Upcoming Spouse Visa Application Checklist/Questions

Hi all

I'll be applying for my spouse visa next month once tax info is available to my partner. I just want another couple sets of eyes on what we have assembled so far to see if I'm missing anything.

Personal/Relationship Info

Partner's post office certified copy of passport bio page
Long form birth certificate
Civil partnership certificate (and copy)
Airline itinerary print outs & some boarding passes from 2007, 2012, and upcoming April 2013 trip (her coming to me in the US)
Couple of email screen shot pages
Some phone bills from me (US citizen) showing we communicate that way mostly (I have an amazing calling plan from Sprint and we both have iPhones)
3 color photographs of us together on photo paper

Financial Info (Self-employed, partnership)

- 12 months bank statements from Barclay's (bank will print, provide verification letter that they're real) from March 2012 - April 2013
- HMRC registration original (and copy)
- Partner's HMRC letter with her UTR (and copy)
- Partner's brother's HMRC letter with his UTR (he is her business partner - copy also)
- Last two National Insurance letters with proof of post office payments received (and copy)
- VAT registration and most recent payment proof (and copy)
- SA302 (and copy)
- Accountant's statement verifying that the taxes he has prepared for the business's unaudited accounts are accurate (and copy)

Housing

- Letter from partner's Mum outlining that we can stay indefinitely with her at her address, how many rooms, that we will have exclusive occupancy of one room, and that we will be staying for free
- Land registry document print out
- Copy of her title deed (she owns home outright)
- Copy of her passport because her last name is different from the title because of her last marriage

My Info
- Passport
- Copy of court records regarding 2007 DUI
- Copy of financial records for a traffic light violation in 2011
- Copy of Bachelor of Science degree

My questions are regarding our personal statements. What should we include in them? How long should they be?

Does it look like we are missing anything, other than the application? Also, which Appendix will I be printing out? Can I do this prior to filling out the application?

If your partner's passport bio page will be certified, you do not need to send their long form birth certificate.

The birth certificate is ONLY required if the passport copy is not certified and is just a regular photocopy (the birth certificate is then used to verify the information on the passport, instead of the certification being the verification).

You also do not need to include your bachelor of science degree certificate. You can send it if you want to, but it will not help your application in any way as they are not allowed to consider your employability for the visa... they probably won't even look at it.

My questions are regarding our personal statements. What should we include in them? How long should they be?

You don't send 'personal statements' as such.

Your sponsor must send a letter of support for your application, an example of which you can look at here: http://www.londonelegance.com/transpondia/sites/default/files/spousal.pdf

(And you can read more here about the spousal visa application in general: http://www.londonelegance.com/transpondia/family-visas/spousal-visa)

As the applicant you do not need to write any statements for the application - all of your information will be on the application form.

If you wish, you can include a cover letter with the application, but it should only state what visa you are applying for, what documents you are including and any important information about your documents (i.e. if you wish to explain a criminal conviction or an unusual transaction on a bank statement), or if you wish to post-date the visa you can highlight that in the cover letter.

Does it look like we are missing anything, other than the application? Also, which Appendix will I be printing out? Can I do this prior to filling out the application?

You need to print out Appendix 2.

I would recommend filling it out before you submit your online application (and getting everything else ready as well) - that way you know everything is ready to go and you won't be stressing yourself out later on trying to get everything to the consulate on time.