Spouse Visa Docs - Proof of relationship

Hi all,

I am just in the process of  slowly gathering all the documentation for me (UK citizen) and my partner (US citizen)to apply for spousal visa in July. In addition to a cover letter from myself and my partner,  I am going to have the following documentation as part of the relationship proof. I think it should be enough, any advice would be appreciated.

1.  Marriage certificate (Will have it early June, after we are married) + photos from wedding (quiet civil ceremony with only 4-5 relatives)
2. Email confirmation of holiday flights
3. 2 photos of us together on all  our holidays (8 holidays in the last 1.5 years so 16 photos altogether)
4. Train tickets to visit partner whilst she was working in UK (one return ticket per month)
5. Joint bank account letter (opened one this month so should have one months statement by the time of application)
6. Signed and dated letter from a friend / work colleague
7. What's app messages . Screenshot of 4 messages per month / one per week.
8. Screenshot of call logs

Obviously trying to include as much information as possible. For the photos, I will be putting them together in a word document with annotations including dates of events/holidays and reference to boarding passes / tickets if applicable.

You only need 2 photos in total.  One from the wedding and one from earlier in the relationship.  Should be just the two of you.

They will not consider letters from friends or family members, so save yourself the trouble there.

Everything else looks good. 

You only need 2 photos in total.  One from the wedding and one from earlier in the relationship.  Should be just the two of you.

They will not consider letters from friends or family members, so save yourself the trouble there.

Everything else looks good. 

Better to be safe than sorry? As long as more than 2 photos doesn't count against us !

Better to be safe than sorry? As long as more than 2 photos doesn't count against us !

Just be sure the Entry Clearance Officer can see the trees in the forest.  Don't overwhelm them.  It's a tick box visa.  They simply need to tick a box to move to the next section.

A photo is needed to prove you've met in person.  They just need one to tick the box.  You don't get a bigger or better tick for providing more than required.
 
Remember - arranged marriages are allowed.   

Just be sure the Entry Clearance Officer can see the trees in the forest.  Don't overwhelm them.  It's a tick box visa.  They simply need to tick a box to move to the next section.

A photo is needed to prove you've met in person.  They just need one to tick the box.  You don't get a bigger or better tick for providing more than required.
 
Remember - arranged marriages are allowed.   

Hi KFDancer,

On a separate note, my partner will be applying from the US, do I just post her all of my documents and then she posts everything to UKVI?

Hi KFDancer,

On a separate note, my partner will be applying from the US, do I just post her all of my documents and then she posts everything to UKVI?

Yes.  Do NOT use Royal Mailnor ParcelForce.  Use UPS, DHL, or FedEx.

Yes.  Do NOT use Royal Mailnor ParcelForce.  Use UPS, DHL, or FedEx.

Hi KFdancer,

Can't seem to change the subject to the thread but thought may as well use this for all my questions regarding application and you have been incredibly helpful so far. I am going to get the bulk of paper work together this weekend ! I have written my letter of sponsor for spousal visa. Could you please check this for me and see if it is okay.

To The Entry Clearance Officer,

I am writing to confirm my sponsorship of (partner's name) for a spousal visa to join me in the UK. I am a British citizen and a permanent resident in the UK.

I am currently employed full-time at (current workplace) as a (job role), and have been employed here since 20th of November 2017. My current salary is (salary) and I have been earning this salary since 20th of November 2017. I will therefore be using this salary to meet the financial requirement under Category A and I am including the relevant supporting documents as evidence.

When (partner's name) has been granted her visa, we plan to live at (address) which is a 3 bedroom house that I rent. I am including the most recent letting agreement statement and further supporting documents including a no objection letter from the landlord to meet the accommodation requirements.

(partner's name) and I first met in person at the (name of pub) on 29th of September 2016. We met during a product launch event for (previous employer) where we were both employed. There was a clear spark between us and we started dating on the 30th of September 2016 and soon entered into a relationship in October 2016. We immediately found we had many things in common with shared interests in food and a passion for travelling. During the time that (partner's name) and I were working at (previous employer), we were able to see each other on a daily basis. Upon completion of my fixed term contract at (previous employer), I relocated to Cambridge for a short while before permanently moving to (current location). During this time, (partner's name) and I visited each other on alternative weekends.

Over the last year and a half, we realized that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We held a civil ceremony and got married in New York under the presence of family and friends. We have made the decision to settle in the UK based on various factors. This includes the high quality of education, level of skilled jobs, excellent healthcare system and the safe environment that it provides , thus enabling us to start a family.

I am including the following documents to support the application:
•   My UK Passport
•   6 months of payslips – Certified by HR manager
•   6 months of bank statements showing deposits of each pay slip – Electronic statements certified and stamped by bank
•   Original job contract
•   P60
•   Detailed letter from employer including length of employment, current salary and type of employment
•   Current rental agreement
•   No objection letter from landlord
•   Marriage certificate
•   Joint bank account statement
•   Proof of relationship – photos from wedding, holidays , WhatsApp messages, train tickets and flight confirmation

Yours Sincerely,
(My name)

Signed and dated for last week of June as application will be submitted in early July.

Further to the letter of sponsorship above, this will be the non objection letter from my landlord. I will attach my rental agreement to go with it. Please have a read through and see if these will be sufficient to meet the accommodation criteria.

(landlords name)
(landlords address)
(landlords phone number)
 
(date of letter - will be dated end of June to ensure its within 28 days)
 
To the Entry Clearance Officer,
 
I can confirm that I am the landlord and owner of (current address). This property has 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms. The property has been previously let for a number of years and is classed as a long term let property.

I can confirm that (my name) met our tenant application criteria and has resided at this property since 29th of January 2018 as the primary tenant. (my name) has been an ideal tenant and has never missed a month’s rent. He has also completed the assured shorthold period. Therefore, by agreement with both parties the tenancy has become periodic (rolling month-to-month).
 
I, (landlords name) am aware that (spouses name) would be moving into the property upon her arrival in the UK. I am happy for this to be the case and am giving my permission. Please also be notified that they will not break the Housing Overcrowding Act. The rental agreement will be amended to include (spouses name) name once she has been granted the relevant visa documentation from the UK home office.
 
If you would like to discuss the matter further please call me on (landlords number).
 
 
Yours sincerely
(landlords name)

Signed and dated

Your letter looks good.  I’d add the visa type that your wife held while in the UK, so there is no questi9n that she was allowed to be working.

The landlord letter is a bit long, but no harm there.  If you are the sole tenant, I’d add that too.  Otherwise state how many are currently living there.

Your letter looks good.  I’d add the visa type that your wife held while in the UK, so there is no questi9n that she was allowed to be working.

The landlord letter is a bit long, but no harm there.  If you are the sole tenant, I’d add that too.  Otherwise state how many are currently living there.

Thank you. Another question for you if you're able to help, my partner is currently on tier 2 visa, however, she resigned from her role at the start of this month and will leave the job end of May to go back to US temporarily . There is a good chance that her workplace might not send the notification to the home office about the termination of her contract for a few months (they might have even forgotten she's being sponsored by them !). If they do not send this to the home office until after my partner has put in the application for her spouse visa , will this have an adverse affect on her application? Can she be refused as she will be applying for spousal visa from outside UK but her Tier 2 would still be valid? Is it possible to hold these two visas simultaneously. Not saying that this will happen, but there is a very good chance as her HR department is quite slow and has to be reminded about these things.

Not an issue.  Just a shame you didn’t get the app in a couple of weeks ago so she could change in country!   

Not an issue.  Just a shame you didn’t get the app in a couple of weeks ago so she could change in country!   

Well that's whole another issue. We could have done this quite easily but she's just fed up with her current job and manage to get a 4 month really good contract role in the US. Oh well, guess we will have to do it the hard way !

Not an issue.  Just a shame you didn’t get the app in a couple of weeks ago so she could change in country!   

Hi again,

Another question, just putting together our whatsapp chat history etc to show that we have been in regular contact. This seems a bit silly for us as my spouse has been in the UK the entire time that we have known each other. We chat and talk on the phone everyday.  We never lived together due to working in separate cities and the short while we we were working in the same place, I was on a fixed term contract . I was wondering how many call logs / whastapp conversation is enough to cover a period of 1.5 years? 1 per week so 78? How should I put them? Like 5/6 a page, this would mean 20 pages of whatsapp conversations.

Hi again,

Another question, just putting together our whatsapp chat history etc to show that we have been in regular contact. This seems a bit silly for us as my spouse has been in the UK the entire time that we have known each other. We chat and talk on the phone everyday.  We never lived together due to working in separate cities and the short while we we were working in the same place, I was on a fixed term contract . I was wondering how many call logs / whastapp conversation is enough to cover a period of 1.5 years? 1 per week so 78? How should I put them? Like 5/6 a page, this would mean 20 pages of whatsapp conversations.

Definitely not that many lol! My husband and I sent in two pages for each type of program we used. So, 2 pages of whatsapp call logs, 2 pages of Skype call logs, etc. (no context, just 'start time/end time' type information). Giving them too much to read over will take your application longer to approve 

Definitely not that many lol! My husband and I sent in two pages for each type of program we used. So, 2 pages of whatsapp call logs, 2 pages of Skype call logs, etc. (no context, just 'start time/end time' type information). Giving them too much to read over will take your application longer to approve 

Thanks for this, what would be the frequency of messages i.e. one every two weeks then? What did you do? Also , would I screenshot the message info on whatsapp, as when I go on the actual chat, it doesn't show me the dates.