Document checklist before submission (another one)

We got a similar document from Wells Fargo, but the clearance officer stated it only shows when the bank account was opened. It doesn't prove anything subsisting after that.

For our new settlement application, we called Wells Fargo's customer service 1-800 number and had them mail to us photocopies of our bank statements dating back to October 2014 when we first opened our account. They do look like photocopies, literally b&w, but it's accompanied by a letter from Wells Fargo stating they were happy to provide us with their "research photocopy service". The letter also stated our joint checking account number plus the number of pages they mailed to us (a lot!). I also noticed each page had a bar code printed that matched on every page. But since we didn't want to mess up this 2nd application, we went to a Wells Fargo branch and sat there until they agreed to stamp each page for good measure. Haha. We did print out the UKVI Appendix FM & FM-SE to show to the branch manager and that we weren't just making up the requirements.

Yeah we are going to have to do that, have Chase just print us out one statement from each year and have the bank rep stamp and sign each of them. But that covers us from 2009-current.

We its the 2005-2009 gap that we will have to dig around through our boxes in the garage and see what we can find. I know there are boxes of paperwork I have not yet purged. I'll see whats in them. Something tells me I'm just going to have to provide more "alternative" stuff then normal in order to prove it. Kinda sad that its so difficult to PROVE you have been in a relationship. haha

Yeah we are going to have to do that, have Chase just print us out one statement from each year and have the bank rep stamp and sign each of them. But that covers us from 2009-current.

If Chase is anything like Wells Fargo, be prepared to sit there for a long time and have to talk to 3 different people explaining the situation. They were very hesitant because the request was outside of their norm. Very frustrating because everything was in template form. Seems nobody these days has any authority, even branch managers, to draft a simple letter and print on their letterhead.

I was thinking about this a little more tonight.

What happens for couples who have dated a long time but dont live together so they dont have shared leases, utilities, taxes, etc. but then they eventually get married? Obviously they'll have pictures together from their relationship, maybe some keepstake ticket stubs or things.

When they apply and state how long they've been together, do they use the date of the marriage forward (so that they have bills & accounts together) or do they face the same issue where they have to come up with "alternative" ways to prove all those years they dated and didnt live together?

I'm assuming if we say "We've been together since 2012 (the year we start having a lot of documents that we can show living together that I haven't thrown out)" instead of 2005, that I risk somehow being found out and denied right?

You’re seriously overthinking this.

Just dig out whatever you can find from 2005 and 2012 and include it.

You can explain in the application form that you got rid of a lot of stuff and don’t have much evidence anymore.

And instead you can include some of the other things you listed from 2005 onwards.


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I was thinking about this a little more tonight.

What happens for couples who have dated a long time but dont live together so they dont have shared leases, utilities, taxes, etc. but then they eventually get married? Obviously they'll have pictures together from their relationship, maybe some keepstake ticket stubs or things.

When they apply and state how long they've been together, do they use the date of the marriage forward (so that they have bills & accounts together) or do they face the same issue where they have to come up with "alternative" ways to prove all those years they dated and didnt live together?

They use the date they entered into a relationship.

In probably 99% of application cases they will have been in a long-distance relationship in different countries and so will have needed to use other means of communication because they won’t be able to spend much time together in person.

In that case they provide:
- email inbox screenshots
- text message logs
- phone logs
- plane tickets
- letters/cards
Etc.

In order for them to have been in the same country for all that time, one of them would need to have held a visa for that country and there’s a good chance, because of immigration issues that they would have ended up living together and/or getting married fairly early on.



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You’re seriously overthinking this.

Sorry. I'm just one of those people who like having everything set out and having a backup plan. I'll try not to think about it so much.

Las night I did write a reply to your list of what you could gather from 2005 onwards, but I don’t think it actually posted for some reason.

Anyway, if you can dig out the things you mentioned in there and include them, you’ll be fine . Even if you can only manage 1 item every 2 years, it’ll be better than nothing.

No need to overthink or worry about it. Just include as much as you can, explain the reason why you don’t have much from before 2012, and you’ll be fine.

Also, if you aren’t applying for a while (2020?) then you’ll have even more evidence to show by then, which will only help the application


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I thought I should probably add the conclusion to the original post. We got it!

Documents were sent following the advice from ksand24 our time line was as follows.

March 21st Email from UK saying documents received.
April 4th Email from UK saying decision made.
April 6th Visa arrives.

Thanks again.

I know that I can in no way provide anything like the advice of others on this board but if anyone feels they are in a similar spot in the future and you are reading this please don't hesitate to message me.

I thought I should probably add the conclusion to the original post. We got it!

Documents were sent following the advice from ksand24 our time line was as follows.

March 21st Email from UK saying documents received.
April 4th Email from UK saying decision made.
April 6th Visa arrives.

Thanks again.

I know that I can in no way provide anything like the advice of others on this board but if anyone feels they are in a similar spot in the future and you are reading this please don't hesitate to message me.

Congratulations! That’s a fast result! 

I thought I should probably add the conclusion to the original post. We got it!

Documents were sent following the advice from ksand24 our time line was as follows.

March 21st Email from UK saying documents received.
April 4th Email from UK saying decision made.
April 6th Visa arrives.

Thanks again.

I know that I can in no way provide anything like the advice of others on this board but if anyone feels they are in a similar spot in the future and you are reading this please don't hesitate to message me.

Super fast!  Congratulations!

We got it!

Congratulations!!! 

I thought I should probably add the conclusion to the original post. We got it!

Documents were sent following the advice from ksand24 our time line was as follows.

March 21st Email from UK saying documents received.
April 4th Email from UK saying decision made.
April 6th Visa arrives.

Thanks again.

I know that I can in no way provide anything like the advice of others on this board but if anyone feels they are in a similar spot in the future and you are reading this please don't hesitate to message me.

Absolutely fabulous!!! Congratulations on your quick decision! :-)

Thank you all.

I really can't claim any credit at all. You can see from the thread where I started, and the changes made based on the advice given.

I will admit there were things that seemed odd to me about the whole process. I really wanted to include my kids birth certificates, since to me that is the most concrete proof of the genuineness of our relationship (though I understand that is more personal feeling than official proof). However, it seemed clear to me that ksand24 and others had a better understanding of how it all worked, so I decided to trust their experience. Obviously that turned out to be a good choice!

Congratulations

I will admit there were things that seemed odd to me about the whole process. I really wanted to include my kids birth certificates, since to me that is the most concrete proof of the genuineness of our relationship (though I understand that is more personal feeling than official proof). However, it seemed clear to me that ksand24 and others had a better understanding of how it all worked, so I decided to trust their experience. Obviously that turned out to be a good choice!

Actually, having kids together is not concrete proof by any means. For example, you might have had children and then split up and now you barely speak to each other and cannot stand to be in the same room as each other, or you might have a child together but aren’t and have never been in a romantic relationship.

What you need to show is proof of an ongoing and subsisting relationship between you, regardless of whether you have children or not, by showing you live together in the same house, you pay for bills together and file taxes together etc.

Think of it this way: if you didn’t have children together, what would you use to show a genuine relationship? Because everyone has to show similar types of documents for relationship evidence, but a lot of couples will not have children together (and many are only recently married).


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