Fiance Visa (US to UK, stay in UK)

Hello,

I am hoping some of you lovely and knowledgable folks can help me. I am applying for the Visa permitting me to join my UKC partner in the UK and marry. This has been referred to as a VAF4a but I understand the online version has no official title.

My question is whether I am supposed to send my documents to Sheffield (where I believe they need to go) or New York (where I have been advised by a source I am not very confident in they should go.)

Can anyone tell me if applications like this are actually settlement and thus need to go to Sheffield?  Has anyone had apps returned from New York without being consodered or conversely approved since the change in 2013?

All input is much appreciated in advance.

Mich

The application must go to Sheffield. Do not send it to NY.

Definitely Sheffield.  One member of this forum sent hers to New York earlier this year and it took them almost a month to return it to her with instructions to send it to Sheffield.

Also, don't forget to print out and send Appendix 2.  It is a mandatory addition to the online application.  Good luck!

Thank you Greeta & Beatlemania!

This was my strong inclination. I really truly appreciate it.

I will keep the forum posted on my times etc. to give back some of the help I have received!

My best,
M

Hello I just received my shiny fiance visa today!    I might be some help!

I had no help..no lawyers and I didn't even find out about forums until after I sent in all my documents..but I wish I had!

What ever I did seemed to be right. It only took 4 working days for my decision to be made. It was surprisingly fast. 

the documents that I have sent where pretty organized kind of like a college presentation.


Folder one-
- Priority service receipt
-Bio metrics
-Online Application
-VAF4A
-Appendix 2
-Passport photos

Intervening Devotion


Story of how we met

-Picture collage of my fiance and I
(different background, different settings)
-Pictures with friends and family
-Screen shot and Still from a youtube video we had made of ourselves being cute dated last year.
-Letters of approval from co-workers & friends

Forms of communication
-One page collage of screen shots from facetiming
-3 Pages of screen shots of text messages with different time stamps on them

The Sweet Proposal
-Detailed story of the proposal
Collage of pictures from the proposal & the ring
-Flights & Hotel Bookings
-Valentine Cards
-Love letters

Wedding Plans
- Cover Letter Detailing Plans with Pictures
- Wedding invitation
- Wedding Registry


Table of contents
{Applicant and Sponsor)

Applicant
 Cover Picture
stating name, dob, nationality & type of application
Followed by a introduction letter
- Passport
- Original Birth certificate

Work & Employbilty
- Letter from current employer
- Payroll for the whole year
- Last three months payslips
- Recommodation letter
- Resume

Seperate folder - Bank Statements

Sponsor
 Cover Picture
Stating name, dob, nationality & type of sponsorship
-Letter of introduction
-Personal story of how we met & fell in love
- Passport
- Birth Certificate

Fitting the financial requirment

-Cover letter of Calculating the financial requirement

- Wrote down which category he's in (Category A)
 how the financial requirments are met
did the calculations for them

(Total gross income from employment held throughout the 6 month period, divided by 6)
multiplied by 12 = Income from non-salaried employment that can be counted towards the
financial requirement.

-Letter from fincancial director or the company who authoriesd pay slips stating they are autenthic
-Letter from Operations manager confirming his employment
- 6 months worth of orginal payslips
-Bank statements from the bank with stamp

Adequte Accomodation

-Organize pictures of the house
-Pictures of the house front and back
-Pictures of each room detailing each one
Letter of invitation from Sponsor
Letter of invitation from Sponsors elderly mother
-Original Deeds
-Mortage statements confirming house is paid for
-Utility & Phone Bills

You don't have to do it the same way I did. I just made it like a school project/ presentation

I was a Teacher for 3 years it was what I was comfortable with.

Hence, I put the interventing devotion in the beginning because I wanted to soften up the ECO.

Good Luck to you!! its worth going the extra mile!

You put way too much in your application. You don't need details of the proposal, any of your employment information, letters of approval from family and friends, your bank statements, birth certificates, letters or cards. The ECO doesn't need to be 'softened up' and doesn't need extraneous information as it just makes their job harder when they have to sort through all of this to find what is required. You also shouldn't organize the information into folders. Just put it all together and clip it or rubber band it.

Geeta's right that is was far too much extraneous stuff.
Sweet, though.
I find it best to think about it this way - getting the visa is not like hoping for an A+ on a test, because that A+ doesn't exist - it's a pass/fail exam. You either a. meet the criteria or b. do not meet the criteria. Any extra work over the criteria is completely unnecessary.
It's not as though they are sitting there with, say, 50 visas to give out a month, and hemming and hawing about who deserves them and who doesn't. It really is simply a case of meeting EVERY criteria and leaving it at that. They don't care (and are not allowed to care) if you've met his family, had a romantic engagement, writen love letters back and forth, had many photos taken together.
You can get fiancé and spousal visas for arranged marriages, so once you view the process through those eyes, you can see how the IO would have put the majority of your evidence to one side.
HOWEVER, I hope you photocopied it all or at least got it all back because you will love to look back on this stuff in later years and it's a one in a lifetime chance to collate your relationship!
Glad you got your visa and welcome to Britain!

Yes, as geeta said, you had way, way too much in your application and I would not advise anyone else to send this amount of paperwork.

The application is about ticking boxes and showing hard facts. If you tick the boxes and meet the requirements, you get the visa - no emotions are involved in the decision. They just need to know:

- does your fiance meet the financial requirement?
- do you have suitable accommodation in the UK?
- do you have plans to marry in the UK (a provisional date booked, for example)?
- have you been in regular communication while apart? (i.e. your relationship is not a sham or forced)

You did not need to include ANY of the following:

- VAFA (it is the same as the online application and is not accepted in the US)
-Picture collage of my fiance and I (only 1 or 2 photos of just you two is needed)
-Pictures with friends and family (they just need a picture of you and your fiance to show you have met in person)
-Screen shot and Still from a youtube video we had made of ourselves being cute dated last year. (they don't care about this)
-Letters of approval from co-workers & friends (these cannot be considered for the visa so will not be looked at)
-One page collage of screen shots from facetiming (not required - just a list of dates of calls is needed)
-3 Pages of screen shots of text messages with different time stamps on them (not required - no actual message content should be sent)
-Detailed story of the proposal (they don't care about this)
Collage of pictures from the proposal & the ring (they don't care about this)
-Flights & Hotel Bookings (only boarding passes from trips to see each other during your relationship are needed)
-Valentine Cards (only needed to show regular communication during the relationship)
-Love letters (only needed to show regular communication during the relationship)
- Cover Letter Detailing Plans with Pictures (just need an email from the church/registry office showing possible ceremony dates)
- Wedding invitation (not required but can be included)
- Wedding Registry (not required)

Applicant
 Cover Picture
stating name, dob, nationality & type of application (most of this information is on your passport - no need to state it again)
- Letter of introduction (not required - only the sponsor needs to write a letter)
- Original Birth certificate (not required - your passport is proof of ID)
- Letter from current employer (they are not allowed to consider your employment)
- Payroll for the whole year (they are not allowed to consider your employment)
- Last three months payslips (you can include these but they will have no bearing on the application decision)
- Recommodation letter (they are not allowed to consider your employment)
- Resume (they are not allowed to consider your employment prospects)
Seperate folder - Bank Statements (only last 3 months, to correspond with the payslips, but again, not really required)

Sponsor
 Cover Picture
Stating name, dob, nationality & type of sponsorship (passport covers this)
-Personal story of how we met & fell in love (this goes in his sponsor letter - but should only be a sentence or two long)
- Birth Certificate (not required as you are sending his passport)

Fitting the financial requirment

-Cover letter of Calculating the financial requirement (this is all done on Appendix 2 - no need to do it again)

- Wrote down which category he's in (Category A) (already in Appendix 2)
 how the financial requirments are met (already in Appendix 2)
did the calculations for them (already in Appendix 2)


Adequte Accomodation

-Organize pictures of the house (not required)
-Pictures of the house front and back (not required)
-Pictures of each room detailing each one (not required)
Letter of invitation from Sponsor (not required)
-Utility & Phone Bills (not required)

You don't have to do it the same way I did. I just made it like a school project/ presentation

No need to do this - so please don't do it the same way.

Sending so much stuff and putting it in folders makes things complicated for UKVI in Sheffield because they have to go through it all, take everything out of folders and take out all of the unnecessary documents before it starts processing.

Chances are the person who decided your visa did not even see the majority of what you sent.

Hence, I put the interventing devotion in the beginning because I wanted to soften up the ECO.

You didn't even need to show intervening devotion because, a) that's only if you have been apart after the wedding and b) you just need to show that you visit/talk to each other regularly.

Good Luck to you!! its worth going the extra mile!

To be honest, it probably isn't. Your visa would have been approved anyway without all of the extra stuff.

All you needed to send was the following:

Applicant
- Simple cover letter stating visa applied for and a list of documents you are including. No personal information unless you have criminal convictions or a bad UK immigration history to explain.
- Online Application
- Appendix 2
- Passport
- Passport photos
- Priority service receipt
- Biometrics confirmation
- If you want, you can include a couple of payslips/bank statements to show you are employed in the US

Sponsor
- Letter of confirmation (as per this sample: http://www.londonelegance.com/transpondia/sites/default/files/spousal.pdf)
- Passport

Financial Requirement
- Letter from Operations manager confirming his employment
- 6 months worth of his original payslips
- 6 months of his original bank statements
- Job contract and P60

Accomodation
- Letter of invitation from Sponsors elderly mother
- Original Deed/Land Registry document
- Mortage statements confirming house is paid for

Evidence of plans to marry
- Email correspondence from church/registry office about possible wedding dates/provisional booking

Evidence of relationship
- 1 or 2 photos of just you and your fiance to show you have met
- boarding passes from trips to see each other
- a couple of cards/letters you might have sent each other while apart
- 1-2 pages of screenshots your email inbox/Skype call log showing a selection list of call dates/email dates and subjects over the course of your relationship (no actual email content should be included)

We have actually heard stories from people who have knowledge of how things go down in visa processing centres that ECOs like to have a bit of fun at the expense of people who send them a load of personal details. With the amount of oversharing that goes on reguarly on the Internet these days, perhaps people don't mind this, but no one should feel as though they have to bare their souls to strangers in order to get a visa. Just make sure you've got all the boxes ticked, and you'll be fine.

Im in the exact same process. Your application MUST go to Sheffield. If you have not filled out your application process online yet, this might help you very soon. When I filled mine out (and I believe it was towards the end... near payment) where you had to choose from a drop down list where your app was going.... the only option for me was New York. I selected this as it was the only option and still sent it to Sheffield. Mine was received and processed.

Hope that made sense and hope it helped I spent about an hour freaking out about that so don't worry if you come across that too.

Im in the exact same process. Your application MUST go to Sheffield. If you have not filled out your application process online yet, this might help you very soon. When I filled mine out (and I believe it was towards the end... near payment) where you had to choose from a drop down list where your app was going.... the only option for me was New York. I selected this as it was the only option and still sent it to Sheffield. Mine was received and processed.

Hope that made sense and hope it helped I spent about an hour freaking out about that so don't worry if you come across that too.

Yeah, they have only New York because the official administration hub for visa applications made in the US is New York.

Sheffield is a special processing location for only settlement visas, while all other visas are still processed in New York, and they 'forget' to acknowledge this in the application processed (which caused some issues and confusion earlier this year when a few people accidentally sent their applications to NYC).

Same goes with purchasing the settlement priority processing on the VFS site - you are sending the application to Sheffield, but the only location option is New York.