ADVISORY: Visa Issuance Errors

I received my visa and it states ILE, and I didn't take the KOL test. My wife and I have been married for 15 years, and I provided proof of living together for the past 10 along with tax returns for the last 5. Is this correct, do I get to bypass the whole KOL thing? If that is the case, then that would really peeve me off, I am sooooo looking forward to it.!NOT

Hmmm.  Technically, you should probably report that you were given the wrong visa and have them change it, but honestly, I don't know if I would, in your shoes.  ILE saves you the £1000 that you'd have to pay for ILR if you had been given the correct visa.   


You would still have to take the KOL if you ever wanted to get citizenship.

I just got my Settlement Visa (yay!) but I had some questions about it.

1: My US Passport was issued in my first married-name (i.e. it's not the name I have now, with my second husband). I was assured that this is not a problem for my UK Visa, and that it's ok to have my visa in my previous name, as long as it matches my passport. So that's fine.

However I noticed on the Visa sticker they list it in this way: "old last name from US Passport" then "first name, middle name, and maiden name". Is it ok that my maiden name is there? It's not on my US passport, they must have stuck it on there from my application information.

2: The passport number matches the visa number, but at the bottom there's a huge long line of numbers and letters, the first part of which is my passport number, followed by "USA", then another series of numbers, then letters and numbers that don't match the equivalent line on the bottom of my passport page.

in other words, it reads: "xxxxxxxxxxUSAxxxxxxxFyyyyyyyyyy". The "yyy" section is the part that doesn't match. Every other part matches. I don't know if that's nothing to worry about. the actual passport number at the beginning is correct.

3: more a curiosity: what does the "VDGBRxxxxxx" mean? that's also at the bottom, second line up from the last line.

Don't know about 1, but for 2, does it follow this convention:

Finally in comparing the readable numbers at the bottom of my passport identification page, and the visa page, I am able to figure out what nearly all of the numbers mean except three.  I was wondering if anyone here knows.  The format is:

PPPPPPPPP#CCCYYMMDD#SYYMMDD#

I'm able to tell the Ps are my passport number, C is country of nationality, first YYMMDD is date of birth, the S is sex, and the second YYMMDD is expiration date.

There are digits in the three spots of that string where the hash marks are.  Does anyone have a guide to what data these digits aren't meant to represent?

They are indeed check digits.

PPPPPPPPP#CCCYYMMDD#SYYMMDD#
         ^         ^       ^
#########CbbbYYMMDDCsyymmddCppppppppppppppCX

The upper line is the format provided by the OP and the lower line is a representation of the standard international passport number format, where C shows the check digit positions. They digits are calculated based on the previous field. Thus, the first is based on the passport number, the next is based on the date of birth, the next on the expiration date, and the next on the personal number if present.

PPPPPPPPP: Passport number
bbb: issuing country
YYMMDD: date of birth
s: sex (M or F)
yymmdd: date of expiry
pppppppppppppp: personal number. This field can be used for any purpose that the issuing country desires.
X: Final check digit. This is a check digit for positions 1 to 10, 14 to 20, and 22 to 43.

For the curious, (or just nerdy), full details including how to calculate the check digits here...

http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/numbers/mrp.html

Thanks Geeta, that cleared up THAT mystery! Now if only someone knows about the other 2, which are slightly more pressing

Just got my visa today.  The first thing I noticed is that they left a letter off my husband's last name.

Our last name is double barrelled with no hyphen: "Smythe Jones"

They've printed him as "R Smyth Jones"

...but my name is correct. 

Is this something I need to fix?  It seems very small but I wanted to check.  Will it cause problems in the next couple of years or will people overlook it?

Thanks!

I wouldn't think that it is going to be an issue. I wouldn't worry about it especially if your info (name passport number etc) is correct and for him it's just that one letter.

Thanks so much WebyJ.  I emailed the Consulate just in case and asked whether it was something I should worry about.  Hopefully they'll say it doesn't matter!

Thanks again!! 

I got my visa today.  As far as I can tell, everything is correct apart from the alignment, which I understand is not a big deal? (my student visa had the same problem) However, they printed the texts a little too much to the left so my last name is overlapping the line that says Passport no (the number itself is right underneath). I can still make it out that it's my last name but should I be worried?

IMO, if there's any doubt that something is/isn't okay, email the appropriate contact and ask.

It's a simple email and may save you loads of troubles later on.

Just FYI:  the consulate never bothered to answer my email so I'm going to assume the misspelling in my husband's last name is not a problem!

Is it a mistake if my husbands name isn't on the visa?

the line says Spouse of and then nothing. 

How long should I wait for a reply before I assume that there isn't a mistake?  I emailed them several hours ago, but of course its the weekend now.  I'd really like to book my ticket to fly out on Tuesday.  Of course I don't want to be turned away at the boarder for something silly. 

It's a mistake.

The first letter of my last name is overlapping the end of the word "passport" in the passport no. line. I emailed them about it and have yet to hear from them. It is still readable so my family is saying that I'm being too paranoid. I'm just worried that it may cause problem when I arrive later on this year.