Hello again,
I've been working hard (sometimes it feels this is taking over my life...) to get our docs ready for our application particularly with the holidays and travel ahead, and was hoping to get some more advice to make sure I am on the right track. We are planning to apply for a spouse visa for my wife at the end of January.
Relationship:
Long distance relationship:
For while we lived in two different countries, I have:
Almost all plane e-tickets for me visiting her or her visiting me.
My Skype call log (an email from Skype and a list of calls with the phone number called and date).
Lots of emails between the two of us
Photos if necessary.
For while we lived in the same country but in different cities, I have:
More emails
Plane, train, bus tickets (although almost certainly not all)
E-tickets for overseas travel we did together during that time
My wife's call logs (but her name is spelt wrong on the account)
For living together and married life (we moved in together one month before we got married):
Lease covering the first year of our rental property (we lived there just over two years), signed with an e-signature.
Letter from the building we lived in as tenants showing our move-in and move-out dates, explaining that the lease was signed digitally, so the print-out we have is effectively the original, plus also explaining why there is no lease for the second year (we rented on a month-by-month basis after that and didn't need to sign anything).
A print-out from the building administrators (also explained in the above) letter, detailing all the charges we paid to the building (rent and utilities) while living there.
Title deed of the house we subsequently bought (held in both names).
Property tax bills for each year we have lived there (held in both names).
Marriage certificate (including translation from Spanish).
Tax return transcripts for the years we have filed jointly (i.e. since 2012 when we were married).
Annual tax and interest statement from our mortgage provider (this is in my name only).
Financials:
We are applying using our cash savings. We have had the GBP62,500 in a bank account in the UK since approx July 10th. Statements are issued for the account on the 18th of each month.
My questions based on the above:
Is there anything glaring that I am missing on the relationship details?
For trips we made to see each other while living apart, if I cannot find any formal record of them should i still mention them in my cover letter with the application? Eg I went to Colombia in October 2009 but do not have the ticket as it was booked through my former work's travel agency, and my passport from that period, which would have had the stamps, was subsequently stolen.
How many emails do I need to show or how frequently do they need to be to show we were in a proper relationship?
Do I need to get wife's Skype call log to show this was a two-way thing?! My log only starts about 7 weeks after we met (maybe I only joined Skype then) - do I need to show any calls sooner? We have plenty of emails for that period.
Should I use my wife's call logs from when we were living apart but in the same country, even though her name on the account is spelt wrong? I am struggling to trace my own account for that period so we might be stuck on that front if it is better not to use hers.
I'm slightly concerned re the lease situation for the apartment we lived in. The copy of the lease I have on file clearly says that it was signed digitally on the final page, so I hope it isn't a problem, but any thoughts? The letter from the building administration also explains things clearly enough, I hope. The only other thing that we have as proof of living together for those two years are the joint tax returns. Do we need anything else? As mentioned above, we paid most utilities directly to the building administrators, and again it is proving a challenge to trace the accounts for those that we didn't.
What is the last month I need to submit the bank statement for to show that the money has been there for six months? I think it is January, but based on the info above of when the money was deposited can you confirm?
Do we need to provide any details of where the money came from? We transferred it from a couple of different accounts and can provide details, but wondering if it was actually necessary to do so?
Thanks so much again for the help. Hopefully I'm not too far off and I can actually get a little bit of sleep over the holidays!
