good luck!

gingerwolf · Post by **gingerwolf** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:04 am

Thanks for the info. so far guys it is much appreciated. However I have now started putting a folder together with info. we have and as a worrier my blood pressure is going through the roof, as I do not have some documents like a mortgage statement ( Afetr last application they kept both the original and copy ) - hopefully I can supply enough stuff to satisfy without this.

Outlined below is my pack of information, any thoughts comments - will this do the job? Am I missing something critical??

Thanks
Stew

PART 1 - VISA APPLICATION AND LETTERS FROM APPLICANT AND SPONSOR.

1a - VISA APPLICATION
1b - LETTERS
1b(i) - APPLICANT LETTER
1b(ii) - SPONSOR LETTER

PART 2 - IDENTIFICATION

2a - PASSPORTS
** 2a(i) - APPLICANT PASSPORT
2a(ii) - SPONSOR PASSPORT - PHOTOCOPY

2b - SPONSOR VISA AND CHINA WORK PERMIT - CURRENT
2b(i) - SPONSOR CHINA VISA
2b(ii) SPONSOR CHINA WORK PERMIT

2c - APPLICANT ID
** 2c(i) - CHINESE ID CARD
** 2c(ii) - Family book

2d - PASSPORT PHOTO X 2

PART 3 - APPLICANTS QUALIFICATIONS, CURRENT EMPLOYMENT DETAIL & FINANCES

3a - QUALIFICATIONS
** 3a(i) ENGLISH LANGUAGE CERTIFICATE AND RESULTS
** 3a(ii) WORK RELATED QUALIFICATIONS
** 3a(iii) SCHOOL QUALIFICATIONS

3b - CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
** 3b(i) WORK CONTRACT
3b(ii) LETTER FROM EMPLOYER EXPLAINING CURRENT DUTIES
** 3b(iii) WAGE SLIPS
3b(iv) BUSINESS CARD

3c FINANCIAL DETAILS
3c(i) 6 MONTHS BANK STATEMENTS

PART 4 - SPONSORS CURRENT EMPLOYMENT & FINANCIAL DETAILS

4a CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
4a(i) WORK CONTRACT
4a(ii) CONTRACT FOR JOB ROTATION IN CHINA
4a(iii) CV
** 4a(iv) P60 & 6 MONTHS WAGE SLIPS
4a(v) BUSINESS CARD

4b FINANCIAL DETAILS
4b(i) BANK STATEMENTS FROM JUNE 2010 - CURRENT ACCOUNT
4b(ii) BANK STATEMENTS - JOINT ACCOUNT FOR MORTGAGE & ASSOCIATED BILLS

PART 5 - ACCOMODATION

** 5a SOLICITOR LETTER FOR EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS AND INSURANCE POLICY WITH NO. OF ROOMS

** 5b COUNCIL TAX BILL

5c UTILITY BILLS
5c(i) GAS BILL - BEGINNING OF 2011
5c(ii) ELECTRIC BILL - BEGINNING 2011
5c(III) Sky TV Bill - BEGINNING OF 2011

5d LETTER FROM PROPERTY JOINT-OWNER SAYING HAPPY FOR US TO SHARE HOUSE

PART 6 - PROOF OF RELATIONSHIP

6a MARRIAGE
** 6a(i) MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE
6a(ii) WEDDING PHOTO'S - KUNSHAN
6a(iii) WEDDING PHOTO'S - XIAN
6a(iv) PHOTO'S FROM WEDDING PARTY KUNSHAN, INVITATION & RECEIPT
6a(v) PHOTO'S FROM WEDDING PARTY HANZHONG, INVITATION & RECEIPT
6a(vi) FLIGHT AND HOTEL RECEIPT FOR XIAN WEDDING
** 6a(vii) RECEIPTS FOR ENGAGEMENT & WEDDING RINGS

6b SPONSORS PASSPORT STAMPS SHOWING TIME IN CHINA & FLIGHTS

6c PROOF OF COHABITATION
** 6c(i) RESIDENCE PERMITS
6c(ii) APPLICANTS BANK STATEMENT SHOWING ADDRESS
6c(iii) LETTER FROM SPONSORS WORK DETAILING ACCOMODATION FOR 2011
6C(iv) LETTER FROM SPONSORS WORK STATING THEY ARE AWARE OF COHABITATION
6c(v) LETTER FROM LAND LADY STATING THEY ARE AWARE OF COHABITATION
6c(vi) LETTER FROM APPLICANTS WORK STATING HOME ADDRESS
6c(vii) MAIL SHOWING NAME AND ADDRESS

6d LETTERS FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY
6d(i) LETTER FROM APPLICANTS PARENTS
6d(ii) LETTER FROM SPONSORS PARENTS
6d(iii) LETTERS FROM KEVIN & BEN- FRIENDS FROM WORK
6d(iv) LETTER FROM DAVID - FRIEND
6d(v) LETTER FROM SPONSORS WORK SAYING STAYED IN CHINA FOR RELATIONSHIP

6e E-MAILS STARTING JULY 2010

6f PHONE RECORDS FROM BEGINNING OF 2011

6g MISCELLANEOUS PHOTO'S

PART 7 - MISCELLANEOUS

7a(i) WAH HONG CHINESE SOCIETY
7a(ii) ENGLISH LANGUAGE COURSES ROTHERHAM
7a(iii) OFFER OF PART TIME BAR WORK JOB IN ROTHERHAM

7b(i) WEDDING CARDS FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN UK

** INDICATES THAT COPIES IN FOLDER AND ORIGINALS GIVEN SEPARATELY FOR VERIFICATION AND RETURN.

ps - the wah hong chinese society is a council sponsored group of Chinese immigrants in my home town that we have been invited to join on our return to Uk.

Post by **batleykhan** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:36 am

Gee !!! It will take the ECO 3 days to look through all these documents you are going to send.

I think half of them are not necessary at all, and it is very unlikely that the ECO will even look at them.

The important documents are those relating to the sponsor rather than applicant themselves.

The sponsor has to prove that he can support,maintain and accommodate their partners/spouse without recourse to public funds. Therefore sponsors contact with applicant are important, as well as sponsors employment , bank statements and info about his accommodation etc.
In my personal experience they are not interested in anything else as they simply don't have time to siff through documents. Furthermore the more info you send the more reasons you give them opportunities to find faults and refuse visa.

gingerwolf · Post by **gingerwolf** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 9:13 am

Thanks for input - guess im just worried that when we applied for just a visitor VISA in march they refused us due to lack of supporting evidence - therefore I extended my job rotation until the end of this year - id be gutted if it happened again now we've moved the relationship on and got married!!
i think Ive included so much as I dont have some key documents in certai areas, so tried to compensate with several other documents - like with mortgage statement.
As far as meeting main criteria, we have met as we've been living together 9 months - my company pay all the bills etc. so I dont have that sort of proof - hence other documents.
Financially after I apy all bills back in the Uk for house etc I have Â£750 a month left and just got the mrs a job in my friends pub - so I think this should be ok - plus around Â£4 - Â£5k savings.
I guess I could thin it out a bit with her current work and quals etc. but having read about 200posts on here what Ive included seems to be the best bits Ive taken from everyone elses applications added together....

gingerwolf · Post by **gingerwolf** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 2:43 am

Hi anyone got any ideas what from the above I can probably get rid of? im new at this and for me everything seems to have relevance so dont want to get rid of something important.

Thanks Stew

Post by **batleykhan** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:46 pm

If you have made all that effort to collate all these documents, then it is best to send them all, if you think they are necessary and to satisfy yourself.

The worst thing that can happen is that the ECO might not look at them and ignore them..... but at least all the info is there in front of him.

My advice is to send everything that you have outlined above

gingerwolf · Post by **gingerwolf** » Mon Jul 18, 2011 3:02 am

Thanks for the feedback so far it is greatly appreciated - I may look at getting rid of a few things thta are probably not as important or are covered by something else.

However i have just been thrown a curve ball and could use some further advice -

Previously I was told that due to organisational chnages I could become redundant at year end if I decided to stay in china - which I did. My initial plan was not to mention redundancy at all in the appliction as I did not know what would happen come year end, and we would already be in Uk by mid december ( VISA permitting ) anyway. The concensus on forums was that as I didnt know what would happen and was employed at time of application that this would not be seen as trying to trick the ECO if they contacted my company and found out about redundo.

Now however I have been told that my postion is redundant and I will leave the company on 31st December - unless a suitable position elsewhere in the company can be found - although the end result is the same and I may or may not be out of work year end, my situation at the time of application will be dfferent as I now need to be found a different position to stay in work rather than only been at risk of redundancy.

This means that now I probably do have to disclose the fact that I could be out of work at the end of the year, as they would probably see me not mentioning it as trying to deceive.

Should I therefore put 2 categories together in my application - 1 showing details if my employment continues and one showing situation if I am redundant?

If I show redundancy will I automatically get rejected or will my finances as set out below be sufficient to still get VISA granted:

Outgoings: Â£820 per month all bills, mortgage etc.
Incoming: Â£750 unemployment insurance, Â£270 job seekers allowance, and approx Â£250 for my wifes part time bar work ( she already has this job lined up at my friends pub) = Â£1270per month.

This means after we pay, all bills we will have Â£450 a month left over plus with my redundancy package and savings we will have about Â£17,000 in the bank.

In the scheme of things I will actually be financially better off redundant for a year than working - surely the above will illustrate adequate means?

Your advice / feddback would be greatly appreciated as I am now in a real mess at the thought of having to leave my wife behind when I return to the Uk.

Stew

gingerwolf · Post by **gingerwolf** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 2:48 am

Any one got any thoughts on whether the above money will be ok if I tell the ECO about my redundancy?

Thanks

Stew

gingerwolf · Post by **gingerwolf** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:08 am

Hi can anyone give opinion on the funds ive shown above?? If its usually an automatic rejection for unemployed people then I dont want to waste Â£1k on applying at this time - but if my savings income should be enough anyway then i will apply?

Someones comments / feedback would be greatly appreciated!!!

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Help with spouse settlement VISA

Help with spouse settlement VISA