UK Spousal Visa final documentation checklist

Hi all,

Based on ksand24's excellent advice, I am posting the list of documents that my wife (US citizen) and I (UK citizen) have prepared for her UK spousal visa application. I would be grateful if you could please take a look and let us know if we are missing anything. Once again, thanks to everyone on this forum for your help!

1. Forms:
- Contents page
- Printed Visa4UK online application
- Form VAF4a Appendix 2
- Stamped biometrics confirmation sheet
- Priority service receipt
- IHS payment receipt
- Return shipping label with envelope

2. Sponsor's (my) documents:
- Photocopy of passport photo page (does this need to be certified?)
- 12 full months of original payslips. (My last payslip was dated February 23, 2018 so this should still be within 28 days of the online application date if we apply tonight. I am applying under Financial Category B as I have been working with my UK employer since October 2017, i.e. less than 6 months, and was working in the US prior to this).
- 12 full months of bank statements
- Current employer’s contract
- Letter from previous employer confirming the nature of my employment in the US prior to October 2017 (I am aware this might not be necessary, but I wanted to make sure everything is explained clearly to the Entry Clearance Officer).
- Supporting cover letter
- Sponsorship undertaking form (found here: http://lifelongvagabonds.com/UK-sponsorship-form.pdf)

3. Applicant's (wife's) documents:
- Cover letter
- Original passport and previous passport
- Two UK-sized passport photos

4. Proof of relationship
- Original marriage certificate
- Skype log
- Text messages
- E-mails
- Photos together
- Printouts of airline etickets/itineraries

5. Evidence of accommodation
- Printed tenancy agreement
- Signed letter from landlord confirming that my wife has permission to live at the property with me

Hey, glad you posted .

Just going to rearrange them a little into the correct sections and order for the application:

1. Applicant's Documents
- Priority service receipt... must go on the top
- Return shipping label (no envelope needed)
- Contents page
- Printed Visa4UK online application
- Form VAF4a Appendix 2
- Stamped biometrics confirmation sheet
- IHS payment receipt
- Current US passport
- All previous passports
- 1 passport photo

2. Sponsor's (my) documents:
- Photocopy of passport photo page (can be certified but doesn't have to be)
- Supporting cover letter (stating how you meet each requirement of the visa and a short history of the relationship)

3. Financial Documents
Mandatory
- 12 full months of original payslips showing a total of £18,600 before tax.
- 12 full months of bank statements showing the deposit of every single payslip
- UK employer letter stating ALL of the following:
i) current employment and salary
ii) length of employment
iii) length of time earning current salary
iv) type of employment
Optional but recommended:
- Current employer’s contract

4. Evidence of accommodation
- Printed tenancy agreement
- Signed letter from landlord confirming that my wife has permission to live at the property with me

5. Proof of relationship
- Original marriage certificate
- 2 photos of you together
- Printouts of airline etickets/itineraries
- Skype log (no more than 2 pages, no message content)
- Text messages (no more than 2 pages, no message content)
- E-mails (no more than 2 pages of inbox, no email content)

Thanks so much!

This might be a silly question, but how do I provide text message logs without showing message content? Do I have to blur out the content of the messages manually? I was wondering if you had any tips on quick ways to save/screenshot text message logs, because right now I am just scrolling up and taking screenshots on my phone and it is taking forever!

Thanks again

Thanks so much!

This might be a silly question, but how do I provide text message logs without showing message content? Do I have to blur out the content of the messages manually?

It's probably easiest to screenshot the message, then paste it into Word and crop out the actual content, so you're just left with the name/number, date and time of the message.

You should be able to get 50-60 messages on just a couple of pages, just in a list of dates/times/names/numbers.

I was wondering if you had any tips on quick ways to save/screenshot text message logs, because right now I am just scrolling up and taking screenshots on my phone and it is taking forever!

Ah, screenshots is pretty much what I was going to suggest.

What phone/app are you using for the texts? I wonder if there's a way to download all your messages to a computer and then it might be easier to select them.

Thanks! I am using an iPhone. 99% my messages with my wife have been through iMessage. I think I found an app that lets you export all the messages to a computer so fingers crossed it works.

Another question I had was regarding photocopies. I've heard of some people photocopying their entire application and sending the photocopied documents along with the originals to Sheffield. This is so that Sheffield will send back the original documents. To be honest, the only original document I want back (apart from my wife's passports of course) is our marriage certificate. Will it be acceptable if I just include a photocopy of my marriage certificate in my stack of papers?

Finally, is there a guide or any advice on how we should actually arrange our documents? From what I understand, I wasn't planning on using any staples etc. All I was going to do was stack the documents in the order of the contents page and place them inside an envelope. Does this sound correct?

Thanks again!

Thanks! I am using an iPhone. 99% my messages with my wife have been through iMessage. I think I found an app that lets you export all the messages to a computer so fingers crossed it works.

Cool - I hoped there might be something .

Another question I had was regarding photocopies. I've heard of some people photocopying their entire application and sending the photocopied documents along with the originals to Sheffield. This is so that Sheffield will send back the original documents. To be honest, the only original document I want back (apart from my wife's passports of course) is our marriage certificate. Will it be acceptable if I just include a photocopy of my marriage certificate in my stack of papers?

For sending to Sheffield, you only need to include copies of original documents you wish to be returned to you. I would not recommend copying everything.

However, it could be useful to make a copy of the application and documents for your own records - that way, you can refer to the application when you are applying for the next visa in 2.5 years, and also if you’re worried you didn’t include something you can always look back at your copies to check.

Finally, is there a guide or any advice on how we should actually arrange our documents? From what I understand, I wasn't planning on using any staples etc. All I was going to do was stack the documents in the order of the contents page and place them inside an envelope. Does this sound correct?

Sounds good . It’s easiest for UKVI if your documents are easily accessible and aren’t stapled/in folders/in binders etc.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

2. Sponsor's (my) documents:
- Photocopy of passport photo page (can be certified but doesn't have to be)
- Supporting cover letter (stating how you meet each requirement of the visa and a short history of the relationship)

Does the sponsor need to include their own passport sized photographs too?

Does the sponsor need to include their own passport sized photographs too?

Nope . If you did, I would have listed it there .

It’s debatable whether the applicant even needs to include one either, since it’s not used for anything and is often sent back to them, but it’s still in the documents list, so we say to include it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cool - I hoped there might be something .

In case anyone is wondering how to do this on a Mac, I figured it out! Firstly, I created a backup of my iPhone using iTunes. Secondly, I downloaded an app called iExplorer. This allows you to extract all the messages from an iPhone backup. You can export all the messages as a PDF, however, because I my wife and I had sent around 40,000 messages to each other, I screen-shotted a selection of messages from each month of our relationship.

In case anyone is wondering how to do this on a Mac, I figured it out! Firstly, I created a backup of my iPhone using iTunes. Secondly, I downloaded an app called iExplorer. This allows you to extract all the messages from an iPhone backup. You can export all the messages as a PDF, however, because I my wife and I had sent around 40,000 messages to each other, I screen-shotted a selection of messages from each month of our relationship.

That’s good to know .

How long a relationship are you proving?

You generally want to have about 50-60 messages in total, so say it’s been 6 months, you might screenshot 2 per week, but for a 2-year relationship you might do 2 or 3 per month, and for a 5-year relationship you’d only need 1 per month.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In case anyone is wondering how to do this on a Mac, I figured it out! Firstly, I created a backup of my iPhone using iTunes. Secondly, I downloaded an app called iExplorer. This allows you to extract all the messages from an iPhone backup. You can export all the messages as a PDF, however, because I my wife and I had sent around 40,000 messages to each other, I screen-shotted a selection of messages from each month of our relationship.

That’s good to know .

How long a relationship are you proving?

You generally want to have about 50-60 messages in total, so say it’s been 6 months, you might screenshot 2 per week, but for a 2-year relationship you might do 2 or 3 per month, and for a 5-year relationship you’d only need 1 per month.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We met in December 2015 in the US and have communicated through text message since then. I provided one screenshot of messages per month up until this month (so 28 screenshots with around 4 messages per screenshot).

We have also been long distance since October 2017 (since I moved back to the U.K.) so I provided Skype logs of our conversations from October 2017 to February 2018.

We have also included a few photos of us including our wedding day.

Do you think this sounds like it's enough?

We met in December 2015 in the US and have communicated through text message since then. I provided one screenshot of messages per month up until this month (so 28 screenshots with around 4 messages per screenshot).

I’d go with more often than that.

For 2 years of communication, I would go with 1 screenshot with 1 message on it for every 2 weeks, giving 52 screenshots with 52 messages in total.

We have also been long distance since October 2017 (since I moved back to the U.K.) so I provided Skype logs of our conversations from October 2017 to February 2018.

That’s fine - just the same thing as with the messages. No conversation content, just a list of screenshots of date/time only. For 5 months of communication, I would go with 2 messages per week, giving about 40 or so in total.

We have also included a few photos of us including our wedding day.

Do you think this sounds like it's enough?

That’s too much for the photos.

You only need 2 photos maximum:
- 1 from earlier in the relationship
- 1 from the wedding

The photos are literally only to prove you have met at least once in person. They just need to see 1 photo to tick the box to say you meet that requirement.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk