Spouse visa -spouse job offer & proof 10yr marriage

[triniesdn]

Hello. I would like to thank everyone who posts on this forum as it has been a great source of information for me. My Trinidadian husband and I, a British national, have been married for 10 years and have lived in Trinidad since our wedding (in the UK). We are planning to move back to the UK and we will be applying online for his visa, leave to enter as a spouse, from outside the UK and we will move over there together once/if it is approved. It will be his first UK visa application. I have put together a list of supporting evidence based on other posts on this forum and would appreciate feedback and advice from the forum.

A lot of the posts I have read about proof of relationship are in relation to unmarried partners, fiancés or just-married spouses, so the list of supporting documents I’ve seen can be very extensive as people understandably want to prove the validity of a fairly new relationship. Is the evidence I have listed enough to prove a relationship/marriage of over 10 years? One issue that might come up is that I spent 3 of the last 5 years studying in the UK and travelled between Trinidad and the UK, spending as much time as possible in Trinidad. I will include records of emails, calls, photos and flights for this period. I will also provide evidence of correspondence and photos from before our wedding. As per some of the posts on this forum, I have written a supporting letter documenting our relationship. I am not entirely sure what this should contain and how personal it should be – I have gone into some detail about our relationship history in a 2-page letter. Does this sound like the letters that other people have written? Is it also worth getting supporting letters from friends confirming that we are in a valid relationship? Basically, in terms of the evidence that they have been asked for, what are the experiences of people who have applied for a spouse visa after having been together/married for over 10 years?

Another issue is that my husband actually has a provisional job offer in the UK, conditional on him being granted a visa through a spousal application. Although the employer has said they are willing to wait for however long it takes to get his visa, it’s a bit of a catch 22 situation as they can’t definitely give him the job until he has a visa (and they have already said they won’t apply for a work permit for him) but we would use the job offer as evidence for our application. Will it be alright to use the job offer letter as evidence that he is planning to work in the UK? I don’t know whether immigration will frown upon this situation. Has anyone else been in a similar situation?

I do not yet have a job offer, but we are lucky to have savings that cover the financial requirements. Most of my accounts are online accounts – from what I can tell, online statements are acceptable as proof but it may not be possible to get letters from the bank for these online accounts. Will that be an issue? We will use my parents’ house to meet the accommodation requirements, until we arrange our own accommodation. Because this won’t be our permanent housing, is it still necessary to have the local council do an inspection?

Since my husband has the opportunity for employment as soon as we get to the UK, I am trying to make sure that we have all the necessary supporting documents so we won’t end up having to appeal later on. Many thanks in advance for your help.

• Applicant Evidence
o Passport
o Birth certificate
o Driving license
o PhD certificate
o Letter from job confirming employment for last 5 years
o Pay slips from his job for last 6 months
o CV?
o Supporting letter? –Is this necessary from my husband?

• Spouse Job Evidence
o Letter of husband’s conditional job offer in the UK.

• Financial Requirements
o Online bank statements for the last 6 months from our individual and shared bank accounts in both the UK and Trinidad.
o Letter from banks confirming account holder and availability of funds (where possible)

• Relationship Evidence
o Marriage certificate and other evidence (invitations, dispensation, emails)
o Photos from throughout our relationship
o Emails, letters, Skype calls from throughout our relationship.
o Flight tickets for period I was studying in the UK and my husband was living in Trinidad.
o Acknowledgements of each other from both our MSc and PhD theses.
o Supporting letter from me of my relationship with my husband.
o Supporting letters from friends?

• Sponsor Evidence
o Passport
o Birth certificate
o Driving license
o PhD certificate
o CV?

• Accommodation Evidence
o Supporting letter from parents that we can stay rent-free until we find our own housing.
o Utility bills from parents’ house.
o Title deed from parents’ house.
o Photos of house to indicate suitability.
o Council inspection?

[batleykhan]

What is the total savings you have in your accounts in Trinidad?.

You do realize you will need £62k in savings due to your circumstances you have outlined

I suggest you read the following link for more info that you will need to comply with

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

[triniesdn]

Thanks for your reply.

I am aware of the financial requirements, and we have savings to cover this - we are lucky to have been able to save, as well as have been given some inheritance many years ago. All of our savings we have had for longer than 6 months. We will have to use the cash savings as our financial requirements as I do not yet have a job in the UK.

It is whether the proof of a 10 year marriage I have listed is enough and the odd situation about my spouse having a job offer already that I am mostly concerned about.

Thanks again for your prompt reply.

[abidabzhussain]

Thanks for your reply.

I am aware of the financial requirements, and we have savings to cover this - we are lucky to have been able to save, as well as have been given some inheritance many years ago. All of our savings we have had for longer than 6 months. We will have to use the cash savings as our financial requirements as I do not yet have a job in the UK.

It is whether the proof of a 10 year marriage I have listed is enough and the odd situation about my spouse having a job offer already that I am mostly concerned about.

Thanks again for your prompt reply.

As far as financial requirements , if you have 62k in saving...

you would not need any job offer for yourself or for the applicant....

these 62k cover the initial visa given to you for 33 months !!!!

[triniesdn]

Thanks for replying.

We are definitely fortunate in having the savings for the 33 months, although obviously we both want to find work and not use them. We both currently have jobs so the main reason for moving to the UK is for my husband's professional career. I just thought that UKBA might not like the fact that he had applied for a job before he had a visa - he clearly stated on the application form for the job that his right to work in the UK was dependent on successfully applying for a visa via his spouse, so the employer is ok to wait to see if he gets the visa. Will UKBA see this as an issue or does it not matter in terms of an applicants job in the UK once we meet the financial requirements?

Also, what experiences do people have who applied for visas from outside the UK who have been in long-term relationships. Does the list of evidence I put together sound ok? Is it also a good idea to get letters from friends who confirm they know us and our relationship?

Thanks for all your help.

[SoHopeful]

I think including details of your current accommodation... joint ownership/renting/bills to the same address?

[abidabzhussain]

mostly people on this forum are newly married and so their evidence is offcourse wedding pics and honey moon pics and stuff !!!

but as you have been together for such a long time , i would suggest add pictures covering all this time ...

add wedding pics , casual pics !!!

any documented proof that you live/lived together ( bank statements , bills , licenses , just the stuff regular couple living together have )

letters from friends and family would be great !!! any time not spent together should be properly explained ( was studying etc )

[batleykhan]

Thanks for your reply.

I am aware of the financial requirements, and we have savings to cover this - we are lucky to have been able to save, as well as have been given some inheritance many years ago. All of our savings we have had for longer than 6 months. We will have to use the cash savings as our financial requirements as I do not yet have a job in the UK.

It is whether the proof of a 10 year marriage I have listed is enough and the odd situation about my spouse having a job offer already that I am mostly concerned about.

Thanks again for your prompt reply.

The job offer is irrelevant at the application stage as you have covered it with your financial savings.

As for evidence of being married and living together, I would not worry to much, because of the fact that you have been married 10 yrs and living together all that time is in my opinion more than sufficient for you to meet the requirements. A few photos over the 10 years would be enough.

Once you are here, your hubby will have at least some 2.5 yrs to get a job, just before the second stage of his application ( when he applies for FLR)

[triniesdn]

Great! Thanks for the advice and reassurance.

We'll include the job letter, but not worry too much about it. Given that it's the sponsor's financial support that is required, is it necessary for my husband to include his pay slips for the last 6 months?

I will definitely include some evidence of our current accommodation - our rent includes all our utilities, so we don't have that much with both our names coming to our address, but I will get a letter from our landlady stating the necessary details. Statements from our joint accounts should also help with that.

Thanks again for everyone's responses - this forum is a great help - I need to go through now and work out which documents need to be originals.

[batleykhan]

Great! Thanks for the advice and reassurance.

We'll include the job letter, but not worry too much about it. Given that it's the sponsor's financial support that is required, is it necessary for my husband to include his pay slips for the last 6 months?

He can do so, but they are not really required

I will definitely include some evidence of our current accommodation - our rent includes all our utilities, so we don't have that much with both our names coming to our address, but I will get a letter from our landlady stating the necessary details. Statements from our joint accounts should also help with that.

Yes that should be OK

Thanks again for everyone's responses - this forum is a great help - I need to go through now and work out which documents need to be originals.

All documents need to be originals.Copies of anything in your case will not be accepted

[triniesdn]

Thanks.

Sorry to keep asking these basic questions, but I'm now worrying a bit with regard to the original documents. I've been reading on the forum about submission and return of original documents - it doesn't sound like UKBA return anything. But I assumed they must return our birth certificates and driving licenses - or is it that they just check these at the High Commission when we go for the biometric appointment? I guess I'm still unclear of the procedure despite reading up on the forum and the UKBA website.

I can submit originals of most things, but for example, I can't expect my parents to let us submit their original title deed from their house - can they provide a copy signed by their solicitor? Similarly, I don't want to submit our original PhD certificates if they won't be returned. Taking them to the appointment is not a problem.

I assume for digital things like emails and etickets that a print out is sufficient. I'll try and find some old boarding passes. Would these "digital" originals need to be signed to confirm their authenticity? And then signed by whom?

I was planning to print out a selection of photos on photo paper, with multiple photos on the same page. I know this may seem a stupid question, but seeing as they are digital photos, would this count as originals or should we have them printed out as "photos" by a shop?

As for online bank statements, it seems that there is some uncertainty whether these count as originals. I am not in the UK so getting them stamped by the banks will be difficult - who it seems don't do that anyway. I will see if they will write letters confirming the accounts, but I know banks are reluctant to do that, especially for online accounts.

[SoHopeful]

Any originals that you don't want to risk losing or not having returned, you need to get certified copies of. And this does not need to be tickets or anything, just ID or legal documents.

With bank statements, yes it is tough getting some banks/branches to provide the necessary signature/stamp, but it's what the UKBA require so all I plan to do is approach every branch of Lloyds until I find one who will comply. There is no way around this, and some banks refuse to sign your print outs so you need to request they print and sign the period of statements you need there and then. If they are willing to provide a letter, great but that may be even more of a challenge.

I don't think it matters if you print the pics or they are done professionally. Just ensure the quality is good if you do it yourself.

[triniesdn]

So, we have finally completed the first barrier to relocating to the UK and my husband has been granted his LTE visa, we will be moving in December… Thanks to everyone on the forum as it was such a great source of information.

Btw, we were lucky and had little problem getting statements stamped by the banks – the complication was that we were both living outside the UK (I refused to go back before my husband and be separated, and am lucky that I could do so) – but I wrote a cover letter and had my parents take the statements in and two out of the three banks we needed were willing to stamp them. The third bank we got a letter from and that seems to have been ok.

I was surprised at how much of our supporting information they returned. Bank statements (originals), photos, copies and original of letters etc, even our original marriage certificate. We paid for the return courier service between Trinidad and Jamaica (where they process the application) and that was worth it.

I don’t know if this is the right place to post this, but here is our application timeline. We had to travel inbetween submitting the online form and biometrics, and thought submitting the online form earlier would help – but allowing 60 days between the two is pointless as the online form is a complete waste of time (nothing of use asked and not enough space to answer anyway and they don’t count that as the start of the application time even though they take your money at the same time too).

Application submitted online: 29th June 2013
Biometric appointment in Trinidad/submission of docs: 6th August 2013
Docs received acknowledgement email from Kingston, Jamaica: 16th August 2013
Docs sent email from Kingston: 30th October 2013
Passport and docs received: 1st November 2013

Visa type: Spousal LTE
Visa from: Spouse

[michali]

Congratulations! I am glad your application was a success. I have found with the visit visa, all originals are returned to the applicant and it is a relief to get them all back!

I am interested in the part in which you say the online application form does not count as the date of application. I am probably misunderstanding but surely the bank statements that have to be submitted within 28 days of application can be valid from the date of the online application? Hope I am making sense! If UKBA use the date as from the tine the other forms and docs are sent in as the application date, in your case, over a month later, then any bank statements valid at time of the online application would no longer be acceptable.

[triniesdn]

Thanks!

Yes, I also don't understand the timings of the different parts of the application. The length of time that you're allowed between submitting the online form and the biometric appointment varies depending on which country you're applying from. For Trinidad it was 60 days, but it doesn't make sense to allow 60 days from the time of online application and payment, to the time you submit your documents, but as that was allowed and we needed to travel, we did it. When we went for the biometric appointment they didn't seem to know anything about the online application and the processing time started from the biometrics, not from the payment.

All our documents were dated from the time of the online application and I didn't see the 28 days requirement for bank statements for the spousal visa, but I guess we were ok. Your guess is as good as mine how it works!

[SoHopeful]

Congrats!

Thanks for the timeline - very helpful as we applied to Kingston in person on the 19th August so I am hoping we will hear within the next 10 days.

The 28 day rule is for the online application.

[triniesdn]

Thanks and good luck! We were beginning to get worried...I hope you hear soon.

[SoHopeful]

Thanks, need to put out of my misery lol.