Greg and Tre's advice thread

Ok, so I'm now trying to compile our to-do list in terms of documents required so we don't overlook anything and only find out too late.  Here's what I think we need, and where we are right now:

Tre (applicant) needs:
Passport, and previous passports (does this include when he was a dependant/child?)

Application form - I believe we do this online once we have our marriage certificate, and then print it off? Can you save it as a pdf to print elsewhere/later? (as I don't think Tre has a printer at his apartment so we may need to go into town)

Appendix Form...what exactly is this please?

Marriage certificate

Divorce certificate

?Birth certificate - I'm not sure this is necessary but thought I'd check!

Passport photo (just one?)

IHS payment receipt (I presume this is also to be printed from online so my question re the application form applies here too)

Application receipt (ditto re pdf/printing)

Stamped biometrics letter

Return shipping info


Greg (sponsor) needs:

Sponsor letter, detailing that my flat (that I have a mortgage on) can accommodate us both, that I earn more than 18600pa (NB I may refer to the fact that I have a second 'contractor' style job with the exam board OCR, simply because my bank statements will show income from them and their sister company CIE (Cambridge International) and so that might raise eyebrows with the Clearance Officer if they think I'm not telling them something...I might therefore also include the relevant monthly payslips for that job, but an employer letter shouldn't be necessary as my Royal Mail salary is sufficient...thoughts?), details of when Tre and I met, the depth of our correspondence since...and I believe some reason for why we want to live together in the UK (as opposed to elsewhere)??

Letter from HR detailing my gross annual salary, how long I've been with Royal Mail, and for how long I've been at this rate of pay, and that my employment is permanent

Letter from manager (this mean seem superfluous but previously I have detailed that my payslip is not especially helpful in terms of layout, with eg my pension contribution being listed and deducted before the 'gross pay', and so I feel that something from my manager to confirm what some of the entries on the payslip mean will help the Entry Officer to correlate the HR letter with my payslip. I may also include reference to the multiplying factor of 52.179 that HR use to calculate annual pay - see previous post - to clarify that too)

31 weeks of payslips - 6 months would be 26 weeks and I'd like to include another month and some months are longer than 4 weeks! I have a genuine payslip with 'Royal Mail Group' on for every week, and the net figure on those corresponds to the values on my bank statements

7 months of bank statements - I don't get paper copies but last year I sponsored a Filipino friend to come visit the UK and my BS (nationwide) were willing to stamp statements for me (to clarify - I can print at home and just get the bank to stamp? is black and white ok? I believe single-sided is better?)

Property deed in my name (do I need anything else?)

Certified copy of my passport photo page (who can certify?)


Evidence of message history (lengthy detour, sorry...) - we met online when I was travelling in the US in April 2017 and kept in touch on kik until October-is when we added each other on facebook and used fb messenger in tandem with kik. kik doesn't keep chat history very well so that period is lost. I THINK fb should have correspondence from October 2017 approx. We met in March 2018 when I went over to see Tre and also my friend living in Houston.  I have my booking email for return flights to Houston and also return greyhounds from Houston to San Antonio (where Tre lives). However no boarding passes and actually no photos from that trip (we took photos of other bizarre things such as a pizza we created lol, but not of us together!). Since that trip we used telegram to keep in touch and have messaged everyday on there except for those periods when we've been together physically. Telegram does keep a history, so we have that from March/April 2018 until date of application - how much should we include, and should we also include some from fb from the october2017-march2018 period if available?

Tre was so blown away by me that he made it his mission to save for a passport and flights to see me in July 2018 - we have email confirmation but not boarding passes, but we do have pictures together from that trip.  Same for my trip to see him for a week in September when we road tripped to New Orleans. We have hotel confirmations for these too. Similar October 2018, and I have my boarding passes for Manchester to Houston return. We went to Mexico together on that trip and I have my boarding passes but not Tre's - I can obviously ask him to dig around and see if he has any but at this point we still hadn't decided on the path we wanted to take. We also have photos with Tre's Mum and brother from this trip. Flight emails for Tre coming to see me in November 2018, and I have my boarding pass for our trip to Hamburg but not his..., we have photos/hotel reservations from this trip too.

In December Tre came for two months, leaving end of Feb 2019, and we took trips to Spain and Italy together. The comings and goings caused some consternation among border officials. I have his boarding passes for Dallas-Heathrow and Heathrow to Manchester. I also have boarding passes for both of us from Stansted to Rome and Venice to Manchester, and also Manchester to Alicante, but I can only find mine for Barcelona to Manchester. We have pics from our trips, including our engagement at the Coliseum, and also a pic with my folks. 

The plan is for me to see him in April and May (allows the border force to cool off!), and for him to see me in June and a few days in August before we fly to the states with my folks to get married, so we can keep as many boarding passes from those trips as possible too, and hopefully have a wedding photo to include!  Then I'll see him in September and October while we await the visa (we're not doing priority as we a) prefer to use the money elsewhere, b) Tre moving late November/early December would be ideal for him.

We don't have many cards sent.. maybe Tre has one or two still? I have two 'congratulations on your engagement' cards from my folks and my brother if they would help? Also, we have sometimes sent each other gifts using amazon, so could printouts of those confirmation emails showing that they're going to the other person's address work? Those addresses would match the one on Tre's application and the one on my property deed.

I guess from all that I'm after some idea of how well placed we already are in terms of 'genuine and subsisting relationship' evidence, and what else we need to do, and how much we should include?
---end of detour---

My understanding that Tre having an outstanding car loan, credit card loan and student loan would all not be factors in the decision - is that correct?

We're going to enquire about how quickly we can get a marriage certificate after the event (we'll pay to go in person if need be - we think this should be an option so we get it almost immediately).  Our rough plan is to marry Wed 6th August, get the certificate and print the online form etc by the weekend, and complete biometrics and send off the whole package by the end of the following week.  We will probably have 2 or 3 days for slippage at the start of the following week too.

Sorry for the long post but I'm going to get a folder soon and start getting things together and obviously I don't want us to screw up over something basic! 
Anything missing?
Too much of something?

Thanks, forum!

The Appendix 2 form is the second half of the application form and it contains all the questions specific to meeting the spousal visa requirements.

The online form is just a few generic questions about you, but Appendix 2 contains everything about your relationship, the financial requirements and your U.K. accommodation.

You need to print and complete Appendix 2 and gather all the documents before you submit the online application.

DO NOT submit the online application until you are completely ready to send all your documents to New York for processing... it should be one of the last things you do.

See here for Appendix 2 (and a suggested documents list):
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-for-uk-visa-for-family-settlement-form-vaf4a

You don’t need birth certificates.

Only 1 passport photo is needed (and even that is questionable)

You just need the IHS number, so you can either print your email receipt or write the number on your application form.

Letter from HR detailing my gross annual salary, how long I've been with Royal Mail, and for how long I've been at this rate of pay, and that my employment is permanent

Letter from manager (this mean seem superfluous but previously I have detailed that my payslip is not especially helpful in terms of layout, with eg my pension contribution being listed and deducted before the 'gross pay', and so I feel that something from my manager to confirm what some of the entries on the payslip mean will help the Entry Officer to correlate the HR letter with my payslip. I may also include reference to the multiplying factor of 52.179 that HR use to calculate annual pay - see previous post - to clarify that too)

You only need 1 letter, so everything should be in that 1 letter.

31 weeks of payslips - 6 months would be 26 weeks and I'd like to include another month and some months are longer than 4 weeks! I have a genuine payslip with 'Royal Mail Group' on for every week, and the net figure on those corresponds to the values on my bank statements

You probably don’t need 31 weeks... all that matters is that they cover a full 6 months and not a day less... so as you are paid weekly, you probably only need 25 or 26 to cover every date.

7 months of bank statements - I don't get paper copies but last year I sponsored a Filipino friend to come visit the UK and my BS (nationwide) were willing to stamp statements for me (to clarify - I can print at home and just get the bank to stamp? is black and white ok? I believe single-sided is better?)

They either need to be:
- official statements sent in the mail
- statements printed from online banking which have either been stamped on every page, or are accompanied by a letter from the bank confirming their authenticity

Property deed in my name (do I need anything else?)

You can include your latest mortgage statement if you like.

Certified copy of my passport photo page (who can certify?)

The Post Office can do it for about £10.

My understanding that Tre having an outstanding car loan, credit card loan and student loan would all not be factors in the decision - is that correct?

They are not allowed to consider his finances at all, so I doubt they would come up.

The only issue would be for ILR/citizenship 5 years down the line if he has ever declared bankruptcy or anything like that.


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Thanks ksand24

I just browsed appendix 2. The following sections are a little confusing to me:
1.16 If you are an unmarried or same sex partner, have you been living in a relationship akin to marriage or a civil partnership?
Put a cross (x) in the relevant box
Yes No If ‘No’ go to 1.18 Not Applicable If ‘Not applicable’ go to 1.18

1.17 Provide details of how long you have been in a relationship akin to marriage or a civil partnership with your sponsor

1.18Do you intend to live with your sponsor permanently?
   Put a cross (x) in the relevant box >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

1.19 Have you lived with your sponsor in a relationship akin to marriage or a civil partnership at any time (including since your
wedding or civil partnership ceremony)? Put a cross (x) in the relevant box
Yes No If ‘Yes’ please give full details. If ‘No’ please give reasons why you have never lived together.

How should we approach these sections? What is 'a relationship akin to marriage'?

Also 'Do you and your sponsor have any shared financial responsibilities?' - what are they looking for here? Does sharing the costs of travelling to see each other, and the costs of the visa application etc count? Or are they talking about mortgages/car loans/dependents, etc?

What is the 'application receipt' and do we need it?

Does the main online form take us through to biometrics bookings and the IHS payment on completion? Do we have to print this form on completion or can it be saved as pdf to print elsewhere later?

"You only need 1 letter, so everything should be in that 1 letter." How about I wait until I get my official cookie-cutter letter from HR, and then see whether the forum things that is sufficient to remove doubt? If doubts remain, I can draft a letter clarifying anything for my manager to sign.

Can the bank statements I take into branch be black and white and double-sided?

"The Post Office can do it for about £10." - is this the cheapest/best option?

Regarding relationship evidence, can anyone give some guidance as to how well placed we are with what we already have, what we should include or omit from what we already have, and what we should try to get together before applying? (see prior post)

Thanks all

Thanks ksand24

I just browsed appendix 2. The following sections are a little confusing to me:
1.16 If you are an unmarried or same sex partner, have you been living in a relationship akin to marriage or a civil partnership?
Put a cross (x) in the relevant box
Yes No If ‘No’ go to 1.18 Not Applicable If ‘Not applicable’ go to 1.18

I don’t know why it says that for same-sex partners as well... because it’s only unmarried partners that must have lived together before applying.

So, just tick no to 1.16 and go to 1.18, then tick yes to 1.18.

For 1.19, you tick no.

A ‘relationship akin to marriage’ basically means you are living together as if you were a married couple, but you just aren’t married... so, it means you legally live at the same address, with both names on tenancy agreements, bills etc.

Also 'Do you and your sponsor have any shared financial responsibilities?' - what are they looking for here? Does sharing the costs of travelling to see each other, and the costs of the visa application etc count? Or are they talking about mortgages/car loans/dependents, etc?

Your answer is no here because you don’t live together yet.

I take it to mean legal responsibilities like a mortgage or loan, but some people take it to mean monthly rent and bills.

What is the 'application receipt' and do we need it?

Don’t know - I assume it’s the acknowledgement that you have paid for the visa, which will be generated when you submit the online application.

Does the main online form take us through to biometrics bookings and the IHS payment on completion? Do we have to print this form on completion or can it be saved as pdf to print elsewhere later?

Yes. You will be prompted to book biometrics (make sure it’s at a USCIS ASC and not a Premium Centre) and to pay the IHS as part of the online application.

You will need to print:
- online application form
- biometrics appointment confirmation sheet... this is then taken to your biometrics and will be stamped. Then you place the stamped sheet with your documents.

"You only need 1 letter, so everything should be in that 1 letter." How about I wait until I get my official cookie-cutter letter from HR, and then see whether the forum things that is sufficient to remove doubt? If doubts remain, I can draft a letter clarifying anything for my manager to sign.

You can, though it’s best to just ask them to write what’s needed first... I think most people just draft a letter for them to sign.

It must include:
- current employment and salary
- length of employment
- length of time earning current salary
- type of employment
Plus verification of each payslip, including amount and date paid into your account (just in case any dates don’t match)

Can the bank statements I take into branch be black and white and double-sided?

They can be black and white, but I would go single-sided, because you don’t want to risk only one side being scanned.

"The Post Office can do it for about £10." - is this the cheapest/best option?

Yep. If you went through a solicitor, it would cost you probably £50-100.

Though it’s not vital to get it certified at all, so you can just send a photocopy.

Regarding relationship evidence, can anyone give some guidance as to how well placed we are with what we already have, what we should include or omit from what we already have, and what we should try to get together before applying? (see prior post)

You should send:
- all boarding passes
- all personal letters/cards you have sent to each other.
- a selection of messages/emails/calls, spread over the length of the relationship... maybe 40-80 per communication type in total, depending on how long you have communicated.

Don’t send any receipts or confirmation emails from companies, or cards from anyone else.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fab, thanks

"For 1.19, you tick no." - it asks for reasons if you tick 'no', do we just put because we're living on opposite sides of the Atlantic?! Also, Tre was here from December 28th to Feb 25 as an opportunity for us to see what living together would be like - is this worth mentioning anywhere?

"You will need to print:
- online application form
- biometrics appointment confirmation sheet... this is then taken to your biometrics and will be stamped. Then you place the stamped sheet with your documents."
...can we print these at a later time, or do we need to ensure we are using a computer with a printer once we start filling in the form?

"You can, though it’s best to just ask them to write what’s needed first... I think most people just draft a letter for them to sign.
It must include:
- current employment and salary
- length of employment
- length of time earning current salary
- type of employment
Plus verification of each payslip, including amount and date paid into your account (just in case any dates don’t match)"

Verification of every payslip is required? That'll be approx 30 in my case.  Also, from my phone call with HR yesterday, they basically have a generic 'proof of employment' letter that they mail out, so I'm not sure I have the power to get them to tailor that. Which is why I thought I can share with the forum once I get it and see if an additional letter from my manager might be wise.

"Though it’s not vital to get it certified at all, so you can just send a photocopy."
If certification is best, I can do that. But if it's not necessary, I'd probably save the time, effort and money...

"You should send:
- all boarding passes
- all personal letters/cards you have sent to each other.
- a selection of messages/emails/calls, spread over the length of the relationship... maybe 40-80 per communication type in total, depending on how long you have communicated.
Don’t send any receipts or confirmation emails from companies, or cards from anyone else."

Should boarding passes be of trips we have taken together, or trips one of us has taken to see the other, or both?
Tre lives in San Antonio but I've always flown to Houston as Singapore Airlines have a direct flight there from Manchester that is usually good value. Should I include those boarding passes, and should I explain why Houston, and/or should I include booking confirmations of Greyhound buses from Houston to San Antonio?
What about confirmation emails showing products/gifts that I have ordered to be delivered to him ie the confirmation has come to my email as the buyer, but clearly showing delivery to him? Would they be worth including? See pic:


Not sure the pic thing is working, so:
Your Amazon.com order of "Cool Tank Tops For Men..." and 1 more item has shipped!

Package from Amazon
Order number #114-8349612-0558621
Cool Tank Tops For Men...
Delivery estimate:Wed 29/08/2018
12221 BLANCO RD FLAT 1...

View event


Track package


Outlook found new events.

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|

Not useful




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Amazon.com <shipment-tracking@amazon.com>
Tue 28/08/2018 10:17
To: gregfrain@hotmail.com


    
 
Amazon.com

 
Hi G, your package will arrive:

Wednesday, August 29

Track package

 delivery   

ON THE WAY

Cool Tank Tops For Men...

+1 more item

Order #114-8349612-0558621


 location   

SHIP TO

Tre Thompson

12221 BLANCO RD FLAT 1...

 price   

SHIPMENT TOTAL

$28.59

Return or replace items in Your Orders

...you get the idea

Thanks

Fab, thanks

"For 1.19, you tick no." - it asks for reasons if you tick 'no', do we just put because we're living on opposite sides of the Atlantic?!

Yes. That’s what they are expecting you to put. There is no requirement for you to have lived together and they won’t be expecting you to have done so.

Also, Tre was here from December 28th to Feb 25 as an opportunity for us to see what living together would be like - is this worth mentioning anywhere?

Nope, because he was not living with you - he was visiting only (it’s illegal for a visitor to live in the UK).

In order for you to answer yes to living together, you must have both been legally living in the same country, on relevant visa(s), such as work or student visas, and have been officially living in the same property as each other, with official documents to prove it (which he can’t do as a visitor).

...can we print these at a later time, or do we need to ensure we are using a computer with a printer once we start filling in the form?

You can print them when you like. You should be able to go back into the application to print them, or you can save them as PDFs and print later.

Verification of every payslip is required? That'll be approx 30 in my case.  Also, from my phone call with HR yesterday, they basically have a generic 'proof of employment' letter that they mail out, so I'm not sure I have the power to get them to tailor that. Which is why I thought I can share with the forum once I get it and see if an additional letter from my manager might be wise.

Yes, by all means share it with us. But if HR refuse to put the required information, then you won’t get the visa.... so they MUST include all the required information. We’ve seen a visa refused before just because the letter wasn’t on the right type of paper (not official letterhead).

I also say that the payslips should each be verified because we have seen refusals because one payslip amount was 1p different from the bank deposit amount and because a payslip was not deposited on the exact date on the payslip... and there was no explanation for it.

If certification is best, I can do that. But if it's not necessary, I'd probably save the time, effort and money...

It used to be a requirement but now the guidance just says ‘copies of’, not ‘certified copies’. Many people have been fine without certifying, but others prefer to do it anyway.

Should boarding passes be of trips we have taken together, or trips one of us has taken to see the other, or both?
Tre lives in San Antonio but I've always flown to Houston as Singapore Airlines have a direct flight there from Manchester that is usually good value. Should I include those boarding passes, and should I explain why Houston, and/or should I include booking confirmations of Greyhound buses from Houston to San Antonio?

You’re really overthinking this. Don’t make it so complicated.

- Start with boarding passes for trips to see each other.
- Then add boarding passes for trips taken together.
- You can include the Greyhound tickets if you like, and if you want, you can just make a note in the sponsor letter that you flew to Houston and took a bus to San Antonio.

What about confirmation emails showing products/gifts that I have ordered to be delivered to him ie the confirmation has come to my email as the buyer, but clearly showing delivery to him? Would they be worth including?

Nope. They are irrelevant to the application.

What you need to show is personal communication - either seeing each other in person, or talking to each other regularly while apart - receipts from products do not show evidence of you talking to each other, so they won’t be looked at.

Don’t overthink it - as I already said, you include:
- boarding passes
- letters/cards
- messages/emails

If you needed to include receipts, I would have put them in the list.


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"Yes, by all means share it with us. But if HR refuse to put the required information, then you won’t get the visa.... so they MUST include all the required information. We’ve seen a visa refused before just because the letter wasn’t on the right type of paper (not official letterhead)."
- ok, thanks for the heads up.  The guy I spoke to from HR said that he had used their standard Proof of Employment letter when he'd sponsored his spouse from the US, and it had been fine.  But I'd rather not take chances. I'm going to request this letter well in advance of the wedding (but within 28 days) so once I get it I can share it here if it looks a bit thin. Then I can contact HR again if need be.

"I also say that the payslips should each be verified because we have seen refusals because one payslip amount was 1p different from the bank deposit amount and because a payslip was not deposited on the exact date on the payslip... and there was no explanation for it."
I actually check my payslips every week as occasionally overtime I've done forgets to be paid, etc. I also enter the values in a spreadsheet as I need to check HMRC's income tax calculation every year (as I have the extra income from my marking work). I can say with some confidence (although I will check this nearer to the time) that the net figure on the payslip and the paydate have always tallied with my bank account exactly. If you still think verification is wise, then I'll ask HR to do that, but with it being 30-ish payslips I suspect they'll be reluctant.

"Don’t overthink it - as I already said, you include:
- boarding passes
- letters/cards
- messages/emails

If you needed to include receipts, I would have put them in the list."
-I appreciate the time you've taken to help us so far, and don't mean to be awkward.  I'm just trying to make our application as airtight as possible. 

We do have boarding passes for some previous trips and we can be more vigilant about keeping any others between now and August. We're a bit light on letters and cards but we can maybe address that in the coming months too - maybe a couple from each of us over the next 6 months?

We've messaged daily (except when we've been together) since March 2018, and all of that is in Telegram, which allows export of chats. My thought is that one message pairing (ie I sent him something and his reply, or vice versa) per week from March 2018 until application date will be approx 70-80 message pairings - how does that sound?
(I was going to omit voice messages from the as it doesn't tell them much other than that a voice message was left.)?

We can also throw in a few emails, eg we've discussed properties in Spain and Manchester over email.

We have plenty of photos, so maybe pick 5 or 6 spanning the 12 months prior to application?

We tend to video chat via fb messenger and I thought I might include the log from there just showing the dates, times and durations of our video calls.

Is this a reasonable plan of action, or too much?

Thanks
G&T

- ok, thanks for the heads up.  The guy I spoke to from HR said that he had used their standard Proof of Employment letter when he'd sponsored his spouse from the US, and it had been fine.  But I'd rather not take chances. I'm going to request this letter well in advance of the wedding (but within 28 days) so once I get it I can share it here if it looks a bit thin. Then I can contact HR again if need be.

Okay, great. It may well be fine, but we have seen some applicants where their employer has refused to put all the required information in there and they’ve had to push the issue.

I actually check my payslips every week as occasionally overtime I've done forgets to be paid, etc. I also enter the values in a spreadsheet as I need to check HMRC's income tax calculation every year (as I have the extra income from my marking work). I can say with some confidence (although I will check this nearer to the time) that the net figure on the payslip and the paydate have always tallied with my bank account exactly. If you still think verification is wise, then I'll ask HR to do that, but with it being 30-ish payslips I suspect they'll be reluctant.

Maybe, but you do want to be as thorough as possible.

The requirements for payslips are:

(bb) Payslips must be:
(i) 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;

Alternatively, if they can issue official payslips instead of you printing them yourself, you won’t need a letter authenticating them.

We do have boarding passes for some previous trips and we can be more vigilant about keeping any others between now and August. We're a bit light on letters and cards but we can maybe address that in the coming months too - maybe a couple from each of us over the next 6 months?

You’re still overthinking it. You don’t HAVE to include letters or cards... if you have any, then include them, if you don’t, then no big deal.

Don’t manufacture extra letters or cards because you think you need them. You can only send what you actually have from the communication methods you have used.

Most people don’t have any letters or cards to send at all...but if you do, then include them.

We've messaged daily (except when we've been together) since March 2018, and all of that is in Telegram, which allows export of chats. My thought is that one message pairing (ie I sent him something and his reply, or vice versa) per week from March 2018 until application date will be approx 70-80 message pairings - how does that sound?
(I was going to omit voice messages from the as it doesn't tell them much other than that a voice message was left.)?

That’s too many.

You want 50-80 in total, not 50-80 pairs, and you should be able to get all of them on 2-3 sheets of paper, so crop out all the message content and just include a list of names and dates/times.

If you’ve been communicating since March 2018, I’d either go with 1 message per week from one of you, or maybe 1 pair of messages every 2 weeks.

We can also throw in a few emails, eg we've discussed properties in Spain and Manchester over email.

As mentioned, no message/e-mail content should be included, so just filter your inbox to show messages from the other person and take a screenshot showing dates and subject lines only.

We have plenty of photos, so maybe pick 5 or 6 spanning the 12 months prior to application?

Nope, too many. The only reason you are including a photo is to prove you have met in person one time.

It’s a tick-box visa... you get the same tick for one photo, as you do for more than one. You don’t get a bigger tick for more photos, so less is more.

We normally recommend sending either just one photo, or sending one photo from early in the relationship and one from the wedding.

We tend to video chat via fb messenger and I thought I might include the log from there just showing the dates, times and durations of our video calls.

Yep, that’s exactly what you should be doing for all your relationship evidence:

Messages:
- list of names, dates and times

Emails:
- list of names, dates and subject lines

Calls:
- list of names, dates and duration

No more than 2-3 pages per communication type.




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Thanks as ever, ksand24

"Okay, great. It may well be fine, but we have seen some applicants where their employer has refused to put all the required information in there and they’ve had to push the issue." - when I email them to request this I'll check in here first to confirm what's needed and explicitly request that in my email, and we can take it from there

"Alternatively, if they can issue official payslips instead of you printing them yourself, you won’t need a letter authenticating them."
-ahh, ok so I get sent official payslips in the post ever week, with those perforated tear off edges etc, and Royal Mail Group on the top once you open it up. My name and address is both inside and outside, along with a table inside with NI number, pay number, tax reference, tax code, payment date, pay rate, a table of payments and deductions, a net payment for the week bottom right and a 'assessable pay' figure bottom left which currently reads 18543 with three weeks of the tax year left.  So they will be official payslips.

I didn't realise the message content wasn't necessary. I thought they'd need that to judge how genuine the relationship is.  So it's just basically an email log, telegram messenger log (pared down to 1 message a week over 16 months), and fb video chat log we need?
That's a relief as it will save time in compiling, and also in printing and postage

-ahh, ok so I get sent official payslips in the post ever week, with those perforated tear off edges etc, and Royal Mail Group on the top once you open it up. My name and address is both inside and outside, along with a table inside with NI number, pay number, tax reference, tax code, payment date, pay rate, a table of payments and deductions, a net payment for the week bottom right and a 'assessable pay' figure bottom left which currently reads 18543 with three weeks of the tax year left.  So they will be official payslips.

Yes. In that case, you don’t need to get them authenticated in a letter.

I didn't realise the message content wasn't necessary. I thought they'd need that to judge how genuine the relationship is.  So it's just basically an email log, telegram messenger log (pared down to 1 message a week over 16 months), and fb video chat log we need?

Yep, that’s all you need.

The requirement is that you show you communicate with each other regularly. There is no requirement to show what you talk about, just that you are in contact (to weed out forces or scam marriages where you might never speak to each other).

Think of it as if you were applying before the internet existed... when your only way of communicating might have been phone calls. In that case you would just get your itemise phone bills showing the number, date and call duration... but you wouldn’t be sent a recording of the conversation.

It’s the same thing here... you’re just showing an itemised list of calls/messages/emails, you don’t need to include the actual conversation.


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Awesome - we're much clearer in our heads now about what is required. It feels like we're pretty well placed so long as the Proof of Employment letter has all the necessary details.

Thanks again, ksand24

Quick question: regarding birthday cards, is it better if they also still have the envelopes, or doesn't it matter?
I was thinking if we had envelopes showing international postage that might look more genuine than just a card that could've been written by anyone... but I could be overthinking again! 

Quick question: regarding birthday cards, is it better if they also still have the envelopes, or doesn't it matter?
I was thinking if we had envelopes showing international postage that might look more genuine than just a card that could've been written by anyone... but I could be overthinking again! 

No, you should not include any envelopes from anything.

What matters is that the letter has been written from one of you to the other... could have been given in person or mailed in the post. The envelope does not prove personal communication between you two, because the envelope could have been sent by anyone.


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"When you submit your online application, you will be prompted to book your biometrics appointment at one of the 129 USCIS Application Support Centres across the US (do not book one at a Premium Centre as that is only for Premium Service applications).

Then you print out your appointment confirmation sheet and take it to the appointment along with your passport."

Can we book at a USCIS application support centre in any state in the US? It might work better logistically for us to go on a little 'honeymoon' with all our paperwork and do biometrics while we're there, and then send everything off once it's done. 

We've been told we should get our certificate the day after the wedding, so we can finish the online stuff then too, and I believe we have 5 days to book and complete biometrics?

Or is the time constraint for booking biometrics less tight, but we only have 5 days after biometrics to send stuff to NY?

BTW we're using https://egov.uscis.gov/office-locator/#/asc for info re application support centres.

Can we book at a USCIS application support centre in any state in the US? It might work better logistically for us to go on a little 'honeymoon' with all our paperwork and do biometrics while we're there, and then send everything off once it's done. 

Yes, you can - the booking page will show you the one nearest you but you can change it to another one if you like.

We've been told we should get our certificate the day after the wedding, so we can finish the online stuff then too, and I believe we have 5 days to book and complete biometrics?

Or is the time constraint for booking biometrics less tight, but we only have 5 days after biometrics to send stuff to NY?

No, you book the biometrics at the time of submitting the online form, for any date suitable for you. You can’t complete the online form without booking biometrics.

Then you have 5 days AFTER the biometrics appointment to mail your documents to New York.

See here for details:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/usa-apply-for-a-uk-visa/apply-for-a-uk-visa-in-the-usa#mail-your-application

BTW we're using https://egov.uscis.gov/office-locator/#/asc for info re application support centres.

Yes, that should be right.



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