Marriage Visa - relationship evidence/living together

Hi all,

I'm getting close to locking down all of the documentation for a husband settlement Visa. I'm basically down to relationship evidence. There's a lot of info on the site about proving time that you're apart from your spouse, but my spouse and I have continuously lived together since our marriage 5 years ago. And it seems we're pretty good about divvying up bills - water bill in my name only; energy bill in her name only, etc., so we don't really have anything in the way of mail showing we both live at the same address. I was thinking we could submit our mortgage statements, which show both our names and the address on there (as a mailing address). These are all online so I suspect I should get them stamped by the bank, correct? The other thing I could think of is the first page of our IRS tax filings, showing that we are married/filing jointly and have the same address. I've filed online for years, so there is no original. How would we those get certified?

Would one of each of those per year we've been living together be enough?

Thanks!

Hi all,

I'm getting close to locking down all of the documentation for a husband settlement Visa. I'm basically down to relationship evidence. There's a lot of info on the site about proving time that you're apart from your spouse, but my spouse and I have continuously lived together since our marriage 5 years ago. And it seems we're pretty good about divvying up bills - water bill in my name only; energy bill in her name only, etc., so we don't really have anything in the way of mail showing we both live at the same address. I was thinking we could submit our mortgage statements, which show both our names and the address on there (as a mailing address). These are all online so I suspect I should get them stamped by the bank, correct? The other thing I could think of is the first page of our IRS tax filings, showing that we are married/filing jointly and have the same address. I've filed online for years, so there is no original. How would we those get certified?

Would one of each of those per year we've been living together be enough?

Thanks!

The first page of the tax forms is ideal, something like that doesn't need to be certified.
What about insurance policies, life, property, car, health? Memberships, AAA, gym?
You will need to send a couple of photos of the two of you together.
Do you have any cards that you've sent each other?

Yeah, we have insurance policies that will name both of us, though I'm not sure they'll necessarily prove we actually live together. Maybe I'm getting slightly confused over the purpose of these materials: Is it to prove the relationship (doesn't the marriage cert do that) or that we've continuously lived together?

Also, what would "certification" of an insurance policy or joint membership document entail?

Thanks

Yeah, we have insurance policies that will name both of us, though I'm not sure they'll necessarily prove we actually live together. Maybe I'm getting slightly confused over the purpose of these materials: Is it to prove the relationship (doesn't the marriage cert do that) or that we've continuously lived together?

The marriage certificate shows you are legally married. The photos show you have met each other in person...  but neither show a continuous, subsisting relationship... so to prove that, you need evidence to show you have continuously lived together and have been in a genuine relationship since the wedding.

Otherwise it could be a sham marriage where you met once at the wedding, got married, then have been living separately with no contact and no relationship since and are just using the marriage to get a visa.

So, you need mail in your names (either joint or separate mail) showing that you have both been resident at the same address for the length of the relationship/marriage.

For example:

- rental agreements in your names
- house deeds in your names
- mortgage statements
- utility bills
-the first page of your annual tax returns which show both names and your address
- the first page of an insurance policy with your name(s) and address on it.


Usually 1 or 2 documents per year is fine, so you could send 5 annual tax returns, plus maybe a utility bill in each name for each year.

Yeah, we have insurance policies that will name both of us, though I'm not sure they'll necessarily prove we actually live together. Maybe I'm getting slightly confused over the purpose of these materials: Is it to prove the relationship (doesn't the marriage cert do that) or that we've continuously lived together?

Also, what would "certification" of an insurance policy or joint membership document entail?

Thanks

At this stage in the game, you are trying to prove that you are in a genuine and subsisting relationship. So you need to send a selection of items in order to convince the ECO that yours is not a marriage of convenience.
The marriage certificate is definitely not enough to prove that, not too long ago we had a couple married 20years refused on the relationship requirement.

Perfect, this all makes sense. And on the issue of certification, is that somewhat more lax for these documents? If we submit an insurance policy, can it be printed from the website? I can use the originals that were mailed (assuming I can find them), but as far as I know nothing on those will look more legitimate than online-printed forms. There is no "wet ink" so to speak on what we received in the mail.

Perfect, this all makes sense. And on the issue of certification, is that somewhat more lax for these documents? If we submit an insurance policy, can it be printed from the website? I can use the originals that were mailed (assuming I can find them), but as far as I know nothing on those will look more legitimate than online-printed forms. There is no "wet ink" so to speak on what we received in the mail.

Hi! I had this question for online bank statements, since we've gone paperless and printouts from online statements were all we had.

I actually went a bit to the extreme and went to a notary. I showed them the online docs, and then they wrote on the printout that they'd seen the original online and confirmed the printout was a true copy of it. They then notarized it with their stamp. The notaries seemed to think this was an odd/unusual request, but they did it. It seems it varies state-by-state for whether notaries are allowed to certify copies. I'm in Texas, where it's permitted, and for the peace of mind, it was worth my $50.

However, later I realized we may have gone a bit overboard. Seems like certification could be getting the signature of certain professionals (bound by ethical codes) to confirm it's a true copy of the original. https://www.gov.uk/certifying-a-document

I actually went a bit to the extreme and went to a notary. I showed them the online docs, and then they wrote on the printout that they'd seen the original online and confirmed the printout was a true copy of it. They then notarized it with their stamp. The notaries seemed to think this was an odd/unusual request, but they did it. It seems it varies state-by-state for whether notaries are allowed to certify copies. I'm in Texas, where it's permitted, and for the peace of mind, it was worth my $50.

However, later I realized we may have gone a bit overboard. Seems like certification could be getting the signature of certain professionals (bound by ethical codes) to confirm it's a true copy of the original. https://www.gov.uk/certifying-a-document

The requirement for the bank statements is that they must be either be stamped by the BANK themselves, or accompanied by a letter from the BANK confirming their authenticity.

A notary doesn't work for the bank and therefore won't have access to your electronic account details in the bank's secure system to confirm the transactions... so I'm surprised your statements were accepted!

From Appendix FM-SE:

(a) Bank statements must:
(v) be:
(1) on official bank stationery;
or
(2) electronic bank statements which are either accompanied by a letter from the bank on its headed stationery confirming that the documents are authentic or which bear the official stamp of the issuing bank on every page.

The requirement for the bank statements is that they must be either be stamped by the BANK themselves, or accompanied by a letter from the BANK confirming their authenticity.

A notary doesn't work for the bank and therefore won't have access to your electronic account details in the bank's secure system to confirm the transactions... so I'm surprised your statements were accepted!

Ah, right, but this account was from Synchrony bank, which has no physical branches. Online banking only. Same for my Vanguard statements. Nowhere to go to get them stamped.

Stamps from the bank were no problem at Chase!

I think the point is that if you're printing out online items and you can physically go to the issuer and get a stamp from them, do that. If you can't, you can get it certified by a professional or notary and the Home Office seems to be happy enough with that. Wouldn't hurt to throw in a note explaining that--that's what we did!

Hmm. Good info. Since mortgage statements are from the bank, I will take those to get stamped. For insurance policy documents, what should we do? I dug through some records and found more things with both of our names and addresses on it. But there's a catch - for many of these we have the first year in "original" form, as in, what was mailed to us. And then we switched to paperless. I can get the most recent year online, but nothing in between. Does the gap look sketchy? Do I need to request the interim documents from these companies?

Condo Unitowners Policy - 2012, original (when the UK sponsor moved in with me, before we were married)

Homeowners Policy
2012-2013, original
2017-2018, printout

Personal Articles Policy (for the engagement ring, though the document only identified "Ladies Ring"...bummer)
2012-2013, original
2017-2018, printout

Auto policy
2017-2018 only, printout

Car Lease Registration Card from Minnesota DMV

This is on top of the aforementioned:
-First page of joint/married 1040 IRS tax returns
-Mortgage statement - 1 per year over last 5 years (printout)
-2 photos, one from wedding, one before

Thoughts are appreciated!

For insurance policy documents, what should we do? I dug through some records and found more things with both of our names and addresses on it. But there's a catch - for many of these we have the first year in "original" form, as in, what was mailed to us. And then we switched to paperless. I can get the most recent year online, but nothing in between. Does the gap look sketchy? Do I need to request the interim documents from these companies?

Honestly, I don't think you even need the insurance policies at all. I think you'll be fine with just the tax returns and the stamped mortgage statements.

What I would send is:
-First page of joint/married 1040 IRS tax returns
-Mortgage statement - 1 per year over last 5 years (printout)
-2 photos, one from wedding, one before

Don't forget the marriage certificate too... and any divorce decrees if either of you have been married before (you will need them for every visa application).