HELP! supporting documents and biometrics appointment

Hi All
Have been reading this blog and have found it to be very helpful. I am a US citizen and my husband is a UK citizen. Have been working on the visa application for awhile and trying to make sure I have everything ready to go as my biometrics appointment is this Friday! (I am  a nervous wreck) We have been together 5 years and got married feb 2017. I am applying for a wife settlement visa. These are the documents ill be submitting, just want to see if there was anything else I should be including?

•   Sponsors letter
•   Notarized copy of sponsors bio page
•   Sponsorship undertaking form
•   Sponsors P60 (most recent tax year to 5 april 2017)
•   Sponsors pay slips (oct 2016-aug 2017)
•   Sponsors bank statements (oct 2016-aug 2017)
•   Letter from Sponsors work HR stating position, employment dates and salary
•   Sponsors work contract
•   Letter from sponsors father stating we are able to stay with him
•   Sponsors fathers Land Registry
•   My letter of introduction
•   My current passports and previous passport
•   2 passport photos of myself
•   Appendix 2 (VAF financial requirement form)
•   Visa online application form
•   Certificate of Marriage
•   Biometrics appointment conformation (which will be stamped this Friday)
•   Immigration Health surcharge confirmation and transaction confirmation
•   Boarding passes  and flight confirmations from previous visits
•   Screen shots of facetime log
•   Screen shots of email log
•   Whatsapp conversations (its 28 pages I did 2-3 conversations per month should I black out our actual conversation and just keep the time stamps?)
•   3 photos of us together (1 from wedding, 1 from early in relationship and 1 from recent)
•   Hand written cards
•   Return shipping Label ( do I need to include a return envelope?)
•   Priority visa service confirmation

Is there a certain order I need to put everything in?

Also what should I expect at the biometrics appointment? I have my passport and biometrics appointment confirmation that I will bring with me, is there anything else I need to bring?
Also I saw something about life in the UK test, but haven’t seen anything about this test in any of my visa stuff yet. Is this something I need to do? Sorry for all the questions, Im so nervous and don’t want to overlook anything. Thanks so much for your help  ☺

Welcome .

You don't need the following documents:
- Sponsorship Undertaking Form (doesn't apply to spousal visas)
- payslips and bank statements from October 2016 to Feb 2017... only the last 6 months will be looked at (March to August 2017)

For the screenshots, you should not include ANY message or email content, so crop out everything except the dates/times/subject lines. You should be able to fit them all on 1-2 pages for each communication type... no more than that should be sent

Just put everything in a sensible order:
- priority receipt on top
- then the online application and Appendix 2
- your ID docs
- your sponsor's ID docs
- your financial docs
- your accommodation docs
- your relationship docs

The biometrics appt is just 5-10 min where they check your ID, stamp the confirmation sheet, take your fingerprints and photo, and send you home

The Life in the UK test cannot be taken until you are living in the UK and is only needed when you apply for ILR and citizenship in 5+ years' time. So, you have 5 years in which to take it .


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Thank you so much!! I really appreciate your response!! I was just reading on another post.... my husband has sent me his work monthly pay slips and I've just printed them.... will that be ok?

Thank you so much!! I really appreciate your response!! I was just reading on another post.... my husband has sent me his work monthly pay slips and I've just printed them.... will that be ok?

Unfortunately not.

The payslips must either be the official originals issued by the company or they can be printed but they must be accompanied by a letter from the company confirming their authenticity.

Same with the bank statements - they must either be originals sent by the bank in the mail or printed statements that either have been stamped/signed by the bank branch on EVERY page or accompanied by a letter from the bank confirming their authenticity.

Plus, he also needs to get an original, signed letter from the employer stating his employment and salary, length of employment, length of time earning current salary and type of employment.

So, he will need to gather all these original/stamped documents and the mail them to you by registered courier (UPS/FedEx/DHL).

Oh man okay I'll try and get that sorted today! He works for an IT company and most of their communication is via email ect. I do have a letter from HR stating employment dates salary employment status it is signed but it's not the wet signature... hoping this will be ok 🤞🏼

You only have 5 days from the biometrics appointment to mail all the documents to Sheffield, so if your husband is going to need to mail you his original documents, I would reschedule your biometrics appointment for a later date so that you have time to receive them. He should send them with a proper courier and NOT with ANY Royal Mail service (including Parcel Force).

We usually recommend that you do not submit the online application until after you have checked you have all the right documents, and have them ALL in your hands, ready to mail.

Oh man okay I'll try and get that sorted today! He works for an IT company and most of their communication is via email ect. I do have a letter from HR stating employment dates salary employment status it is signed but it's not the wet signature... hoping this will be ok 🤞🏼

It really needs to be the original letter with wet signature, and it must also be dated within 28 days of your online application date.

See here for the document specifications:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-fm-se-family-members-specified-evidence

From that page, regarding payslips and bank statements:

1. In relation to evidencing the financial requirements in Appendix FM the following general provisions shall apply:
(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.

and

(bb) Payslips must be:
(i) original formal payslips issued by the employer and showing the employer’s name; or
(ii) accompanied by a letter from the employer, on the employer’s headed paper and signed by a senior official, confirming the payslips are authentic;

and

(h) All documentary evidence must be original, unless otherwise stated

.

oh gosh!   ok. I thought what we had was what we needed. But this has been very helpful will get my appointment changed and make sure we get the correct documents. Thanks so much for the advise, this process is so stressful.

oh gosh!   ok. I thought what we had was what we needed. But this has been very helpful will get my appointment changed and make sure we get the correct documents. Thanks so much for the advise, this process is so stressful.

It is, but better to stress now while you can still fix it. It's awful to stress afterward wondering if you submitted the right stuff. Good luck!