John and I met almost 4 years ago on Instagram in 2013. After a few months of Skype calls and video chats he decided to visit me in the UK in May of 2014 for 5 weeks and that was the beginning of our long distance relationship. Since then, we would take turns to visit one another for a period of 1 to 2 months whilst also travelling to other countries together. On a trip to the Philippines in August 2015, he proposed to me and on my next trip to America, we got married in a small chapel with only my mum and dad, who flew over from London, and his immediate family. After that we visited each other a few more times and went on a few more holidays together until we decided it was time for us to move together for good. I had been doing temporary work during this whole period to allow for such long visits but when we found out I had to have a job with an £18,600 annual salary for at least 6 months, I knew I had to get a permanent job so my agency found me a job that paid me weekly for the first 4 months and then put me on a contract after that. When I had reached the 6 month threshold, we wasted no time to apply for the settlement visa.
First, he filled out his online application, paid and booked his biometric appointment. Little did we know that once the biometric had been made we only had 5 days to send off our application AND all the supporting documents. John researched in detail exactly which documents we had to send because there were A LOT and they really do not tell you anything on the government website. We had about 3 days until his appointment so like a machine, I gathered everything I needed to gather in those 3 days and as soon as John had his appointment, he sent his documents via express delivery to me in the UK along with his application, passport, biometric appointment confirmation, passport photo etc... and I received it after 2 days (which was incredibly expensive to send) and as soon as I received his parcel, I put all of my stuff together and sent it to the Sheffield office on Friday the 3rd of Feb. We received an email saying it was received on Monday the 6th of Feb and on Monday the 13th of Feb, we received an email asking John to provide a pre paid tracking number to send his stuff back to him cause I had only provided a pre paid envelope to send back to myself but they had to send the passport and answer to his application back to him in the US. John provided the information straight away and the next day, 14th of Feb, we received an email station a decision had been made and our application was sent back to us. Anxiously waiting, John finally received the application on the 16th of Feb with a visa inside his passport!! It was amazing and so unexpected, especially because we had such little time to gather what seemed like a 2 inch stack of documents.
So here are some tips to guarantee your success.
1. Make sure you (to the sponsor) or your sponsor (to the applicant) has earned the correct amount before applying. Don't even bother if this isn't the case because you will have wasted your money. Even if it means working for a little longer, it's worth it in the end. You must have earned a minimum of £18,600 in the last 6 months to even qualify.
2. Provide 6 months worth of bank statements and payslips so that they don't need to ask you for more documentation. I read a lot of forums where people have provided 3 months and I'm like why??? If they ask for 6 then provide 6!!!
3. Be organised!!! We provided an index (which I will add below) of all the documents we included with the application. We organised the papers in the order of the index and we labelled each specific section with sticky note labels so that whoever was going through it could access each section quickly and easily.
4. There is no such thing as not enough proof when proving your relationship is real! It doesn't matter if you have to send your most personal of conversations on Skype as long as it means being together! We provided a booklet that I made on Microsoft Word of pictures of our entire relationship. I dated them and wrote little annotations about where we were when we took this picture. We provided wedding photos, letters we had sent back and fourth, flight itineraries, we chat, skype and facebook logs, valentines and birthday cards, literally anything we had, we sent to them!
5. Annotations and note cards.. If we felt as though there was something we needed to explain, we would add a little annotation next to the document or added a note card that we used a safety clip to stick on with.
6. Do not lie!! Be as honest as possible and if you feel as though being honest might cause your application to be rejected, then wait a little before you apply so that you can rectify whatever it was you were feeling unsure about.
7. Don't panic!!!! As long as you have all the information that they require, then you will be fine and there is no way they can reject you.
8. Be consistent, make sure your payslips match your bank account incomings. Make sure your employment letter states the role on your employment contract.
10. Write cover letters. Each of us wrote a cover letter explaining our relationship and why we were doing the application, I feel as though this helps the person checking over get a feel of the kind of relationship you're in.
Now I'll add all the documents we provided and I'll highlight which ones are DEFINITE, which ones HELPED A LOT and which ones we did JUST IN CASE.
Section A: Applicant
I. Applicant Cover Letter DEFINITE
II. Printed Online VAF4A Application and 2 UK standard Passport PhotosDEFINITE
III. Appendix 2 formDEFINITE
IV. Stamped Biometric Appointment ConfirmationDEFINITE
V. Current and Previous Passport with copy of Previous PassportDEFINITE
VI. Proof of Current Employment and Active Bank Account
a. Letters of Current Employment
b. Bank Account Confirmation
VII. Email confirmation of payments
Section B: Sponsor
I. Sponsor’s Letter of Confirmation of RelationshipDEFINITE
II. SU07/12 FormDEFINITE
III. British Passport with copyDEFINITE
IV. Original Baptismal Certificate with copy
V. Original Counterpart Driving License with copy
VI. Evidence of Meeting the Financial Requirement
a. Letters of Employment from XYZ Company DEFINITE
b. 9 months (MAY 2016 – JAN 2017) of stamped, signed Payslips with Letter of AuthenticityDEFINITE
c. 8 months (JUN 2016 – JAN 2017) of Bank Statements printed by bank on official bank stationaryDEFINITE
d. Bank Balance Certificate DEFINITE
e. Contract of Permanent Employment for XXX provided by XYZ CompanyHelped a Lot
f. HMRC Form P60DEFINITE
VII. Evidence of Accommodation
a. Letter of permission from Accommodation owners and Details of AccommodationDEFINITE
b. Photographs of AccommodationHelped a lot
c. Mortgage StatementAt Least 2 of the below are definite
d. Utility Bills
e. Council Tax Statement
f. Home Insurance Statement
Section C: Applicant – Sponsor Relationship
I. Certified Copy of Marriage LicenseDEFINITE (usually you have to provide the original but our recorder of deeds doesn't allow you to have the original so this is the next best thing which is also accepted
II. Family Testimonial/ Relationship Approval LettersHelped a lot
III. Photos from Facebook & Overviews of Instagram AccountsAll of the below helped A LOT, we advise trying to include as much of this as possible!
IV. Skype & WeChat Logs from various time periods
V. Exchanged Letters, Cards, and Notes
VI. Flight Itineraries, Boarding Passes, and Emailed Flight Confirmations
VII. Wedding Photos and Other Assorted Photos with Explanations
So I really hope this helped and I'm happy to help anyone who has any questions or doubts about anything. I'm not anyone official, but I've been through it and I feel like that is helpful in itself
