More fun visa questions!

I have completed and submitted my visa application. Since I live in the US and am applying for a short term student visa I must have a biometrics appointment. It has now given me instructions that I don't understand. It states that I must send in my supporting documents to the address on my completed visa form which is fine BUT then it also states (in the e-Mail that was sent out to me) that I must bring my passport with me to the biometrics appointment.

This is where I'm confused. My passport is one of the supporting documents that I MUST send in before my appointment. Also, I need to send proof that I'm a US citizen. I'm guessing a birth certificate will be fine, but it must be the original. Will they be giving me this back or should I send something else in instead?

As with my spousal application, you don't send in your documents until after your biometrics appointment...then you send all your paperwork, passports etc with the stamped receipt of your biometrics. I don't think it would be any different for your visa application.

Your US passport is also proof that you are a US citizen, although if you want to send a birth certificate, that's fine.  Also, if you're sending that, send the original certified copy you have.  They will send it back, but even if they don't, it's replaceable.  The original is stored at the courthouse in the county where you were born (at least, mine is).

They sent my birth certificate back. I only sent it as a backup piece of evidence, although my passport proved my citizenship as well. (This was for a fiance visa)

Like WebyJ said, you take your passport with you to your biometrics appointment because they need to see it to service you. Did you print off your biometrics confirmation? It should have specified in your visa application to print that off and take it with you to be validated with a stamp AT your appointment. THEN, you send in your passport, the stamped biometrics confirmation, and the rest of your supporting documents AFTER you attend the appointment.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but it should state somewhere that documents must be sent WITHIN 2 weeks of the biometrics? Or is that only for spousal/fiance(e) visas?

Brit,
I know mine had to be sent within 2 weeks of the bios appointment. But really why would you want to wait any longer? I was so anxious to get home I sent it out to the consulate the same day!
But back to topic, I believe that the requirement would be the same across the board but I tried to look it up and it wouldn't let me into the site stating that I had to be outside of the UK...and after a moment of confusion it dawned of me, oh yeah that's where I live now . Sometimes I forget, this is just home.

Brit,
I know mine had to be sent within 2 weeks of the bios appointment. But really why would you want to wait any longer? I was so anxious to get home I sent it out to the consulate the same day!

Trust me...I DIDN'T want to wait. I think they just allow you two weeks to send everything in case you didn't have everything together. In my case for instance, I applied for my visa 30 June, did biometrics 3 July, but then had to wait until I received my fiance's sponsor letter (that he kept telling me was in the mail, when it wasn't). So I wasn't able to send off my documents until 10 July. I would have sent them off immediately after my biometrics if I would have had everything together.

Good Luck on your app!! xx

I may be asking this question in the wrong thread ...if I am let me know. I am working on my Visitor Visa and in listing all the dates I have been to the UK and back I have noticed that it looks like the one time I came back home to the US..the IO didn't stamp my passport. I just realized this. It makes it look like I never left. But then there is a stamp for when I reentered the UK in August of that year. Is this going to cause me a problem submitting my visa app? I am so stressed out right now trying to fill this out....I just don't want to get anything wrong on it...can anyone help me?

No, it won't be a problem, there are not always exit stamps.


Vicky

Adding on to Vicky's comment, you can always use the date that the USA stamped you in stateside. 

Although these dates are supposed to be exact, it's an impossible job to foot and cross-foot some people's passports. 

Adding on to Vicky's comment, you can always use the date that the USA stamped you in stateside. 

Although these dates are supposed to be exact, it's an impossible job to foot and cross-foot some people's passports. 

Slightly OT, but to prove garry's point: I have a stamp from Canada on page 14, with the return into the US on page 12.  Why can't they just start at the beginning and fill in the holes?!

actually the stamp is from when I re entering the US to come back home to the states...it looks like the IO in the US didn't give me a stamp

I have been out of the states many times and upon returning i have never gotten a stamp from the IO's. Though when I did my daughters application for her Consular Report because she is a Dual Citizen I had to list the dates I lived in the US and as proof I just gave them my old passport and it never had exit stamps (except for Ukraine) or entry stamps into the US. In fact when I went to the Netherlands I never got an entry stamp, and I was disappointed as I love to get stamps!

So, to answer your question, I wouldn't worry about it. If you really want to be covering your bases if you kept your bit of your boarding cards when you flew back to the US that should suffice.

Slightly OT, but to prove garry's point: I have a stamp from Canada on page 14, with the return into the US on page 12.  Why can't they just start at the beginning and fill in the holes?!

The IO's like to stamp on the first page that opens! I have about 6 stamps on the middle two pages of my UK passport, 3 stamps on the first page and 3 stamps on the last page - nothing in the rest of the passport at all .

I have been out of the states many times and upon returning i have never gotten a stamp from the IO's. Though when I did my daughters application for her Consular Report because she is a Dual Citizen I had to list the dates I lived in the US and as proof I just gave them my old passport and it never had exit stamps (except for Ukraine) or entry stamps into the US. In fact when I went to the Netherlands I never got an entry stamp, and I was disappointed as I love to get stamps!

I've never been stamped coming back into the UK (I am a British citizen) - they tend to stamp you going into a foreign country, but not coming back to your country of citizenship (because there's not really any need to, I guess - you have every right to enter your home country, so you don't need a stamp from immigration telling you that you are allowed in).

I've never been stamped coming back into the UK (I am a British citizen) - they tend to stamp you going into a foreign country, but not coming back to your country of citizenship (because there's not really any need to, I guess - you have every right to enter your home country, so you don't need a stamp from immigration telling you that you are allowed in).

The US it varies... over the last 11 years, I have been stamped on my "return" to the US about 80% of the time and of course the UK doesn't stamp on exit (yet), so you can fall into a whole of not knowing a trip that you took.  Post September 11th, I noticed the US stamps US citizens a lot more and can't think of an instance where I haven't been stamped on entry.