Applying for a UK Spousal Visa...where to start & money issues

Make sure that your letter of support from your husband says that he agrees to support/raise your children, too.

I was applying for a Fiancee Visa, but my husband wrote a letter of support including the children - and we brought two letters from friends who had met the kids as well during trips to the UK, so it helped reinforce that we intended to be a "real" family unit.

The letters from friends aren't necessary (I don't think) but they certainly didn't hurt!

Let's see if I have this process right...

Begin data collection...
- 6 months bank statements for both UK and US
- 6 months pay stubs for UK (DF)
- Letter of support from DF (DH by then presumably)
- Proof of relationship
  - Pictures, print of email, phone records, letters from friends and family
- Passport (you)
- Certified copy of UK-DF passport
- Birth Certificate (both???)
- Blueprint of UK residence (if children are involved)
- Copy of UK lease (or mortgage) agreement (with you added if leased)
- 6 month budget plan (including your salary if you have a position)
- Medical records (not sure if these are necessary or not)

If you have children, the following must be included...
- Child(rens) passports
- Birth certificate(s)
- Letter of permission to move the child(ren) - MUST be certified/notarized
- School transcripts (are these necessary or just helpful?)
- Child(rens) Medical records

Once married, you apply for your spousal Visa using the online VAF4 application. You then send the printed application, along with all of the documents listed above and a check for the Visa fee's via courier, or FedEx to the consulate nearest you.

As long as your budget shows that your DF can support you, pay the bills and have a little left over... you should be ok? I'm in the data collection mode...we're getting married in March 2008, and will apply for the Visa's as soon as we have the money saved for that and the airfare.

Once the consulate receives your application, you should receive an email stating that your application has been received and is being processed. Unlike applying for a US Visa, this process is rather quick? Do you have to send a self-addressed return envelope? Once your Visa is approved, you have to get to the UK within 28 days, or you will have to apply for an extension later...for the ILR process.

This sounds correct? It's hard to keep everything in mind, especially after reading sooooo many posts about the different aspects of it. Not to mention with the holidays and planning a wedding... the whole thing can be a bit daunting.

Forgive me if this post is out of place... I've been on here for a couple of months~ish, and everyone has been soooooo helpful, especially with the fact that I have kids involved... just thought it would be nice to return some of the help if possible.

Have a great holiday!

~Michigal~

Thank you so much! I don't have kids so that's at least one chunk of stuff I don't need to worry about! As far as the birth certificate...do they need both my and my husband's original birth cert? And his "certified copy" of his passport...what does that mean? Is that different from a notarized copy? Let me know if you have any ideas! Thank you so much! Lots of good vibes your and your fiance's and kids' ways, I'm sure you'll be approved and get over there no problem!

Peedal, thank you! What exactly does a letter of support from my hubby need to say?

Thank you so much everyone! This is very encouraging and making me feel ALOT better!!!

Kawaii, as far as the living w/parents things goes...I assume we'll just have to draw up some sort of document stating that we'll be paying x amount of money per month to his parents, and have them and us sign it, then include it with our supporting documents? Would we need to get in notarized or not? Would that work do you think? As far as the budget we draw up, in the outgoing funds, should I list things like student loan & credit card payments? Or will they even know the difference if I don't list them?

My letter stating that we could live in his mum's house wasn't notarized and they accepted (and kept) it. I listed my student loans in my outgoing budget, and I listed them at the non-consolidated amounts, as when I was applying, I was smack dab in the middle of loan consolidation so only had a rough idea of the consolidated amounts. I wrote a small note saying that the payments should be lower after consolidation, but that I budgeted for the full amounts before consolidation.

FWIW, I drew up a "side budget" that broke down our rent to his mother to show how much of our rent was going towards each bill.

It was years ago now, but I think my husband's letter just said that he intended to marry me (I was applying for a Fiancee Visa) and for us to live as a family, with the kids, and that he could support all of us during the time I was unable to work until we married and I obtained my Further Leave to Remain.

My letter stating that we could live in his mum's house wasn't notarized and they accepted (and kept) it. I listed my student loans in my outgoing budget, and I listed them at the non-consolidated amounts, as when I was applying, I was smack dab in the middle of loan consolidation so only had a rough idea of the consolidated amounts. I wrote a small note saying that the payments should be lower after consolidation, but that I budgeted for the full amounts before consolidation.

FWIW, I drew up a "side budget" that broke down our rent to his mother to show how much of our rent was going towards each bill.

Thank you! Did you list things like credit card payments? Or would they even know the difference?

Yes, I listed his credit card payments, and my student loan payments. I don't know if they'd know the difference, but if they're checking your budget against your bank statements, they may wonder what certain outages are that you haven't budgeted for.