British Expats - Originals vs copies?

British Expats (https://britishexpats.com/forum/)

- Citizenship/Passports and Spouse/Family Visas (UK) (https://britishexpats.com/forum/citizenship-passports-spouse-family-visas-uk-196/)

- - Originals vs copies? (https://britishexpats.com/forum/citizenship-passports-spouse-family-visas-uk-196/originals-vs-copies-929863/)

Originals vs copies?

I really hope that someone can help, I can’t find a straight answer anywhere.

Per the new rules, what documents absolutely have to be originals? Can a bank statement, after it has been stamped by the bank, be photocopied and emailed to me, the applicant, or does it have to be physically mailed? Same for bank letter, employer letter, etc.

Re: Originals vs copies?

Since the new process is about uploading the documents yourself, I think no one will be looking for the originals. In my case, my wife mailed her stamped bank statements to me, which I scanned and uploaded. No one saw the originals. So she could have just scanned it herself and emailed them to me.
But I think this would depend on your Visa application center? Ours was VFS.
The only thing they asked for during my biometrics appointment were a printed copy of the appointment, the application form and the passports (current and old).

Hope this helps. Best of luck!

Re: Originals vs copies?

Quote:

Originally Posted by presto (Post 12779699)

Thanks so much for the reply!

I haven’t kept up with what the whole uploading process is; when I applied for my marriage visitor visa last year, and my student visa before that, I went to the center in Chicago (and similar to you, they didn’t look at any of my supporting documents besides my appointment sheet and my passport) and then I mailed the documents to New York myself, so I had just assumed it would be the same this time. I’ve heard that the VFS uploading process can be really problematic and miss things out unless they’ve updated it.

And for uploading documents, how do they put the visa in your passport if you don’t physically mail it? Surely there are still some things that need to be mailed?

Re: Originals vs copies?

In my experience before with my marriage visitor visa last year, I brought all my documents to VFS during my biometrics appointment. They also didn't look at them closely, but they took them and did a check against a checklist to see which documents you have submitted.

This time for my settlement, I uploaded all supporting documents before attending my biometrics appointment. They just took my passports, so that's how they put the visa in the passport.

I'm not sure about mailing, because my previous experience all required me to bring my documents to the visa application center (VFS in my case).
Reading the forum here, I think there's VFS and TLS. I suggest you check your visa application center's guide on how to submit supporting documents.

All the best!

Re: Originals vs copies?

Got it, thanks so much for the response!