no1soco

My wife is Chinese and has a Chinese passport in which is her Settlement visa to settle with me in the UK. That visa expired about one year ago and she now has a British Residency Permit (BRP) which takes the form of a credit card size plastic card, separate from her passport.

The BRP shows she has permission to reside in the UK indefinitely.

She is applying for a tourist non-immigration visa to the USA and is completing the online application. This asks for details of her passport and her current residence.

If the passport is examined on it's own it will appear she is illegally in the UK.

I am assuming that when she is asked for an interview she will be able to produce her BRP to prove she resides here legitimately.

Has anyone with a BRP made a successful application?

In general, this card is a pain when you make visa applications by post as it is easily lost and difficult to replace. Why they don't duplicate it in the form of a vignette in her passport I don't know.

Noorah101

I thought there was a way of attaching a scan of documents to the online application. If there is, can't she include a scan of her passport plus a scan of the BRP card?

Rene

no1soco

You can upload a picture as part of the application process but although she has not yet actually submitted her application, the next step is 'submit'.

Up to this stage there is no provision that we have seen, for attaching document scans other than the photo.

DavidLemon

You will have an interview, and that is the ideal opportunity to present the information pertinent to residency if it is required.

What does the application actually say? I get it asks for details of the passport, but what questions does it ask that will make your wife look like an illegal in the UK?

anipilot

The UK residency status is not determined by current passport. I know of a friend who had her UK visa on an older expired passport and her new passport was used to apply for the US tourist visa. At the US embassy she was asked to submit both passports in the 1st stage interview. At the 2nd stage interview the consular officer checks all the passports. So in your case the card should be submitted together with the passport.

As a matter of fact, the US consular officer will ask for other evidence of UK residency and the visa or the card is not enough to prove this, you may need bank statements or utility statements/salary slips etc for this.

henryh

You can assume the consular officials at the US embassy in London have some familiarity with UK immigration law and documents.

no1soco

Thank you.

I searched their web site for other documents which may be required but cannot find any list.

Do you just take whatever you think may be needed or have I missed a link somewhere?

Edit: Just found that the appointment notification provides a link to a page which lists the documents required. That seems rather a strange way, hiding the list when some documents may take a while to obtain.

ian-mstm

Welcome to the wonderful world of US immigration.

Ian