pce950 wrote:Hi
I'm about to apply for my wife's visa soon and I'm getting all documents ready. I would really appreciate advice on how to best make the file and documents presentable, in order etc in order to make the ECO's life easier when assessing the application?
I've got the following documents ready:
1. Employer letter.
2. My 6 months bank statements and 6 months payslips.
3.Wife's TB certificate, English test a1 certificate.
4.House report
5. Marriage certificate, with English translation (nikah naama)
6. Photos of marriage and time spent together.
7.WhatsApp messages between my wife and I, a print out of these covering a year. I don't have any calling cards, almost all of our correspondence is via whatsapp.
I just have a few questions and would really appreciate advice:
1. What sort of order shall I put these in to make things easier? Shall I do a title page/index page and number all the documents so they follow a logical order.
My wife and I sent the documents in the following order with a separator "title" sheet in between. This was the order provided by the VAC in St Petersburg Russia on the information sheet we were given after biometrics. We stated this order in both of our covering letters which were on top of the pile immediately underneath the priority payment receipt
1) Application form and appendix 2
2) English Language evidence
3) TB Certificate and criminal record check certificate
4) Relationship Evidence
5) Financial support documents
6) Accommodation documents
After biometrics we received the confirmation email from Sheffield visa section and they stated the folllowing
"If you have made a Settlement application (except for applications lodged in USA and Canada): you must ensure that your UK sponsor has sent all relevant supporting documentation to the visa section in Sheffield. The documents should be arranged in this order: application form and relevant Appendix* (See below); English language evidence; relationship documents; maintenance documents; accommodation documents. If documents are not received a decision will be taken on the basis on the information that has been provided."
Do I put them in plastic wallets, page by page? Shall I split it into sections and before each section write for example : "WhatsApp message log", "the tb test certificate" etc etc? Almost like a thesis etc?
They should not be in ring binders or plastic wallets. They don't like this anymore. Just a separator sheet. We tied our pile of originals and copies in string
2. Am I allowed to highlight my wage going in in my statements with a highlighter pen and do the same on my wage slips?
Many people do this on the bank statement. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer. I did not do this and I have a lot of company transactions on my account beside my salary because my company expense account also runs on my personal account. Maybe that was confusing to the ECO but I did not want to spoil the documents and I have this weekend received the "decision made correspondence." I just ensured that it stated in my company letter the date on which I was paid. Would not bother on the wage slips since these need to be original or otherwise signed by company official. Mine were signed by company HR signatory
3. Regarding whatsapp messages, will these suffice? Shall I print off an entire conversation history over a year between us two and translate anything in urdu into English? We have been conversing both in English and Urdu via whatsapp, is this ok?
I sent in a selection of our email correspondence covering very first and initial mails and then just the stuff around our meetings. Probably about 30 or so mails spanning 5 months. We had over 300 emails and clearly this was overkill. Also, while you want to be transparent, honest and demonstrate a loving subsisting relationship, perhaps some things are just for a man and his wife lol We use Viber not WhatsApp and it's much more difficult to get the history. I did phone screen dumps into word of the call records for seven months. At three times per week it was considerable. This was explained in the covering letter that our communication changed from email to calling.
I previously questioned on another users thread sending communication in urdu and got a reply that they have case workers who understand urdu. Fair enough, but I bet they have far more who understand only English. Please don't be offended, that's absolutely not my point. I say that purely from the point of view that you want your application to be processed as quickly as possible. Well, if you're waiting for the udru fluent case workers to translate your messages, that isn't very likely to happen quickly is it? If you want your decision as quickly as possible, your one defining objective should be clarity and ability for your application to be assessed by every case worker/ECO available. Since you only need a selection, say one or two a week over a several months, why not choose the English ones 
Guys, would appreciate any advice/help on how to make the supporting documents simple/presentable for the eco?
Many thanks
