tommatee

Hi all,

My wife (American) and I (British) are booked in to VFS global (Melbourne, Australia) early next month to submit our documents for a settlement visa. This forum has been incredibly helpful so firstly thank you. Secondly, I want to make sure all our documents are in order and take any suggestions on further evidence we should include.

For some background: I am here on a fixed term contract with my employer who also pays for my wife’s visa. We married in August in Australia and decided to return to live in the UK as my brother is expecting his first child, I will break my employment in order to do this. I have an offer of employment on return to the UK and accommodation lined up. Once the visa is granted my wife will look for employment in the UK (We have stated this on the application).

The forms we plan to submit are as follows I have bolded forms that I am unsure if we should submit or not. I have also bolded questions relating to each form, please advise on anything we should add or remove:

General

- Application form printed, Fee Receipts
- Applicant passport-sized photos
- Applicant Passport
- Applicant previous Passport
- Sponsor Passport (Does this need to be verified by anyone other than VFS?)
- Sponsorship undertaking form (SU07/12 – Is this necessary? I read it is not)
-Visas issued to me and my wife in Australia (Wife’s visa shows she was a dependent on my application)

Relationship

- Cover Letter/Photos of relationship to date.
- Copies of tenancy agreements issued to us jointly while living together in Australia.
- Utility bills
- Marriage Certificate (issued in Australia)

Financial

- Last 12 months bank statements individual, savings, and a joint account.(I have printed online issued bank statements as they don't send paper versions with my bank, I will get a letter from the bank manager confirming their authenticity)
- Last 12 months payslips – (Mine are issued electronically so they are printed, initialled by a manager and come with accompanying letter to state authenticity)
- Appendix 2
- Letter of offer from UK company
- Signed contract from UK company
- Employment Contract for current job
- Letter from current employer stating the length of employment, job title, wage, start date.
- Does my wife need to submit her payslips and bank statements?

Accommodation

- Letter from homeowner (He is a close friend) stating we will be living with them in UK for foreseeable future on return to UK, details of accommodation (2 bed, 2 bath, living area etc…) – Do we need to provide proof that he owns the property?

Is there anything I am glaringly missing here? I’m concerned about the accommodation as it is difficult to provide adequate evidence that I have permission to stay there other than the letter, is there anything else I should add?

Thank you in advance for any information you're able to provide. All of this is a little overwhelming so I appreciate any help at all!

Tom

HKG3

Tom

A number of point not relating to your wife's UK visa application -

1) Has she got an UK bank account? If not, she can open an UK bank account with HSBC Australia before the big move. Please see link below for details -

https://www.hsbc.com.au/1/2/personal.../move-os/apply

2) If she got an Australian driving licence by passing a driving test in Australia, she can exchange her Australian driving licence to an UK one without test.

https://www.gov.uk/exchange-foreign-...tain/australia

3) Do you (or your wife) qualify for Australian citizenship? If you do, apply for Australian citizenship before moving back to the UK if you have not done so already.

SanDiegogirl

Yes, you should provide proof that the person giving you permission to stay in the accommodation either owns it or is the landlord. Mortgage/deeds etc.

Where is hard-copy of Appendix 2? (I realise that Appendix 2 can now be completed on line, but it does not hurt to include it with your docs)

You don't need SU07 form

Receipt for NHS surcharge?

Think the rest looks OK

Good luck

BritInParis

What HKG3 and SanDiegogirl said. I would add that you don't need to provide any financial evidence regarding your wife's employment as only your income will be counted at this stage. You should also provide both your long form birth certificates and your marriage certificate should be the one issued by the registry in the state or territory in which you got married, not the ceremonial one they gave you on the day.

tommatee

1) Thanks, I will get her to look into opening one, I assume she should provide evidence that the account is open in her application?

2) Our appointment is in 2 weeks so I doubt we'll be able to exchange prior to this, is this necessary prior to appointment?

3) Unfortunately, we have not been here long enough to apply for citizenship.

- I have only ever had a short form version and will not likely have time to order the long form before the appointment. Is it absolutely necessary or will short form suffice?

- The marriage certificate is the registry issued one.

- There wasn't an option to complete appendix 2 online? I have it in hard copy here anyway and all supporting documents.


Thank you all for taking the time to reply!

mikelincs

You do not need to provide anything about your wife's finances as they are not taken into consideration during the first application.

prospect

Tommatee - just saw your post re timelines, which is of great interest to us as we sit here patiently waiting (also Australian). Just saw that your visa took a while to come - did something occur? I had assumed we'd get it a few days post-email. Thanks.

tommatee

Hey mate,

We had very little communication from VFS or UKVI, we paid for all the additional services and received none of them other than it obviously being dealt with quickly. So it’s hard for me to comment on timelines post email as we never received an email.

We received a phone call this Monday past (18th) saying my wife’s passport was in Sydney and would we like it posted or collected. Seemed a bit strange. Either way they sent it express and we got it today.

Sorry I can’t be more helpful, VFS are an unusual organisation to deal with.

prospect

Thanks -- yes all very odd! Will be glad when this is all over. Hope you are sleeping well tonight.

tashvdk

Hiya Tommatee

I note on your timeline (on the other thread) that you received a decision email from Sheffield. Did that email tell you if you were successful? Or was it just the generic one & then you had to wait till you received your passport to find out?

I applied through Melbourne on 6 Dec, so presuming they closed over Christmas I'm now on business day 18... This wait is such a nightmare!! :-(

spouse of scouse

Unfortunately the decision email doesn't say if your application was successful or not. Best of luck, the waiting is the worst time.