Got into Charlotte airport 02 Nov, waited over an hour in line and was greeted by my worst nightmare, this customs woman was having a very bad day, obviously queen bee before the new fingerprint system had been introduced and thus she was pretty p*ssed at having a minion instruct her on how to use it, snapped at him until he stormed off and then told me " I can send you back you know!" when I had missed filling in part of my green landing form.
Told her we were planning to marry (my now husband came through the non nationals line with me in and out of each airport's customs with no probs) and she was too annoyed to even notice our response.
Finally escaped and and drove to the courthouse, struggled through security, realised we'd forgot the marriage license so ran benny hill style up the road, filled out the forms, rushed back with passers by laughing at me struggling in my heels, one minute to spare got back through security with my now brother in law and mother in law waiting.
"I do " "I do" had a kiss, took a sweaty picture and then ran back to the license place and had our marriage certificate certified.
Drive to biometrics appointment 3 minutes late but they were very friendly and the place was nigh on deserted so complted biometrics.
Rush to the nearest UPS slam everything into an envelope (so glad to see the back of that thing!) and had it sent to A. Briggs (a God I tell you!) before 5.00 PM.
Exactly 48 hours later recieved an email saying visa was issued, next morning the visa was on the doorstep by 11am!
It's just a little sticker but good god I love it!
Got back into the UK yesterday (17th Nov), customs guy asked how long it took for my husband to get his visa and we told him long enough!
Sent in as follows.......
LIST OF CONTENTS
SECTION A
signed in BLUE ink online application and 2 passport pics
completed biometrics
copy of app's criminal record (just decided to let them see it for themselves and save time if they had any questions that may delay it)
Current travel plans and date of return flights (already booked which is not ideal but we put a note at the very front of the ap apologising and a brief explanation as to why we had to rush, my ex husband having limited time off work to care for my two children who were in his care and my now husband having no real abode in the us after spending so long in the uk)
SECTION B - PROOF OF IDENTITY
AP'S PASSPORT
CERTIFIED COPY OF SPONSOR'S PASSPORT
APP'S LONG BIRTH CERTIFICATE
SPONSOR'S LONG BIRTH CERTIFICATE
CERTIFIED MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE OF SPONSOR AND APP
LONG BIRTH CERTIFICATE OF APP AND SPONSOR'S DAUGHTER
CERTIFIED COPY OF OF SPONSOR'S MARRIAGE CERTICATE TO EX HUSBAND SHOWING CHANGE OF SURNAME
SPONSOR'S CERTIFIED DIVORCE DECREE ABSOLUTE
SECTION C - RELATIONSHIP
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF RELATIONSHIP AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
TIMELINE OF EVENTS AND TRAVEL
SPONSOR'S SIGNED AGREEMENT TO SUPPORT APP
APP'S SIGNED LETTER OF INTENT
SECTION D - EVIDENCE OF TRAVEL AND CONTACT
ITINERARIES
BOARDING PASSES AND TICKET STIBBS
EMAILS (just three pages, earliest dates we could find)
LETTERS (3 envelopes each)
PHOTOGRAPHS (2 pages with about ten pics printed off computer)
CARDS FROM FRIENDS (3-4)
SECTION E - EVIDENCE OF ACCOMADATION
SIGNED OFFED OF ACCOMADATION FROM SPONSOR'S MOTHER
3 MONTHS OF BANK STATEMENTS FROM SPONSORS MOTHER
HOME EXTENSION COMPLETION CERTIFICATE SHOWING SPACE AVAILABLE
DEEDS TO PROPERTY
PHOTOGRAPHS OF PROPERTY (two printed pages with photos of all the rooms crammed on)
SECTION F - FINANCES AND SPONSOR'S EMPLOYMENT
BRIEF FINACIAL OVERVIEW
PROPOSED MONTHLY BUDGET
SIGNED LETTER CONFIRMING SPONSOR'S EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT
5 MONTHES WAGE SLIPS
3 MONTHES BANK STATEMENTS
LETTER REGARDING APP'S FINANCES (letter explaining he has no finances to warrant enclosing bank statements due to staying in the uk for so long)
SECTION G - OTHER INCOME AND BENEFITS
LETTER FROM HM REVENUES AND CUSTOMS CONFIRMING SPONSOR'S WORKING AND CHILD TAX CREDITS AWARD
LETTER FROM HM REVENUE AND CUSTOMS CONFIRMING CHILD BENEFIT PAYEMENTS TO SPONSOR
SIGNED LETTER FROM EX HUSBAND CONFIRMING HIS PAYMENT OF CHILD MAINTENANCE (never used CSA so was not backed up by paper work)
SECTION H - CO SPONSOR'S
CO SPONSORS SIGNED OFFER OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT
3 MONTHES BANK STATEMENTS FROM CO SPONSOR
SECTION I - EMPLOYMENT
2 SIGNED WRITTEN JOB OFFERS FROM SPONSOR'S UNCLE (owns plumbing firm) AND MOTHER'S BUSINESS PARTNER (house clearance business)
3 REFERANCES FROM PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT
C.V
FORK LIFT CERTIFICATE
please excuse my spelling but it's been a hectic couple of weeks and my brains on auto, hope this helps anyone who still has the process pending but my tips are TELL THE TRUTH and remember they don't want you to prove you are a millionare just that you can get by. Also get everything in but try to explain things briefly and to the point as they will appreciate not having to read an essay or trawl through a binbag of papers, organise the applications supporting documents to make it easy to find whatever they may need.
Thank you for everyones help........now onto stage two...ILR!
