gdl_brit

Hi all,

I live and work in the UK and my wife lives and works in Mexico. We got married in Mexico last year and I came back to the UK and have been working here for the last 6 months and ongoing. We want to settle in the UK and we're going to apply for the Family Visa (indefinite leave to remain).

I have some questions and perhaps will have some more follow up questions, mainly I'd like to have a peace of mind about all the documents/proof we need to provide.

- I'm gathering my proof of income and accommodation documents this month. Will I need to physically send them all over to Mexico to her via Fedex or something, or can I scan and email everything to her to print?

- Does my wife take all the documents with her to the VAC appointment? Or do we send them to a certain address?

- My wife lives in another state in Mexico, but the only accepted VAC office lately is in Mexico City. So she will need to do things like the English Test, Biometric scans, Healthcare IHS payment all in Mexico City. Can she do this all in one visit across the state or will we need to do things step by step in different visits? For example, can we book the appointment at the VAC then go a few days before to get the other things done?

I'm sure I'll have more questions later but I'd love some help on this!

Many thanks!

BritInParis

Quick point of order: your wife will be applying a spouse visa (Settlement>Settlement>Wife on the dropdown menus) not Indefinite Leave to Remain. She will need to live in the UK for at least five years before she becomes eligible for ILR.

- All documents that your wife submits (bar a photocopy of your passport) will need to be original.

- I'm not sure for Mexico; it will depend on where the applications are processed. Unless given information to the contrary I would get your wife to take everything with her.

- There's only one appointment; to give her biometrics. There's no English test - your wife will need include evidence of how she meets the English language requirement with her supporting documents. The IHS needs to paid online.

gdl_brit

Hi BritInParis, thanks for the reply!

Do you have a link to the spouse visa we need to apply for? I was lead to believe this is the one we need to apply for - https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa

Also do you know what evidence she needs to meet the language requirement? I assumed it was a certificate from the IELTS English test in Mexico City.

Thanks again.

BritInParis

That link is correct. If you follow it, option #7 lists the ways to meet the English language requirement.

simonb83

Hi gdl_brit, we are currently in the process of soliciting a spouse visa for my Mexican wife, so I can at least tell you a bit about our experience so far. Note that this has not been approved yet (still processing).

For proving the English language requirement, we submitted the original IELTS certificate which she took at the center administered by the British Council in Mexico City.
Be aware that it took about 10 days to actually receive the certificate after the exam.

We had our appointment at the VAC center in Mexico City on the 29th December.
They took my wife's biometrics and then she also handed the complete set of documents over.

What they explained was that they scan the documents so that the application can be processed in Bogota, however that seems to happen offsite so we had to leave our documents with them, although they indicated we would get them back once a decision had been made and we return for my wife's passport (this wasn't 100% clear).

Be sure to take all your original documents...they were particularly interested in ensuring we had the original marriage and birth certificate (we also provided an A4 color copy of the marriage certificate as the original is particularly large).

As BritInParis mentions, IHS is paid online.

Hope this helps.