First Time Spouse Visa: Documents and Submittal Questions

Hi all - I just want to clarify my sponsor's financial documents (as that is what I am most stressed about!) @ksand24 , what do you think? You've been so helpful!

Here's what I'm planning to include:

- Letter from Employer (see below for full letter)
- Pay scale for military ranks, included as part of employer letter
- Payslips since  31 May 2018 - these are online screen shots of the online payment portal showing gross pay, deductions, amount paid and date paid. These have all been signed by his employer. He only has some of the mailed copies, as he was deployed for most of that period and the physical copies never reached him. Will the signed screen shots suffice?
- Bank Statements from May 2018 - currently being mailed to him from his bank, so I really hope these are what we need. Will I need the originals in hand to submit, or will scanned copies of the originals suffice?

Employer letter
This has already been signed by a senior ranking officer, so would prefer not to adjust unless absolutely necessary. However, the date of the end of his contract may be confusing, and I'd hate for them to give me a visa for less than the full 5 years. Thoughts?

Please take this letter as a statement to confirm the employment status of [husbands rank, name and ID #]'s employment status with the [military branch]. [husband] is currently employed as a [job title] at [location of base]. He has been posted in this role since 14 Nov 16 and this current assignment is due to end on 14 Nov 21. He has been employed by the [military branch] since [date] as part of a 22-year terms of service, due to end on 26 Oct 25.

[Husband]'s rank and role places him as a [rank/pay structure] within the pay scale which is attached for clarity. He is currently paid a minimum salary of [salary] before other operational benefits. He has been on this pay grade since Nov 17.

I can confirm that the attached payslips are a genuine copy, confirmed by my signature.

Does anybody have any input on the above? Thank you!

Hi @jennimaul ! Glad to have someone else in nearly the same position - hopefully our questions/answers will help each other. Congrats on your upcoming wedding! I have a dear friend living in Glasgow currently, and my husband is from Aberdeen - and we're going to be having our big UK wedding in Scotland too!

Not sure if you have started the online application yet (you can start it and keep it open for a few months), but I noticed they have a section for the Knowledge of Life in the UK requirement - although that is not actually a requirement for limited leave to enter. It seems the online application is still very new, so I am hoping it is just a mistake. My plan is to check that "no" I am not exempt from the requirement, and then write a longer note in the explanation section that this does not appear to be a requirement for this particular visa, per the Appendix Armed Forces rules.

Best of luck to you! I'll keep posting about any other unusual things I notice as I go along.

Yay!! Congrats on your Scottish wedding!

No, I haven't started the online process yet. I've only filled out the paper forms. I plan on starting the online application once I'm back in the States. I've been nervous about it, I have a fear of answering something wrong by mistake and screwing everything up!  So I definitely appreciate seeing any and all anomalies you come across.

Hi all - I just want to clarify my sponsor's financial documents (as that is what I am most stressed about!) @ksand24 , what do you think? You've been so helpful!

Here's what I'm planning to include:

- Letter from Employer (see below for full letter)
- Pay scale for military ranks, included as part of employer letter
- Payslips since  31 May 2018 - these are online screen shots of the online payment portal showing gross pay, deductions, amount paid and date paid. These have all been signed by his employer. He only has some of the mailed copies, as he was deployed for most of that period and the physical copies never reached him. Will the signed screen shots suffice?
- Bank Statements from May 2018 - currently being mailed to him from his bank, so I really hope these are what we need. Will I need the originals in hand to submit, or will scanned copies of the originals suffice?

Employer letter
This has already been signed by a senior ranking officer, so would prefer not to adjust unless absolutely necessary. However, the date of the end of his contract may be confusing, and I'd hate for them to give me a visa for less than the full 5 years. Thoughts?

Please take this letter as a statement to confirm the employment status of [husbands rank, name and ID #]'s employment status with the [military branch]. [husband] is currently employed as a [job title] at [location of base]. He has been posted in this role since 14 Nov 16 and this current assignment is due to end on 14 Nov 21. He has been employed by the [military branch] since [date] as part of a 22-year terms of service, due to end on 26 Oct 25.

[Husband]'s rank and role places him as a [rank/pay structure] within the pay scale which is attached for clarity. He is currently paid a minimum salary of [salary] before other operational benefits. He has been on this pay grade since Nov 17.

I can confirm that the attached payslips are a genuine copy, confirmed by my signature.

Does anybody have any input on the above? Thank you!

My reading of the letter says that his current assignment ends in 2021, but his service (military employment) ends in 2025, so more than 5 years.  I'm not the ECO, but I'd read that to mean you get a 5-year visa.

Since the employer letter verifies all of the payslips (even the printed ones), you should be all set there.

Hi all! My husband's bank statements FINALLY arrived in the mail! (Scottish bank, no branches elsewhere) So, I'm about to hit submit. I just have a few final questions that I wanted to clear up first. Any input on these?

- I see some people are reporting past traffic violations. I have had some when I was younger, but they were never criminal and did not require a court date and documentation is long gone. The application only asks for criminal offences or arrests. I do not need to report non-criminal traffic violations, right?

- Marriage record - should I mail in an "official" copy (with raised stamp) or a scanned copy? I have extras of both.

- Pay slips - my husband printed online screen shots of his payment portal for each month and his employer signed every page. I also have copies of the mailed pay slips for 5 of 7 months (missing two form when he was deployed). Should I include both online and mailed and explain why 2 mailed are missing? Or will the signed online screen shots suffice?

- On the online application for HM Forces under Appendix Armed Forces (LLE), there is a question under the "Sponsors Military Service" section that asks "When were you/ your sponsor discharged from HM Forces or Brigade of Gurkhas?". My husband is still in, and it does not allow me to select a date in the future. On the paper application, this question can be skipped if the sponsor is still in the service, but online, it's mandatory. Should I just select today's date and explain in the notes at the end? There are 2 other questions that make it clear he is still in for another 8 years.

- Also on the online application for LLE, there is a Life in the UK section, asking if I'm exempt and how I meet the requirement. Should I select "No" and in the text box, right that I am applying for LLE? Or should I select "Yes" and write the same?

- Whatsapp messages - are message logs with the actual message content blacked out okay? I have messages from each month of our 3 year relationship.

Whew - I think that might be it for now! Thanks again for all the priceless guidance this forum provides!

Bumping this up as I'm hoping I can hit submit tonight! Any thoughts? Thank you!!

- I see some people are reporting past traffic violations. I have had some when I was younger, but they were never criminal and did not require a court date and documentation is long gone. The application only asks for criminal offences or arrests. I do not need to report non-criminal traffic violations, right?

While you don't strictly need to declare them, we always recommend declaring absolutely everything, just to show you are being honest and transparent and have nothing to hide. You should also include a copy of your driving record as well.

- Marriage record - should I mail in an "official" copy (with raised stamp) or a scanned copy? I have extras of both.

Don't send any originals of anything. Have the originals with you, but either scan and upload them, or mail in copies only.

- Pay slips - my husband printed online screen shots of his payment portal for each month and his employer signed every page. I also have copies of the mailed pay slips for 5 of 7 months (missing two form when he was deployed). Should I include both online and mailed and explain why 2 mailed are missing? Or will the signed online screen shots suffice?

The payslips MUST either be:
- originals issued by the company/received in the mail
- printed copies that are accompanied by a wet signature letter from the employer confirming the details of each payslip and that they are authentic (this is normally combined into the mandatory employer letter, so you only need 1 letter instead of 2 letters)... just having them stamped isn't enough.

So, I would either send:
- all 7 online copies, along with a letter from the employer confirming each one, and NO mailed payslips
OR
- the 5 mailed payslips, plus the 2 online payslips accompanied by a letter from the employer confirming them

- On the online application for HM Forces under Appendix Armed Forces (LLE), there is a question under the "Sponsors Military Service" section that asks "When were you/ your sponsor discharged from HM Forces or Brigade of Gurkhas?". My husband is still in, and it does not allow me to select a date in the future. On the paper application, this question can be skipped if the sponsor is still in the service, but online, it's mandatory. Should I just select today's date and explain in the notes at the end? There are 2 other questions that make it clear he is still in for another 8 years.

Are you sure you're filling out the correct application type? I haven't seen anyone else who has applied for this type of visa mention this question before.

- Also on the online application for LLE, there is a Life in the UK section, asking if I'm exempt and how I meet the requirement. Should I select "No" and in the text box, right that I am applying for LLE? Or should I select "Yes" and write the same?

Again, this seems to imply you are applying for the wrong type of visa, as no one else applying for an HM Forces visa has mentioned being asked about the Life in the UK test before.

- Whatsapp messages - are message logs with the actual message content blacked out okay? I have messages from each month of our 3 year relationship.

If you are showing a 3-year relationship, I would include 2 messages per month, giving 72 in total. You should just include the name, date and time of each, and no message content. You should be able to get 20-30 message on a page, and include 2-3 pages in total. You can either black out the messages or just crop them out completely.

Thank you @ksand24 !! Now I am very worried I have selected the wrong visa, but I've gone back to the main selection screen multiple times and it always works out the same. Can you tell me if this is correct?

My application says it is this type on the main Visa4UK screen when I log in:
Settlement
Family member of a serving member of HM Forces under Appendix Armed Forces (LLE)

If I go through the the process as if to start a new application, here is how I answer the questions (blue is my answer):

Please select the correct visa category. When you select the visa category you want, we will ask you a series of questions to ensure you are applying for the correct visa.:
Visit
Study
Work
Settlement
Transit
Other

Visa Type:
Settlement
Returning
HM Forces

Visa Subtype:
Former Armed Forces
Family member of a discharge member of HM Forces
Fiance or proposed civil partner of HM Forces
Family member of a serving member of HM Forces under Appendix Armed Forces (ILE)
Family member of a serving member of HM Forces under Appendix Armed Forces (LLE)
Family member of a foreign of Commonwealth member HM Forces under Part 7 transitional arrg. (ILE)
Family member of a foreign of Commonwealth member HM Forces under Part 7 transitional arrg. (LLE)
Family member British citizen member of HM Forces under Part 8 transitional arrangements Adult
Family member British citizen member of HM Forces under Part 8 transitional arrangements Under 18
Bereaved Family member under Appendix Armed Forces
Former Gurkha discharged before 1997
Widow of a former Gurkha discharged before 1997
Family member of a former Gurkha discharged before 1997

If on question 2 (Visa Type), I were to select "Settlement" instead, there is no option in SubType to specify Armed Forces.

**I wish I knew how to add screenshots, but I can't figure it out right now! So I made sure I carefully typed everything exactly how it appears.

This makes me so nervous! Do you see where I could have gone wrong??

Hmm, having seen the options, I think you have selected the correct one - as I don’t know what else would apply to you.

Sounds like it’s just a badly-designed online form... so I would just answer the questions as best you can and then maybe put a short note in the additional information section about your situation.


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Whew! OK, sounds good, I will try that.

I also compared the entire online form to the printed VAF (Armed Forces) application, and all of the other questions line up (except the Life in the UK one). The mandatory discharge date question is only optional on the printed form.

Thank you SO much for your help once again!!

I am off to the traffic department to get my traffic record to be extra cautious - I'm hoping by now it's all clear

Just an update here - I finally hit submit on my online application!! Unfortunately the VFS site is down so I can't submit my documentation yet.. whomp whomp... but I have until Tuesday's biometrics appointment to get that in and pay for priority. Crossing my fingers it will be back up soon.

One cool thing - I did not have to pay for the IHS surcharge, so it seems that they have worked out that kink for the HM Forces applications.

More to come!