Essex, UK lady fallen in love with WA, US man. Need to move him here!

Wish I could shed some light on this but I don't have any children so pretty much skipped that section.  My advice would just be to enter all the information about your children and answer all their questions.  You can always add more information at the end.  Hopefully someone else will be along to answer this in more detail.  Good luck!

Thanks! I have a feeling he has to ignore Part 3 because I get Carer's Allowance, but it's not clear. Grr!

A quick glance at the Appendix 2 tells me that you're trying to figure out what financial requirement you need to meet?  I would definitely check out the policy guidelines on the Home Office website as directed in the document.  My guess (take it with many grains of salt because I had no dependents when I applied) would be that the children who will remain in the US are not counted (though their information is included in the online application).  The blue explanation box also says that children who are UK citizens are not counted in the financial requirement.  So, perhaps you just need to claim any non-UK children who will be accompanying you to the UK.  Just my interpretation; I may be mistaken.

*Edited a typo

Also, question 3.1 reads 'Is your sponsor in receipt of a disability related or carers benefit listed within the guidance notes?'  If yes, go to Part 4.  That would indicate to me that, if you receive a carer's allowance, you check yes and proceed to part 4, skipping 3.2 entirely.  Double check the policy guidance notes, though.

Yes, that makes sense. I'll read the guidance notes, but if that's the case, we can miss out an entire section! Woo hoo!

Yes, if the UK sponsor receives Carer's Allowance, you are exempt from meeting the financial requirement anyway and you do NOT fill out ANY of section 3.

You just tick Yes to 3.1 and move on to section 4.

However, to clarify, if you were NOT exempt from the financial requirement, you would just tick: "Applying with no child dependents under 18", because you have no dependants.

For the purpose of the new immigration rules, a 'dependant child' is one who is moving to the UK with you and also needs a visa. British citizen children are irrelevant here. So, 3.2 is asking how many US citizen children you are bringing with you and therefore how many visas you are applying for, because that determines how much money your sponsor needs to make to meet the financial requirement.

But, you are not required to meet ANY of the requirements listed in 3.2 because:

a) You are exempt from meeting them
and
b) You have no dependant children.

Yes, if the UK sponsor receives Carer's Allowance, you are exempt from meeting the financial requirement anyway and you do NOT fill out ANY of section 3.

You just tick Yes to 3.1 and move on to section 4.

However, to clarify, if you were NOT exempt from the financial requirement, you would just tick: "Applying with no child dependents under 18", because you have no dependants.

For the purpose of the new immigration rules, a 'dependant child' is one who is moving to the UK with you and also needs a visa. British citizen children are irrelevant here. So, 3.2 is asking how many US citizen children you are bringing with you and therefore how many visas you are applying for, because that determines how much money your sponsor needs to make to meet the financial requirement.

But, you are not required to meet ANY of the requirements listed in 3.2 because:

a) You are exempt from meeting them
and
b) You have no dependant children.

A big hurrah! Thank you! Just waiting for my passport renewal which I did online but now I'm waiting for an extra bit of paper from them as there was nowhere for the countersignatory for my passport pic to put their details!

Finally got something in the post, but no countersignatory bit! Grr! They're resending it hopefully by Wednesday...

Can I ask a question? We're nearly there as far as the Financial form is concerned. We're just getting a few more bits of paperwork together for supporting documentation. Not sure what to say in Section 5!

My fiancé has submitted the online part of the application and is just waiting to hear from a friend about getting a lift to the nearest centre where he can get his biometric stuff done - it's three hours away.

Also, we can't see where he's supposed to post the completed financial form to. Can anyone shed any light on that please?

Incidentally, after I did my online application and posted my passport off to the passport office for the renewal, it took just one week for them to send me my replacement. Very quick!

Can I ask a question? We're nearly there as far as the Financial form is concerned. We're just getting a few more bits of paperwork together for supporting documentation. Not sure what to say in Section 5!

Do you mean the Additional Information section?

If you don't have anything to add, just leave it blank.

Or, if you need any extra space for answering questions, continue in that section.

Also, we can't see where he's supposed to post the completed financial form to. Can anyone shed any light on that please?

He sends it to Sheffield - the same place he posts the online application and all the rest of his and your supporting documents... all in the same envelope.

The online application does not go anywhere at all - no one at UKVI will see any of his application until he mails all of it to Sheffield.

The address is on this page:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/usa-apply-for-a-uk-visa/apply-for-a-uk-visa-in-the-usa

Ideally, he should have all the forms printed and completed, and all his documents collected and ready to be posted before he submits the online application or attends the biometrics appointment.

Sounds like he has already submitted the application, so you are going to need to be fast to get everything together - the application forms and all your documents must arrive in Sheffield within 14 calendar days of his biometrics appointment.

Oh my goodness! OK, just one or two things to get done and then he's ready. I've scanned and emailed documents from my end for him to print out. I think he may have to courier the application to Sheffield in that case. Damn, didn't realise that he shouldn't submit the online application till everything was ready! Thank you very much for all the info above. Hopefully, he will get a chance to read it before he goes to work.

I've scanned and emailed documents from my end for him to print out.

I'm afraid that's not going to be good enough for the visa.

All documents must be ORIGINAL (and signed by hand, if required) or the visa will be refused (but you must also include copies of everything or they may not return the originals).

So, you either need to mail all your documents to him in the US (by overnight courier) for him to mail to Sheffield, or he can mail the package to you in the UK (rather than directly to Sheffield), you add your documents and then forward it on to Sheffield for him.

As I said, you only have 14 calendar days from the biometrics to get all your original documents to Sheffield, so you need to get it sorted ASAP.

I think he may have to courier the application to Sheffield in that case.

He should courier it regardless (he should expect to pay between $100-200 each way - he needs to include a return waybill back to the US, to be charged to his online courier account on return of the visa).

They no longer accept FedEx at Sheffield, but he can use UPS or DHL.

I would not use regular mail (Royal Mail or USPS) to ship important documents because they can get stuck in customs for weeks on end and may never arrive. Always pay for a courier service for fast, tracked delivery.

Damn, didn't realise that he shouldn't submit the online application till everything was ready!

His official application date is the date he pays for the visa (which should be the date he submits the online application), so you ideally want to have everything completely ready to go in the mail to Sheffield before you submit it. Then you just have to attend biometrics, add his passport and the printed, stamped biometrics sheet to the package and mail it.

If you want to post a list of the documents that you are including here, we can tell you if anything is missing or needs adjusting. You must meet the document requirements exactly (especially for the financial requirements), or the visa will be refused.

I'm afraid that's not going to be good enough for the visa.

All documents must be ORIGINAL (and signed by hand, if required) or the visa will be refused (but you must also include copies of everything or they may not return the originals).

So, you either need to mail all your documents to him in the US (by overnight courier) for him to mail to Sheffield, or he can mail the package to you in the UK (rather than directly to Sheffield), you add your documents and then forward it on to Sheffield for him.

As I said, you only have 14 calendar days from the biometrics to get all your original documents to Sheffield, so you need to get it sorted ASAP.

He should courier it regardless (he should expect to pay between $100-200 each way - he needs to include a return waybill back to the US, to be charged to his online courier account on return of the visa).

They no longer accept FedEx at Sheffield, but he can use UPS or DHL.

I would not use regular mail (Royal Mail or USPS) to ship important documents because they can get stuck in customs for weeks on end and may never arrive. Always pay for a courier service for fast, tracked delivery.

His official application date is the date he pays for the visa (which should be the date he submits the online application), so you ideally want to have everything completely ready to go in the mail to Sheffield before you submit it. Then you just have to attend biometrics, add his passport and the printed, stamped biometrics sheet to the package and mail it.

If you want to post a list of the documents that you are including here, we can tell you if anything is missing or needs adjusting. You must meet the document requirements exactly (especially for the financial requirements), or the visa will be refused.

Oh no! I didn't realise. Probably best he doesn't attend his appointment till next week then.

I'm afraid that's not going to be good enough for the visa.

All documents must be ORIGINAL (and signed by hand, if required) or the visa will be refused (but you must also include copies of everything or they may not return the originals).

So, you either need to mail all your documents to him in the US (by overnight courier) for him to mail to Sheffield, or he can mail the package to you in the UK (rather than directly to Sheffield), you add your documents and then forward it on to Sheffield for him.

As I said, you only have 14 calendar days from the biometrics to get all your original documents to Sheffield, so you need to get it sorted ASAP.

He should courier it regardless (he should expect to pay between $100-200 each way - he needs to include a return waybill back to the US, to be charged to his online courier account on return of the visa).

They no longer accept FedEx at Sheffield, but he can use UPS or DHL.

I would not use regular mail (Royal Mail or USPS) to ship important documents because they can get stuck in customs for weeks on end and may never arrive. Always pay for a courier service for fast, tracked delivery.

His official application date is the date he pays for the visa (which should be the date he submits the online application), so you ideally want to have everything completely ready to go in the mail to Sheffield before you submit it. Then you just have to attend biometrics, add his passport and the printed, stamped biometrics sheet to the package and mail it.

If you want to post a list of the documents that you are including here, we can tell you if anything is missing or needs adjusting. You must meet the document requirements exactly (especially for the financial requirements), or the visa will be refused.

I'll have to tell you which documents I'm sending in the morning, as I can't remember off the top of my head, and hopefully my fiancé can tell you which documents he's sending, once he sees this, most probably after work. He's only just started work for the day.

Thanks for clarifying all this, because we would have slipped up. Sigh!

Hi ksand24 - here's the documents I sent copies of by email to my fiancé:

A page from my online bank statement which shows Carer's Allowance being paid in
One utility bill showing direct debits.
Mortgage statement from December 2013.
Council tax bill.
A copy of the passport pages showing my photo, passport number etc.
Divorce certificate plus a copy of my Consent Order detailing that my mortgage will be paid off by my ex-husband in approximately 4.5 years.

I think that's it. I don't have to send my passport to them, do I?

It suddenly seems more stressful than ever!