Physical evidence to provide at the appointment:
Old passport (which shows the stamp I received in transit in Dublin 21st March 2015, amongst other trips)
New passport
Current Biometric ID card
Spouse’s Passport
Daughters British passport (she is a British citizenship so there are no dependants in this application, however I believed this would strengthen the case to them)
Spousal consent form (Partner’s relationship declaration)
All of this must be uploaded online before you attend the appointment.
Some of them are uploaded in the Application documents section (your passports, your BRP, applicant's declaration, sponsor's declaration) and some in the Other section (sponsor's passport, marriage certificate, daughter's documents).
Daughters British passport (she is a British citizenship so there are no dependants in this application, however I believed this would strengthen the case to them)
It won't just strengthen the application, it's mandatory.
For ALL children you and your partner have, either together or from previous relationships, you MUST provide:
- their passport
- their birth certificate
- a letter dated in the last 3 months confirming their address (usually obtained from their school or GP).
Accommodation:
Land registry documents - Stating the previous owner and then my spouse who owns it with the date and address visibly shown.
Mortgage statements - Clearly showing my husbands name, account, mortgage amount going out and so on.
Service charge statement - My husband owns the property but still pays service charge and we receive those statements (thought I’d include the as further proof)
For accommodation you need to send:
- Land Registry document
- Latest mortgage statement
- Latest council tax bill
Financial proof:
Backstory, my husband started a new job in Nov 2019, so therefore that means he will need to provide 12months worth of payslips from the submitted date of the application, so my husband won’t receive his Feb payslip in time, so it’ll be:
Jan 2020 - Feb 2019 payslips (shows my name/address, NIN amongst other things)
12 Bank statements showing the money entering on the specified day shown on the 12 payslips each month
3 P60’s (2017/18/19)
2 reference letters showing that he was employed by his previous company, showing the type of job, my title, the salary, the period & then his current company. (1 for previous employer, 1 for his current employer)
You DO need to send:
- 12 FULL MONTHS of payslips (usually 13 payslips to show you are covering all 365 days)... so you will likely need to send January 2019 as well
- 12 FULL MONTHS of bank statements (usually 13 months are sent to make sure you cover all 365 days)... so you will likely need to send January 2019 to mid-Feb 2020 (or whatever you need to show the January payslip deposit)
- employer letter confirming current employment, and authenticating every payslip (if payslips have been printed from online)
- current job contract
- 2019 P60
You MUST make sure that the latest payslip, bank statement and employer letter are dated NO EARLIER than 28 days before you submit the online application.
You DO NOT need to send:
- 2017 or 2018 P60s
- reference letters from past employers
Proof of English requirement:
Masters degree which was awarded by Westminster University last year.
If you are a US citizen, you do not need to send anything at all for this, because you are exempt from meeting the English Language Requirement.
Your US passport will show you are exempt.
Proof of Marriage:
Marriage certificate stating our names, the date and so on.
I did have one question around this, because if I scan this document it will show up in the background as ‘VOID’ all across the document because obviously it’s not meant to be photocopied, yet they won’t be asking me to submit it physically so I’m not sure what to do here?
Just scan it and don't worry about it. There's nothing you can do.
You can always take it to your appointment as well so it can be rescanned if they question it.
Proof of Correspondence (i.e. where I’ve been living for the past 2.5 years):
Joint address:
Joint savers account - clearly shows both our names and it’s an annual statement summary so it’s from 2019 Jan - 2020 Jan
Joint invoice receipts/billing of nursery fees, which shows both our names and our address 3 statements Nov, Dec 2019 and Jan 2020.
Council tax annual summary lettered to us both, only our names are abbreviated with the First letter but the same address so it should be fine too 2019-2020
We only have 3 joint proof of address/living documents so we have the following proof per person:
Myself:
Driving License (received this in 2019)
Main Bank statement (Jan 2020)
Daughters Birth Certificate (which states the address of the mother i.e me, she was born in 2018 Sept so it’s within the 2.5 year range)
Solo savers bank account (Dec 2019)
Payslips from my job (Nov, Dec 2019 and Jan 2020) showing my name and address,NiN etc.
Letter from my GP surgery following an appointment I had over my eyes, states my name and address (2019)
HMRC tax refund (2019)
Pension account summary (2019)
Spouse:
Main bank statements (any month in 2019 or Jan 2020, they are the same statements I’ll be using to show financial proof of the payslips)
Gas bill (2019)
Water bill (2019)
Payslips (2019/2020)
HMRC tax refund notification (2019)
I think that is more than enough to provide, none the less I’ve added in more just incase one of you state that this evidence is not valid as proof etc….
Okay, you need to organise all this into 5-month spacing, between August 2017 and February 2020, and then pick 1 document in each name (either joint or individual) from each of the required months. You need at least 3 different sources (bank statements, bills, letters from government agencies etc.).
If you are applying in Feb 2020, then you need documents from each of the following months:
August 2017
January 2018
June 2018
November 2018
April 2019
September 2019
Optional extra: February 2020
From the documents you listed above, you have nothing at all from 2017 or 2018, and you don't mention which months in 2019/2020 any of your documents are dated, so unfortunately, when I try to work out what you can use for each required month, I have nothing:
August 2017
1. Applicant:
?1. Sponsor:
?January 2018
2. Applicant:
?2. Sponsor:
?June 2018
3. Applicant:
?3. Sponsor:
?November 2018
4. Applicant:
?4. Sponsor:
?April 2019
5. Applicant:
?5. Sponsor:
?September 2019
6. Applicant:
?6. Sponsor:
?Optional extra: February 2020
7. Applicant:
?7. Sponsor:
?Suitable documents you can use for this are:
• Letters or other documents from government departments or agencies, for example HM Revenue and Customs, Department for Work and Pensions, DVLA, TV Licensing.
• Letters or other documents from your GP, a hospital or other local health service about medical treatments, appointments, home visits or other medical matters
• Bank statements/letters
• Building society savings books/letters
• Council tax bills or statements
• Electricity and/or gas bills or statements
• Water rates bills or statements
• Mortgage statements/agreement
• Tenancy agreement(s)
• Telephone bills or statements
Life in the UK test:
This is part of the application itself, where you enter the ID in the application form, however I have the letter showing my pass physically and can also upload it if they ask.
I'd probably just scan it anyway before your appointment - I imagine it goes in the Application Documents section.
Documents supporting my other reasons to stay in the UK:
Cover letter (in this letter I have mentioned my husbands name and my own, given a back story to how we met and how our relationship advanced, mentioned regarding my partners financial status along with the accommodation and our future plans etc…)
If you feel there is something I need to mention by all means let me know.
You do not need to write a cover letter and you should not be including any kind of backstory to your relationship, finances, accommodation or future plans... that is only required for the initial spousal visa, when you are still living abroad.
For this part of the application they are trying to find out what ties you have to the US vs. the UK and whether or not, if your visa was refused, you would have strong reasons for HAVING to stay in the UK, because your life would be in danger or you would not have the means to survive if you had to return to the US.
So, reasons to stay in the UK would be things like:
- your UK citizen daughter whose life would be severely disrupted if you had to return to the US without her
- your personal safety... i.e. your life would be in danger due to war, terrorism, famine or natural disasters if you had to return to the US
- your ties, or lack of, to the US... i.e. if you had no living family members or support system in the US and so staying in the UK would be your only option because you would end up homeless and penniless if your visa was refused and you had to go back
Other:
Other things I’m aware about is there is no need now to provide passport photos of myself or my spouse, think they changed this in 2018 November? Anyway thought I’d mention it just to make sure I’ve not missed a requirement.
Nope, passport photos are not required.
This section is used to upload:
- marriage certificate
- sponsor's passport
- your daughter's birth certificate
- you daughter's passport
- letter confirming daughter's address
