Help! Advice for a 2nd time visa submission.

Hello everyone,

   This is my very first post, so I hope someone is kind enough to give me a little advice.

Long story short,I met my husband who is a british citizen while he was in Texas for a vacation during  May of 2015.We kept in contact,developed a romantic relationship, married shortly after in Vegas Sept. 2015. I was lucky enough to be able to take time off from work, and I've been back and forth to the U.K. since then. On the last visit, I was held in immigration at Heathrow for about 7 hours and was told we needed to apply for a proper visa since I was just using my U.S. passport to get through immigration with a tourist type visa. ( the basic do not stay over 6 months stamp). The reason  we did was to make sure that I was sure that I could relocate to the U.K. since I'm so close to my family, so we decided after the first year mark we would apply for a proper visa. Unfortunately, after the whole ordeal at the airport we decided to look into doing the visa asap, which was a mistake. So, in July of 2016 we misread and misunderstood the guidelines and applied while I was in the U.K. and was denied since I've never even process one application in U.S. soil. We used the expedited service, so that plus the application fee is long gone. A healthcare surcharge that was refundable is yet to be refunded. So... here I am now in America doing my visa. The problem is, it's a lot more complicated than the website makes it out to be.

1st question: I am doing a join your partner (spouse, fiancé(e), civil or unmarried partner) visa.

I used ( settlement, settlement, wife) as the application choice.
Is this correct?

2nd question: Since my application was denied the first time, there is no need to buy the $500 expedited fee since it will delay the application process anyways?

3rd question: I've try printing out my application and it keeps cutting of the page count on the bottom. I've even ordered the A4 paper online and print it at actual size and it still gets cut off. If i was to shrink down the page at 98% will they still take the application?

4th question: Will my year off of work to travel to see my husband affect the decision, even though my husband yearly income exceeds the requirement?

The last question is, does the waiting and nervous anxiety stress of the visa process get any easier? We are both in our early 30s so our savings are now depleted from the multiple travel and cost of the visas and fees. I have already submitted the visa so I'm hoping for maybe some advice from someone who has been there and done that and has seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks.
 

1.  Correct
2.  You can purchase the priority service if you want.  It'll get your application to the front of the line.  Priority is about a 2 day turnaround at the moment.  Your application will take a bit longer as they'll need to look into the reason for your refusal and such.  You need to include the paperwork for your visa refusal.
3.  Not an issue
4.  Not an issue, your income couldn't have been considered anyway

Are you sure you have everything?  You only have 5 days to mail your documents.  Do you want to list everything you are including so we can check it and make sure you aren't forgetting anything?

Welcome to the forum - sorry about your visa troubles so far.

1st question: I am doing a join your partner (spouse, fiancé(e), civil or unmarried partner) visa.

I used ( settlement, settlement, wife) as the application choice.
Is this correct?

Yes, that's the correct visa type (assuming you are a wife and not a husband ). The wife/husband one is for people who are already married, while the 'marriage' one is for fiances who will marry in the UK.

2nd question: Since my application was denied the first time, there is no need to buy the $500 expedited fee since it will delay the application process anyways?

It depends how much you can afford and how long you're willing to wait for the visa.

The 'settlement priority processing' for $567 (£450) from the US just gets your application put to the front of the processing line, so you will skip the line, but once they start processing it, it might take a bit longer due to the previous refusal.

So, I would suggest it will be a bit faster to get the visa if you use the priority processing than if you don't use it, because you could save up to a few weeks of the application waiting in line.

3rd question: I've try printing out my application and it keeps cutting of the page count on the bottom. I've even ordered the A4 paper online and print it at actual size and it still gets cut off. If i was to shrink down the page at 98% will they still take the application?

Someone else had this issue recently, but I'm not sure how they resolved it - hopefully someone else can offer some help

4th question: Will my year off of work to travel to see my husband affect the decision, even though my husband yearly income exceeds the requirement?

No, only your husband's income can be considered, so yours is irrelevant.

The last question is, does the waiting and nervous anxiety stress of the visa process get any easier?

I haven't applied for any UK visas myself (as I'm british), but from what I've read from others on the forum, I don't think it does .

_________________________________________________ __

You mention that you've already submitted the visa application - normally I would not recommend submitting and paying for it until you have checked and double-checked all your documents and made sure everything is in the correct format (you don't want to risk another refusal because your documents aren't up to spec).

You only have 5 days from the biometrics appointment to mail everything to Sheffield, so if you want to post a list of all the documents you are including here in this thread, we can check you have everything before you attend biometrics.

If there's anything you still need to get (i.e. from your husband in the UK), you can always reschedule your biometrics to a later date to give enough time to get everything together.

Thanks for the replys guys! Just talking to someone about it already helps the stress.

Ok, as far as the paperwork, I think we covered everything. I hope.
1.   Online Visa Application with photo
2.   Full copies of the applicant and sponsor Passport book page by page, photos, and social security / national insurance card.
3.   Marriage License, apostille, certified abstract of marriage certificate, receipt from the county court house.
4.   Sponsor’s Work verification, P60 end of the year certificate for 2015/2016, and original yearly statement of income from work.
5.    Sponsor’s weekly pay slip from Jan. 2016 to current.
6.   Bank verification signed and stamp for account # 1 with month to month stamped statements starting from Dec. 2015 until current.
7.   Bank verification signed and stamp for account # 2 with month to month original and stamped statements starting Dec 2015 until current. 
8.   Original documents of home owner’s information, proof of residence, household insurance & mortgage, memorandum of sale, auto insurance, and utility bill. 
9.   Savings policy numbers and original documents for Scottish friendly and Equiniti with estimated future value.
10.   Applicant’s complete flight information in regards to all flights to and from the UK. (3 itinerary enclosed in total with times, date, reference number and flight number)
11.   2 Diplomas  (English Language Requirement)
12.   Home Office letter from the Solihull location from July 14, 2016 and confirmation sheet.
13.   Signed photocopy of the passport photo page with British Citizenship conformation and national insurance number for the sponsor’s renter/ friend.
14.   Character letters from Family and friends.
15.   Photos taken from 2015 to current.


Also my husband has a friend renting a room for him, will this affect anything?
I printed and bunch of pictures & our friends and family wrote character letters to be sent off with the visa application. Has anyone does that? Is it in bad judgement? I wonder if that will annoy the immigration officer more than help us.

Thanks again for any advice, it really helpful   

You've got some big things missing (and lots you don't need).

Mandatory items:
Appendix 2
You need a sponsor letter from your husband
You need a letter from your husband's employer confirming the length of his employment, his employment type, current salary, etc.  (this may be what you mean by employment confirmation though?)
Best to include his Land Registry for his property (download online for £3)

You don't need:
Apostille, SS card, NI information
Only 6 months of payslips
Auto insurance
Utility bill
Savings info (unless using it to meet the requirements)
Diplomas (US passport meets the language requirement)
Character letters - they'll be tossed aside, not looked at or considered
Only need two photos

2.   Full copies of the applicant and sponsor Passport book page by page, photos, and social security / national insurance card.

To add to KFdancers advice, you need to send your original passport, not a copy.
Your husband needs to send just a certified copy of his passport photo page, this can be done at the Post Office.

ok thanks, will get on the missing item now.

Could someone clarify what a sponsor letter should include?