Questions about Family Visa - accommodation docs/adding kids

Hi! New here....I’ll give a quick run down of our situation and then ask my questions.
Hubby has a UK Passport and is transferring to the UK with his current company. We are working through gathering docs/evidence/etc. for our family visa for myself and our two kids.

I have a few questions about what is acceptable evidence to send in with our application:

1. For proof of relationship: we’ve been married 23 years...I’ve got home insurance printouts from our insurance company showing payment for 2000-2019 with both our names and current address, printout of county property tax for each of us for the same time period, and have requested our vehicle registration records for both of us for the first 4 years that show matching addresses. Will these be acceptable?

2.
a. For the accommodation: Hubby’s aunt and uncle will be writing a letter stating they have a home large enough and they can accommodate us. Does this need to be an original signed letter, a signed and scanned letter, or just a printed letter without actual signatures?
b. They own their home....is a scanned and printed copy of their mortgage statement, council tax or other document acceptable, or do they need to send us some type of “official” copy?

3. We have two children....In my research I can’t find the information that tells when in the process I can add them to the visa application. I also cannot find what type of documents or copies we need for them. I’m assuming birth certificates, but is there anything else we need? Again, copies or originals needed?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Welcome to the forum.

1. For proof of relationship: we’ve been married 23 years...I’ve got home insurance printouts from our insurance company showing payment for 2000-2019 with both our names and current address, printout of county property tax for each of us for the same time period, and have requested our vehicle registration records for both of us for the first 4 years that show matching addresses. Will these be acceptable?

Basically, you need:
- your marriage certificate
- a photo or two of together (maybe one from the wedding and one recent)
- evidence of living together for each year of your marriage...most people use their annual tax return that shows their address, plus you can include maybe one other document for each year, such as a utility bill. This should be original mail you received in the post, not printouts from online accounts.

2.
a. For the accommodation: Hubby’s aunt and uncle will be writing a letter stating they have a home large enough and they can accommodate us. Does this need to be an original signed letter, a signed and scanned letter, or just a printed letter without actual signatures?
b. They own their home....is a scanned and printed copy of their mortgage statement, council tax or other document acceptable, or do they need to send us some type of “official” copy?

You need:
- their Land Registry document (you can download and print an official copy from the Land Registry website for £3.

- an original, hand-signed letter from them giving you permission to live there and stating the home will not be overcrowded (total bedrooms + living rooms plus total adults and children in the property)

3. We have two children....In my research I can’t find the information that tells when in the process I can add them to the visa application. I also cannot find what type of documents or copies we need for them. I’m assuming birth certificates, but is there anything else we need? Again, copies or originals needed?

How did your husband acquire his UK citizenship? Was he born in the UK, or born in the US to UK parents?

If your husband was born in the UK (he is a UK citizen ‘otherwise than by descent’), your children likely will be UK citizens too, and you will just need to apply for their UK passports before you move. They will need to be mentioned on your visa application form, but you won’t need to provide any documents for them. Your husband will only need to meet the standard £18,600 per year income to sponsor your visa.

If your husband was born in the US (he is a UK citizen ‘by descent’), then he cannot pass his UK citizenship to your kids, so they will need visas. In that case, you will need to apply for a visa for each of them (at £1523 plus £1200 IHS surcharge per visa) and provide their US passports and their birth certificates. Your husband will also need to be earning an income of at least £24,800 in order to sponsor all 3 visas.



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My husband has his citizenship through his father who was UK born, my husband was born in Australia. So we know we have to get the visas for the kids too. I just can’t figure out where in the process that happens....

My husband has his citizenship through his father who was UK born, my husband was born in Australia. So we know we have to get the visas for the kids too. I just can’t figure out where in the process that happens....

It all happens at the same time. You apply for their visas at the same time as yours and all 3 applications and passports, plus the supporting documents need to be sent to New York in the same package.

The basic process is:
- research the visa requirements
- gather all the documents for all 3 visas (one set of accommodation, financial and relationship documents, plus 3 x passports etc)
- print and fill out 3 VAF4a Appendix 2 forms, one for each of you
- fill out 3 online application forms... one for each of you
- when you are completely ready to mail everything to New York, submit and pay for each visa in turn, where you will be prompted to pay the IHS surcharge and book a biometrics appointment for each applicant (if your kids are old enough to need to give biometrics).
- print the 3 online applications and biometrics appointment confirmation sheets
- go to the VFS Global website to purchase priority processing for each application (if using) and shipping labels. There is also the option to upload your supporting documents instead of mailing them
- attend biometrics, taking your passports and confirmation sheets. They will stamp the sheets and these need to be placed in your documents package
- you then have 5 days from biometrics to mail all 3 applications, passports, and the supporting documents (if not uploading) to New York for processing.

Note: There has been a glitch with the IHS surcharge website for some time and it may tell you that the kids do not need to pay, so it won’t let you pay for theirs. However, they definitely do need to pay, so what will happen is that you apply without paying and then wait for UKVI to contact you and ask for the payment (usually right before they issue the visas).

See here for the visa application process from the US, and the correct New York mailing address (the one given at biometrics is the old address):
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/usa-apply-for-a-uk-visa/apply-for-a-uk-visa-in-the-usa


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Thank you! That clarifies this process a lot....