No signature on main (online) spouse visa form ?

[olosh]

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere. We will be submitting my wife's spouse visa application soon with the priority service. She will be paying the main fee in Dhaka. I will be sending the supporting documents and Annex form to Sheffield.

So when and how do we pay the NHS surcharge ? Will my wife pay it in Dhaka ?
Or will the option come up when we submit the main online form ? Or do we just pay it and get a reference number to include with the documents being sent to Sheffield ? or what ? Thanks

[smarter1]

When you will fill in and submit the main application form, there will be a link to pay IHS in your account. Without paying IHS, you won't get an appointment to submit your documents.

[olosh]

OK many thanks. We have already filled the form but not submitted yet. Previously when applying for visit visa we never saw that link so I was not sure.

[olosh]

Hi. Sorry again if this has been covered elsewhere.

We are just about to submit application for my Bangladeshi wife's spouse visa by priority service.

As UK spouse sponsoring her I will be sending all the supporting docs to Sheffield. But does my own passport and our daughters UK passport need to be original, certified copy or just plain photocopy ?

Also we were advised that my wife should keep her TB certificate with her in Bangladesh ? was this correct ?

[smarter1]

Previously when applying for visit visa we never saw that link so I was not sure.

Visitors are not paying IHS.

[olosh]

This was supposed to be £500 but they have actually taken £627 !! On the site when I paid it showed in US$ and I didn't do the conversion at the time. I am scared to complain too much in case it causes a problem with the application. Can anyone advise me ?

[olosh]

For spouse visa certain documents like title deeds of house and sponsors passport do they have to be notarised or will photocopy do ? Our adviser has said not to send original passport and we are nervous to send original deeds for obvious reasons. Thanks.

[Casa]

Legally certified.

[olosh]

Thanks. Can a priest or doctor certify them or does it have to be a solicitor ? Our immigration adviser seems to think they can just look up the passports so it is not an issue but I do not want to take any risks

[Casa]

The Post Office will certify documents for a reasonable fee.

[CR001]

This was supposed to be £500 but they have actually taken £627 !! On the site when I paid it showed in US$ and I didn't do the conversion at the time. I am scared to complain too much in case it causes a problem with the application. Can anyone advise me ?

The IHS fee for applications outside the UK is £600 and NOT £500. The £27 would be exchange rate fluctuations.

[olosh]

During the process of submitting the online form there was an option to 'sign' the form by pressing the sign button, which was duly pressed.

When my wife went to pay her fee and have her biometrics done at the VFS office she took a *physically* signed copy of the form with her, but they only wanted the first page and did not take the physically pen-and-ink signed page.

However, at some stage she got an email saying she *must* submit a signed copy of the form, and she is worried about it. I am guessing this was just outdated information. But now she is panicking and asking me to go to the post office to try and recall the parcel of supporting docs (!!!) in order to add a physically signed copy which she wants to send my by DHL.

I have sent a plain printout of the form to Sheffield with all the supporting docs, as per the guidance received.

Can anyone help put our minds at rest about this point ?

Thanks

[pixel5980]

The applicant should sign the printed online application.

[olosh]

Thanks. She pressed the sign button during the online application, and she attempted to give the physically signed printout copy to VFS when she went for fee and biometrics, but they didn't want it. They said just the front page.

[pixel5980]

They just scan the barcode

[olosh]

I guess so.

The problem is that the guidance email she received said take a *signed* copy of the form to VFS. But the updated info on VFS website said send everything to Sheffield.

They refused to take the signed copy at VFS, so she is panicking because she thinks it should have therefore been sent to Sheffield.

[smarter1]

This is normal, in many countries they only scan the bar code on the first page and the whole form is then sent to UKVI electronically. It does not harm to include the physically signed sheet with the bundle when posting it to UKVI.

[olosh]

Many thanks. My wife is anxious about it and has insisted on sending me the signed page by DHL, but my feeling was because we have quite logically followed the (misleading) guidance this must be a common scenario, and if it was a big issue the guidance would have been be corrected by now.

We have already sent the main bundle of supporting docs, so I am wondering if sending the signed form *afterwards* might possibly do more harm than good, if it may cause delay and confusion ?

[olosh]

If anyone is interested, I emailed them (at the cost of £5 ish, grrrr) and they stated categorically that a physical signature is NOT required on the main form copy.