Spouse visa, almost time to apply! Questions o'plenty

Hi!  OK so I've been on here for months, mostly just lurking, trying to learn, and throwing in my 2 cents every now and then, but my moment of truth is approaching finally.  I am going to start a thread where I'll ask all of our questions, and would greatly appreciate any and all help/advice/suggestions that y'all are willing to provide.

I've told me story briefly before, but it's been a while and there are so many people here so I'll do it again.  American boy meets English girl on the internet, fall in love, and do the LDR thing for what feels like an eternity.  We have been waiting for a couple major things that have finally come to fruition - the time when we can get married (done 9/28 of this year), and for our 6 months of having the requisite finances in savings (our 6 months of having the money was on 10/7).  SO now it's time for us to start the process of applying for the spouse visa so I can be on my way to my destiny.  I am going to go the priority route, and should be able to apply in about 2 weeks.

Right now we are just waiting for a couple of more minor but still vital things - mostly the statements from the accounts where the monies are being held.  We received an early wedding present from my mother-in-law on April 7th in the amount of just under 25,000 pounds (can't find the symbol).  That money hasn't been touched, it's just been sitting in my wife's savings account; also she had some savings in an account that she's had for a few years; and I've had my 401(k) and it's been growing due to the stock market boom and my bi-weekly contributions.  As of April 7th these accounts were in the ballpark of 36,000 pounds in combined value, and now they're somewhere in the 40,000 range.  Once we get the statements showing that the money has been present for the full 6 months, we'll be ready.  Right?  lol

In the meantime we're working on gathering other things that we will need, and we do have some questions about them.

1) my wife rents the flat where I will be moving once I am allowed, and I know we need a letter from her landlord stating certain things.  What exactly needs to be in the letter?

2) in regards to the bank statements for our financial requirement, we officially were over the threshold as of April 7th, and had to wait the 6 months, which would be October 7th.  The statements showing the balances have to include those dates, right?  So just for example the statement dated April 15th which might show account activity from March 13th thru April 13th would be needed, in addition to all statements after that, ending with the October 15th statement that shows activity from September 13th thru October 15th.  Correct?  This seems very straightforward and obvious, just would hate to make a mistake on something so minor and have it be a big regret.

3) I have a divorce that was finalized in March of 2014, but I can't really seem to locate the official certificate, and I'm not sure I ever had one.  What exactly do they look like?  And if I can't locate it, where would I go to get it?  Would the courthouse where it was handled have an official copy that I can get?

4) the gifted money from my mother-in-law.  It states on the bank statement showing the transfer that it was a wedding gift (in the memo), but would you recommend she write an accompanying letter specifically describing this?  Or will the memo on the transaction be enough?

and last but not least for now, 5) when we get to the part of providing relationship evidence.  We have as much as could ever be needed, but we just don't want to go overboard.  I've read a lot about it, so I think I know.  Something like a photo of us early in our relationship, a wedding pic, a few boarding passes, printout of some Skype calls, phone call logs...and what else?  We don't want to do too much, but again don't want to mess up and not send enough.

Throughout the process I will direct any questions to this thread, and I'll say in advance thank you all so much for the work you do, it's been an invaluable asset for me in the lead up to this moment.  And I know it will continue to be until I finally have the visa in my hand.

Welcome to the forum .

In regards to the savings, am I reading it correctly that you have £25,000 from your mother-in-law, plus £40,000 from the 401K? Meaning you have £65,000 in total?  Just checking that you definitely meet the financial requirements .

In regards to your questions:

1) the landlord letter just needs to state the accommodation particulars and that they are giving you permission to live there when you have your visa. See here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maintenance-and-accommodation-maa/maintenance-and-accommodation-maa--2#maa11-adequacy-of-accommodation

2) yes, the statements must cover the ENTIRE 6 months from April 7th to Oct 7th. If they show even just one day short of this, the visa will be refused. So, you'll need the statements covering March 13th to Oct 15th.

3) not sure what they look like but you would need to contact the courthouse/county that issued it and request an official copy, you MUST include it for the visa - someone had their visa refused last year for not including their divorce decrees

4) your mother-in-law needs to write a letter confirming that she gave you the money and stating that it is a gift and not a loan and that it will not be repaid.

5) that's all you need. In order of importance:
- marriage certificate
- 1-2 photos of the sponsor and applicant together (one from the wedding, one from earlier in the relationship)
- all boarding passes from trips to see each other
- letters/cards sent to each other (if applicable)
- no more than 1-2 sheets of paper for each communication source (Skype, email etc.) showing a selection of calls/emails/messages throughout the relationship. Just screenshots of the dates/times/subject lines in a list. No message/email content should be included.


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Welcome to the forum .

In regards to the savings, am I reading it correctly that you have £25,000 from your mother-in-law, plus £40,000 from the 401K? Meaning you have £65,000 in total?  Just checking that you definitely meet the financial requirements .

No, sorry, I worded it weird.  I wish we had that much lol.  We have the £25,000 gift from MIL, plus just over £8,000 in my 401(k), and another £6,000 in my wife's savings account.  Based on her income of £11,700 per year , the amount of cash savings we need is £34,420, we figured.  So we're fine there, right?  If not, brb, gonna go hang myself.

We don't have ALL of the boarding passes from our visits, but we have a few.  Would that be sufficient?

No, sorry, I worded it weird.  I wish we had that much lol.  We have the £25,000 gift from MIL, plus just over £8,000 in my 401(k), and another £6,000 in my wife's savings account.  Based on her income of £11,700 per year , the amount of cash savings we need is £34,420, we figured.  So we're fine there, right?  If not, brb, gonna go hang myself.

Sorry - just deleted my reply.

I didn't see that she already had other income and thought you were ONLY relying on cash savings, for which you would need £62,500.

Sorry - just deleted my reply.

I didn't see that she already had other income and thought you were ONLY relying on cash savings, for which you would need £62,500.

Whew, I almost had a major freak out there.  Ok thank you for confirming that we meet the financial requirement.  And thank you for the other information.

I'll be back with more annoying questions in the coming days

Thanks!

Whew, I almost had a major freak out there.  Ok thank you for confirming that we meet the financial requirement.  And thank you for the other information.

No worries .

By my calculation though, you only need £33,250 in savings, not £34,420.

Calculated as follows:

Difference you need to make up with savings:
£18,600 - £11,700 = £6,900

Difference multiplied by the length of the visa (2.5 years):
£6,900 x 2.5 = £17,250

Total cash savings needed
= £16,000 + £17,250
= £33,250

Oh and in regards to your relationship evidence question, if you don't have all the boarding passes you can include e-tickets.



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No worries .

By my calculation though, you only need £33,250 in savings, not £34,420.

Calculated as follows:

Difference you need to make up with savings:
£18,600 - £11,700 = £6,900

Difference multiplied by the length of the visa (2.5 years):
£6,900 x 2.5 = £17,250

Total cash savings needed
= £16,000 + £17,250
= £33,250

Oh and in regards to your relationship evidence question, if you don't have all the boarding passes you can include e-tickets.

Nice, ok £33,250 sounds better to me

A couple of questions.  I looked through my drawer where I've kept momentos (cards, letters, ticket stubs, etc), and I have SOME boarding passes from my flights, but not nearly as many as I would have hoped.  And I don't have the e-tickets.....check that, I just checked the "deleted e-mails" section of my e-mail, and I DO have some.  Ok nice.  Do I need them ALL?  If so, and I don't have it, what is my recourse?  Contacting the airline?  I know for sure I don't have the one from the very first trip to made to the UK in 2014.

Also, when I applied for my first passport, the first one that was mailed to me was lost.  I never received it.  The issued me a new one, and on page 27 there's a stamped note that says "this passport is a reissue for passport xxxxxxxxx issued on Apr 07 2014".  On the application, I noticed there's a question asking if the passport info you inputted is the first passport you've had.  How should I answer that?  And should I send an accompanying letter explaining exactly what happened?  Just don't want to raise any unnecessary flags.

Thanks!

A couple of questions.  I looked through my drawer where I've kept momentos (cards, letters, ticket stubs, etc), and I have SOME boarding passes from my flights, but not nearly as many as I would have hoped.  And I don't have the e-tickets.....check that, I just checked the "deleted e-mails" section of my e-mail, and I DO have some.  Ok nice.  Do I need them ALL?  If so, and I don't have it, what is my recourse?  Contacting the airline?  I know for sure I don't have the one from the very first trip to made to the UK in 2014.

Send what you have. Don't worry about the rest. You might want to add a note in a cover letter to say that you no longer have all the boarding passes/e-tickets.

You need to send all current and previous passports anyway, so they can always look at the stamps in them.

Also, when I applied for my first passport, the first one that was mailed to me was lost.  I never received it.  The issued me a new one, and on page 27 there's a stamped note that says "this passport is a reissue for passport xxxxxxxxx issued on Apr 07 2014".  On the application, I noticed there's a question asking if the passport info you inputted is the first passport you've had.  How should I answer that?  And should I send an accompanying letter explaining exactly what happened?  Just don't want to raise any unnecessary flags.

If it's the first passport you have ever physically received, then put yes. Because if you put no, then you will be asked to list the details (numbers, issue dates etc.) of all the other passports you've held... and you haven't held any others.

Like above, you could just make a note in a cover letter explaining the reason for the stamp in your passport.


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Thanks again for the answers.  Here's more questions!  Lol....

- with my wife's bank statements, should she highlight anything?  Such as payroll deposits, rent payments, etc?  Or leave them as-is?  Just don't want them to consider it "doctored" or something weird.

- when your package is sent back to you, what exactly is in it?  Everything you sent?  Or do they keep certain items?  Like, will they send back the photographs?  The boarding passes?

- I don't really know how to explain this well in words, but I'll try.  So we are going to send in all kinds of things - statements, evidence, etc, etc.  Should we include any copies of those things inside of the package?  Like, the original PLUS a photocopy?  We don't want the bank statements back if it's an option, so if they keep the original, do we still need to include a copy?  Or is it only if you want it back?  I hope that makes sense.

TIA.  There will be many more

- for your wife's bank statements, she should leave them as is

- they will keep the application forms and any letters addressed to them. They should send everything else back... however you should include photocopies of all the original documents you wish to be returned, or they may keep the originals

- ah, just answered your question about copies. Yes, send originals AND copies of everything you want returned.


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Thank you!

A question about timing.  Hopefully I'll be mailing off everything in the next 2-3 weeks, which will be around the first week in November.  My goal all along has been to be with my wife in the UK for Christmas, which seems a lot more possible now than it did a couple weeks ago due to the backlog seemingly being sorted through.  Ideally I would like to arrive in the UK somewhere in the December 17th-20th sort of range.  Don't want to get there too early because the longer I'm here, the longer I can work and etc, plus get everything taken care of here.  Let's just say for the sake of this example that I put December 17th as my expected arrival date in the UK, and my application is scooped up and approved right away, let's just say on November 11th.  Is it accurate that you have 30 days to arrive once it's approved?  If so, would my December 17th date impact that, or would it be 30 days from November 11th?

I know this is a few steps down the road, just want to know exactly how it works.

*sort of entering slight panic mode*

Just can't wait to be done with this, it's been soooo long.

Thank you!

A question about timing.  Hopefully I'll be mailing off everything in the next 2-3 weeks, which will be around the first week in November.  My goal all along has been to be with my wife in the UK for Christmas, which seems a lot more possible now than it did a couple weeks ago due to the backlog seemingly being sorted through.  Ideally I would like to arrive in the UK somewhere in the December 17th-20th sort of range.  Don't want to get there too early because the longer I'm here, the longer I can work and etc, plus get everything taken care of here.  Let's just say for the sake of this example that I put December 17th as my expected arrival date in the UK, and my application is scooped up and approved right away, let's just say on November 11th.  Is it accurate that you have 30 days to arrive once it's approved?  If so, would my December 17th date impact that, or would it be 30 days from November 11th?

I know this is a few steps down the road, just want to know exactly how it works.

*sort of entering slight panic mode*

Just can't wait to be done with this, it's been soooo long.

If the application is decided before your nominated date, then they should make your visa valid from this date. They don't always do that though so it might be a good idea to mention it in your cover letter and also provide a proposed itinerary to emphasise the date you have chosen.

If that date has passed, they usually pick a date within a week or so of the date the decision is made.

More!  This time these are about Appendix 2, the financials form...

Question 1.19, asking if I've lived with my sponsor....I have not, because we live 5,000 miles apart.  Is that a good enough explanation as to why?  Or do they want more than that?  Or is something like "we've been in a long distance relationship, and are awaiting approval of this visa before we live together" what I should write?

Question 1.28.  My wife's daughter is 18, and still lives at home while she's going to school.  So I guess legally my wife isn't financially responsible for her since she's an adult, right?  But what should be put here?  And under the "how much is spent per month?" part, how do you go about figuring that out?  Should we factor in a percentage of the rent? Groceries?  It's sort of ambiguous.

Question 3.3.  We are meeting the financial requirement with a combination of my wife's income, plus her cash savings and my 401(k).  Which box(es) do we X for this part?  Looks like 3A for my wife's employment, but which category, A or B?  Also 3F for the cash savings, but what does Category D mean?  And for my 401(k), what would that be classified as?  Sorry if that's a bit convoluted, but there are a lot of subsections in that question.

Question 3.22 - this question does not apply to my wife's employment situation, do we leave it blank? Or mark "no"?

And for Question 3.74, would it be Category D, or Category D combined with other income?  I'm confused as to what Category D is....

Thanks!

More!  This time these are about Appendix 2, the financials form...

Question 1.19, asking if I've lived with my sponsor....I have not, because we live 5,000 miles apart.  Is that a good enough explanation as to why?  Or do they want more than that?  Or is something like "we've been in a long distance relationship, and are awaiting approval of this visa before we live together" what I should write?

Question 1.28.  My wife's daughter is 18, and still lives at home while she's going to school.  So I guess legally my wife isn't financially responsible for her since she's an adult, right?  But what should be put here?  And under the "how much is spent per month?" part, how do you go about figuring that out?  Should we factor in a percentage of the rent? Groceries?  It's sort of ambiguous.

Question 3.3.  We are meeting the financial requirement with a combination of my wife's income, plus her cash savings and my 401(k).  Which box(es) do we X for this part?  Looks like 3A for my wife's employment, but which category, A or B?  Also 3F for the cash savings, but what does Category D mean?  And for my 401(k), what would that be classified as?  Sorry if that's a bit convoluted, but there are a lot of subsections in that question.

Question 3.22 - this question does not apply to my wife's employment situation, do we leave it blank? Or mark "no"?

And for Question 3.74, would it be Category D, or Category D combined with other income?  I'm confused as to what Category D is....

Thanks!

For not living together, either one would be fine or; you don't have a visa that permits you to live in the other's country.

Category D is cash savings. You're combining cat D with employment income.

1.19 - you can just put 'we live in different countries'

1.28 - if she is still financially dependant on your wife, then it's probably worth including her... I'd just give a ballpark figure for how much your wife spends on supporting her each month.

3.3 - you tick 3F Category D, and then for 3A... is she using Category A or Category B to meet the income requirement?

- Category A is if she has been with her current employer for at least 6 months, earning the amount she is relying on for at least 6 months (so she provides 6 months of payslips and bank statements)

- Category B is if she has been with her current employer for LESS THAN 6 months, and so she is relying on her current income figure PLUS the last 12 months of income  (so she provides 12 months of payslips and bank statements)

3.22 - if it does not apply, leave it blank. Also, if it does not apply, then it means you are applying under Category A (in which case you tick yes to 3.12 and you do not need to answer questions 3.13 to 3.20)

3.74 - Category D is Cash Savings, which can be combined with employment income to meet the requirement. So, as you are applying under both Category A and Category D, you tick 'Category D combined with other income'