Spouse Visa Docs - Proof of relationship

Just a quick question about the sponsor letter since I am the sponsor. I was under the impression that my husband who is applying for the spouse visa was the one who writes a letter with his details and intention to move to the UK. Am I wrong?

As the sponsor, you must write a letter. The applicant only has to write one if there are unusual circumstances that they need to explain.

You should cover how you are eligible to be a sponsor (British citizen)
How you meet the accommodation and financial requirements and a brief explanation of your relationship and the reason that you are choosing to settle in the UK.

Just a quick question about the sponsor letter since I am the sponsor. I was under the impression that my husband who is applying for the spouse visa was the one who writes a letter with his details and intention to move to the UK. Am I wrong?

The sponsor is the one who has to prove they are supporting the visa application and can meet all the visa requirements to bring their spouse/partner to the UK (that they can support them financially, provide a place to live and show their relationship is genuine).

Therefore it is absolutely mandatory that the sponsor writes a letter showing this support and outlining how they are eligible to sponsor their partner's visa.

From the supporting documents guidance (ignore the 'This could be' - it's not optional and we have seen visas refused for not including a sponsor letter):

Evidence of your relationship to your sponsor and any contact between you
This could be a letter from your sponsor confirming your relationship and that they are supporting your application along with copies of:
 birth certificate or adoption certificate
 marriage certificate or civil partnership certificate
 death or divorce certificate
 photographs of your wedding, civil partnership ceremony or other time spent together
 phone records
 emails, letters or cards
* You should not submit DVDs or video cassettes*

The letter should be in the following format:
Paragraph 1: how you qualify to be a sponsor (your UK citizenship)
Paragraph 2: your employment situation and which financial requirement category you meet
Paragraph 3: where you will live together in the UK, including the address of the property, the property details (number of bedrooms etc.), who owns it and how many people will be living there
Paragraph 4: a short, factual history of your relationship (no feelings, just dates and locations), including how, when and where you met, how often you see each other, how you communicate while apart, when and where you got engaged/married, and why you are choosing to settle in the UK together instead of another country

Thank you. Seems we had it backwards.
My husband has written his own cover letter -- should we include that as well?
Also wondering about photos. I've put together several photos in a Word document with notations about when they were taken (we've been married almost 12 years and been travelling around the world for much of it). I read somewhere that we should send original photos, not photocopies. Can someone confirm please?

Thank you. Seems we had it backwards.
My husband has written his own cover letter -- should we include that as well?

If it’s similar to the sponsor letter requirements, then no.

The applicant can include a letter but it should only be a contents letter regarding the package being sent... so none of the stuff that goes in the sponsor letter should be in it.

The applicant letter can say:
- visa type applied for and date you want the 30-day vignette to start
- an explanation of anything unusual about the documents in the package (I.e, large bank transactions or reason why something has not been included)
- an explanation of any complicated circumstances regarding the application, such as criminal convictions or bad U.K. immigration history (previous refused visas or entry to the U.K., previous illegal working or overstaying in the U.K.).
- a list of the documents included in the package

Also wondering about photos. I've put together several photos in a Word document with notations about when they were taken (we've been married almost 12 years and been travelling around the world for much of it). I read somewhere that we should send original photos, not photocopies. Can someone confirm please?

You should only include 2 photos maximum and they should be printed on actual photo paper.

I would recommend sending one recent photo and one from your wedding.

The only reason you are sending a photo at all is to prove you have met in person at least once, so only you and your husband should be in the picture. UKVI just need to tick that they have seen a photo so there’s no need to include more than 1 or 2 in total.



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Thanks again.
As you are well aware, it's all very confusing as there are so many contradicting messages as to what to send.

If it’s similar to the sponsor letter requirements, then no.

The applicant can include a letter but it should only be a contents letter regarding the package being sent... so none of the stuff that goes in the sponsor letter should be in it.

The applicant letter can say:
- visa type applied for and date you want the 30-day vignette to start
- an explanation of anything unusual about the documents in the package (I.e, large bank transactions or reason why something has not been included)
- an explanation of any complicated circumstances regarding the application, such as criminal convictions or bad U.K. immigration history (previous refused visas or entry to the U.K., previous illegal working or overstaying in the U.K.).
- a list of the documents included in the package

You should only include 2 photos maximum and they should be printed on actual photo paper.

I would recommend sending one recent photo and one from your wedding.

The only reason you are sending a photo at all is to prove you have met in person at least once, so only you and your husband should be in the picture. UKVI just need to tick that they have seen a photo so there’s no need to include more than 1 or 2 in total.



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Is there anywhere that states it has to be on actual photo paper ? I am including 6 photos in total . 2 from the wedding and 4 from out trips . I have put two photos per page on a word document with a text box next to them and annotating them e.g photo and then next to it , it says photo from vacation to xxx from xx/xx/xx - xx/xx/xx ; ref: flight confirmation email attached .

I thought this was sufficient .


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Is there anywhere that states it has to be on actual photo paper ?

Not specifically, but they will look more authentic if they are printed on photo paper.

I am including 6 photos in total . 2 from the wedding and 4 from out trips . I have put two photos per page on a word document with a text box next to them and annotating them e.g photo and then next to it , it says photo from vacation to xxx from xx/xx/xx - xx/xx/xx ; ref: flight confirmation email attached .

I thought this was sufficient .

That's actually too much. You don't need any dates or annotations on them and you only need 2 photos maximum.

Just pick two photos (one from the wedding and one at another time in the relationship), print them on photo paper (either at home or order them online or print in a Walgreens/Walmart or something) and put them with your documents.

The ONLY reason you are including a photo is to prove you have met in person at least once. That's it. You don't need to tie them to trips or dates or flight numbers.

Thanks for all the helpful information as we gather together all the information we need.
Since I'm new to this site, I'm wondering what makes someone an "Expert" and/or "UKY Hero"?

Thanks for all the helpful information as we gather together all the information we need.
Since I'm new to this site, I'm wondering what makes someone an "Expert" and/or "UKY Hero"?

Ksand24 happens to be our actual expert but the title just comes with the number of posts. 

The badges come by supporting the website with small donations, go into the subscription section of your profile for more information.

Not specifically, but they will look more authentic if they are printed on photo paper.

That's actually too much. You don't need any dates or annotations on them and you only need 2 photos maximum.

Just pick two photos (one from the wedding and one at another time in the relationship), print them on photo paper (either at home or order them online or print in a Walgreens/Walmart or something) and put them with your documents.

The ONLY reason you are including a photo is to prove you have met in person at least once. That's it. You don't need to tie them to trips or dates or flight numbers.

Hey so I am attaching our what’s app conversation logs . Doing 16 messages per page so we will have 5 pages in total covering 80 messages and a period of 1 year and 9 months .

Please see the attached photo and let me know if it’s okay . I am not blocking out the content , will this be fine ? I know they don’t care about the content , just the names and times so don’t need to block it I suppose . Just seems like extra work if they haven’t asked for it . Thank you


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Hey so I am attaching our what’s app conversation logs . Doing 16 messages per page so we will have 5 pages in total covering 80 messages and a period of 1 year and 9 months .

Please see the attached photo and let me know if it’s okay . I am not blocking out the content , will this be fine ? I know they don’t care about the content , just the names and times so don’t need to block it I suppose . Just seems like extra work if they haven’t asked for it . Thank you


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The screenshots look good, but I would still recommend cropping out the messages and instead getting maybe 24 (or more) on a page... surely it's more work for you to black out each message than it is to just crop them out? (I get that you may have just blacked them out for posting on the forum, but I would black them out for the application too).

Also, bear in mind that if you do send the actual messages, not blacked out, they may inadvertently include something that could jeopardise your application (i.e. someone was refused entry as a visitor once because UKVI looked through her diary and found out she had worked illegally on her previous visit (by babysitting for a friend!) - if they hadn't brought their diary in the first place, they would not have had an issue).

Plus, the more pages you send them, the more time it takes for Sheffield to go through the evidence, and the longer it takes them to process the visa. Not to mention, it makes your package bigger and heavier (which may mean more expensive to ship, depending on your shipping method).

The screenshots look good, but I would still recommend cropping out the messages and instead getting maybe 24 (or more) on a page... surely it's more work for you to black out each message than it is to just crop them out? (I get that you may have just blacked them out for posting on the forum, but I would black them out for the application too).

Also, bear in mind that if you do send the actual messages, not blacked out, they may inadvertently include something that could jeopardise your application (i.e. someone was refused entry as a visitor once because UKVI looked through her diary and found out she had worked illegally on her previous visit (by babysitting for a friend!) - if they hadn't brought their diary in the first place, they would not have had an issue).

Plus, the more pages you send them, the more time it takes for Sheffield to go through the evidence, and the longer it takes them to process the visa. Not to mention, it makes your package bigger and heavier (which may mean more expensive to ship, depending on your shipping method).

I have managed to squeeze out 24 per page ! They’re small but legible . That gives us just over 3 pages in total . The screenshots are every 10 days or so .

From October 2016 - June 2017, I have only out screenshots from my side as my wife lost her phone and she can’t trace the old messages . From June 2017- June 2018, I have done alternating screenshots . One week from me and one week from my wife .

This should be plenty . I have attached screenshots of messages on weekends and whilst we were on trips together . I was thinking of also making a note to mention the dates of the vacations that we took together in addition to mentioning that my wife can’t retrieve messages prior to June 2017 as she lost her old phone.

With regards to covering the content , I have double checked every single message and there is not anything that would jeopardise the application . We don’t have anything to hide anyway . They’re more than welcome to go through them.90% of the messages are just greetings . I am sure they would be bored after reading the first couple of messages

So that makes it 3 pages of messages . I am also going to include screenshots of FaceTime call logs for this month as well .


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Hi again , my wife still has her tier 2 BRP (valid until 2020) . Does she need to send this back to Sheffield ? She was going to make a photocopy and send that along with the documents but we think that the BRP card needs to go as well . Although , there is no mention of this anywhere . When she switched from tier 4 to tier 2, she gave her tier 2 biometric back . I suppose it wouldn’t harm to give it back , seeing as she has ceased her employment in the UK ( the curtailment letter is yet to come through )

Thanks


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As the sponsor, you must write a letter. The applicant only has to write one if there are unusual circumstances that they need to explain.

You should cover how you are eligible to be a sponsor (British citizen)
How you meet the accommodation and financial requirements and a brief explanation of your relationship and the reason that you are choosing to settle in the UK.

Hi Larrabee,

My wife (applicant) will be sending in a short letter of introduction, it is as follows:

To the Entry Clearance Officer,

Ref: Spousal Visa


My name is (name) and I am applying for the Spousal Visa.  I am a citizen of the United States and my sponsor/husband is (my name) a UK citizen. I would like the 30-day vignette to start September 15, 2018.

 I have had 2 prior UK Visas the first being a Tier 4 Visa (visa number) which was valid from August 31, 2015 through February 2017.  I was then sponsored by, (sponsor company), for a Tier 2 visa (visa number) which commenced on February 22, 2017 and valid until March 11, 2020.  Although, I ceased working for (Sponsor Company) on May 31, 2018 and I left the UK on June 5, 2018 and returned to the United States.


I have enclosed the following documents:

•   My US passport
•   Marriage certificate
•   Divorce Decree
•   Biometric Card
•   Proof of relationship

Will this be okay?

That’s too long for the letter, but every single document for the visa should be listed, as it is a contents letter accompanying the package

I’d just go with:

To the Entry Clearance Officer,

Please find enclosed my application and supporting documents for a settlement visa to join my spouse in the U.K.. I would like the 30-day vignette to start September 15, 2018, as per the intended travel date listed on the application form.

The following documents are included in this package:

List EVERY SINGLE document that is being sent, including application forms, sponsor’s documents, financial documents, accommodation documents and relationship documents.

Yours Faithfully,
Your Name



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