Dominic2401

Hi everyone, back again!

So I posted a thread last year asking a few questions, mainly about cash savings and using it for the application process. I tried looking for some jobs in the UK, but it's taking more time than I'd hoped having to go back and forth for interviews. We have finally decided to just move back to the UK and apply for jobs while there.

With that in mind, we are thinking to go back to the UK around September or October time. Here's a general summary of us and our status.

General Information:
Name: My name is Dominic, my wife is Y (removed name).
Nationality: She is Korean but has lived in Japan for 15 years. I've lived in Japan for 10 years.
Relationship: We've been together since 2012 and married for 4 years.
Visa Route: We are probably going to apply via the savings route.

Finances:
As mentioned in a previous thread, we have money in a Japanese bank account, and additional money through the sale of a house in Korea. To go into further detail, her and her father bought a house in Korea, but the name was under her fathers name (she paid all the money). Her father sold the house without her consent and she had to take him to court to get her money back (long story). She received her money back from a Korean court in April 2017. In total we received 350,000 pounds, plus an extra 150,000 pounds in a Japanese bank account we saved. She has court letters showing how she received the money and which bank it was sent to (Korean Bank). We have English bank statements from the Korean bank showing the money coming in and staying there. We were worried because we don't live in Korea, so its difficult to constantly get new English statements, and they don't generally do statements on letterhead over there, we got a clerk to write a handwritten explanation and sign / stamp the letter with their seal but that was in November 2017.
HOWEVER, my wife opened an expat account with Barclays in London (Because she has so much savings, they allowed her to make an account even though we don't live in the UK.) and sent the money from her Korean account to her Barclays account last November. We have an English document proving that the money was transferred from her account in Korea to Barclays in the UK.
Financial Requirements: For the financial requirements, we are thinking of getting 6 months of bank statements sent officially from Barclays in the UK to our address in Japan, plus the English document proving we sent the money from the Korean account to the British account (published last November) and English bank statements from Korea (Published last November, each statement has been officially stamped by the bank, but it doesn't look too official in my opinion. I will upload photos later).

Question 1: With the amount of money we have and the amount of time its been in a British bank account, I think I'd be okay with just the bank statements without an explanation about the Korean side of things, but does everything sound okay? The money with the savings is ONLY under her name and not under my name, but its more than enough money to support us, and in fact we plan on buying a house.

Proof of Relationship:

Photos:
Have collected various photos over the last 6 years, some are screen-captures from Facebook showing the photo, who has tagged, when it was uploaded etc. Some are direct downloads from Facebook or Camera. Some photo with British family, some with just me and the wife. Didn't have a traditional wedding party, we went skiing with a bunch of friends around the time we submitted the marriage application. Photos show us with lots of friends and a small wedding cake (Cake says "Congratulations Dominic2401 and Y"). In addition to that we have separate wedding photos (traditional wedding dress photos taken in Korea with just me and my wife).
Marriage Certificate: Got married in Japan, have registration document from the Japanese city office saying that we married. Will translate registration document into English.
Conversations: A few screen captures over the years of our Facebook conversations either together or with family.
Bills / Contracts: House Contract is under wife's name, I have bills with either her name or my name. Electric / Gas / Water is her name, Internet is my name.
Bank Accounts: We don't have any joint accounts as its not really that popular to do in Japan.
Letter of Introduction: Pretty straightforward, no problems there.,

Question 2: Does all this sound okay? I guess i'm particularly worried about not having any joint bank accounts or joint bills, and because we talk so much over Facebook its difficult to get messages all the way up to 2012. From what I've read, if we can prove we live together through Marriage Certificate and bills (even though ours aren't joint, but I have recent bills proving we live together, and could probably find a few older bills, but translating all this stuff will become quite expensive). and then some photos, it should be fine and conversations won't be that necessary.

English Proficiency:

- IELTS Certificate

Proof of Maintenance:
Letter of Accommodation:
So, I don't have much family in the UK anymore. My dad moved to America. My nan lives in Norwich in a small house, and my brother isn't doing well enough to let us stay with him. My mum and her husband live on the Isle of Man and have agreed to let us stay at their house rent free until we find jobs. However long that takes. I will be looking for jobs in the UK, probably the Manchester area but IOM is infinitely closer to Manchester than Tokyo is!

Question 3:

Apparently a signed letter of accommodation is needed, and also a notarized copy of the house deeds / government bill. First, my parents don't own their house, they only rent it but it is a 3 bedroom place, of good size. More than enough room for us to stay. My question is, does the Isle of Man count as a place I can stay and put down when applying, and two, if she doesn't own the house, what else should my mum give me in addition to her signed and dated letter of accommodation?

If the Isle of Man won't work, how do most people do this if they can't stay with family? We don't want to rent a house and sign a contract if we don't know when or if we will receive visa approval.

Sponsorship Undertaking:

I'll get my mum to do this.

Sorry for the super long thread, I'll make sure to update this thread as I compile everything I need. I'll take some photos with important information removed to make sure everything looks good too.

BritInParis

A1: Yes, that's fine. It was a smart move to transfer the money into a UK account. Makes life easier obtaining the correct bank statements. Providing it's been over the threshold for at least the last six months you shouldn't have a problem just providing the bank statements so long as the last one is dated no later than 28 days before the online application submission date. You can just mention on Appendix 2 that the savings were the proceeds of a property sale.

A2: Don't worry too much about relationship stuff if you have been married and cohabiting for four years. Korean citizens living in Japan are not exactly high risk for relationship fraud and your marriage certificate will be your primary piece of relationship evidence. The relationship evidence you choose should support the claims you make in your covering letters. A dozen photos, including your wedding photos, is sufficient; include those showing you with family and friends for preference. Make sure that the IELTS certificate is at least the minimum level required and that is one of the approved tests for a spouse visa (Life Skills or UKVI). Academic IELTS is not valid for a spouse application as this couple discovered.

A3: Staying on the IOM may introduce unnecessary complications. Does your grandmother live alone? Are there two double bedrooms? If so I would use her accommodation for your application even if you don't end up actually staying there. Alternatively I would arrange temporary accommodation in Manchester instead. Again you don't have to take it up once the visa is granted.

P.S. If by 'Sponsor Undertaking' you are referring to Form SU07/12 then forget it. It's not required when sponsoring a spouse.

Dominic2401

Thank you for such a detailed response!

A1: Excellent! Thank you. Going to be a lot easier!

A2: Got it, we will include marriage certificate translated in English, plus a Japanese "Certificate of Residence" for both me and my wife showing that we live at the house. To prove we have lived together for those 4 years, I guess residential tax payment documents for both of us for the last 4 years, or as I mentioned, bills. But I'm not sure I have 4 years worth to prove... Photos arent a problem.

IELTS is fine,

A3: My nan lives with grandad but he's got cancer and it's a difficult time right now. Also their house is pretty small. One double bedroom, one single they use as an office.
When you mention prepare temporary accommodation in Manchester, what do you mean? What would be the cheapest way to prepare something like this?

For the "Sponsor Undertaking" form, I was indeed looking at "Form SU07/12". I've been mainly referencing this website when looking at which documents to send.

Complete Guide to UK Spouse Settlement Visa Supporting Documents

Once I've got everything compiled I'll post them to see if they're okay!

Yuu

Hello

I did not include any utility bills in my application, Certificate of Residence(juminhyo) is an official document and definitely the best I think. I applied via saving route as well with my husband's savings in Barclays, just obtained the latest statement from UK and he wrote the letter that he'd support me with that money. And didn't submit SU07/12.

Dominic2401

Hey Yuu!
Excellent, thank you.
So does the juminhyo include how long we have lived at the residence? I know it's one document that includes both our names, but we have been married for 4 years and I think need to prove we have lived together for 4 years, right? If the Certificate of Residence also includes something that will prove that, that's great!

Also I guess I'll get my wife to write a letter saying that we will use the money she has saved to support us for the two years.

Yuu

Hello again

Yes it has columns "Date of move-in" and "Date that the concerned person became resident in this ward" (for our document because we live in tokyo 23-ward area). For foreign nationals, it has been applied since 9 July 2012 because of partial amendment of the basic resident registration act. The format of the certificate may vary according to cities/wards, but I suppose they all have the same information(sorry if my understanding is wrong!).
In my husband's case, "Date of move-in" column was left blank since he had already moved in before 2012, and "Date that the concerned person became resident in this ward" is "9 July 2012" as it is the date the law was implemented. You've been living together for 4 years so it shouldn't be a problem I guess.
Hope it helps!

Dominic2401

BritInParis

To answer your earlier question that's what I meant by temporary accommodation. I would suggest one calendar month as a minimum.

Dominic2401

Thank you BritInParis! This website doesn't allow for more than 30 days at a time, but I imagine I can either book the same place for 30 days, a few months in a row and give all booking confirmations or book 3 different places! Still, that's very good to know and definitely seems the most cost effective and easiest way to go! I feel a lot better now.

BritInParis

In your covering letter you should emphasis that the accommodation you have booked is only temporary and that you will be arranging a more permanent solution once you are in the UK.

Remember just because you book it doesn’t mean you have to use it after the visa is granted. If you decide to live with family on the IOM for a few months whilst looking for work then you can do. I think it might prove easy however to find work in Manchester if you’re already living there.

Dominic2401

Dominic2401

Edited Marriage Certificate
Hi again Yuu、
We got our marriage certificate from the Naka-Maguro office in Tokyo. Its on a colored watermarked paper, but the stamp and information is obviously printed. I'd say the watermarked paper is proof that its official and not copied but was this what you sent? We tried to get the person to stamp it at the top with their hanko but they wouldnt do it. If we get this translated this will be okay?

Yuu

They do not stamp manually. The printed stamp in the original is fine, the paper itself has special feature and if you make a photocopy you will see it is clearly as phocopied (indicate in Japanese though), so no problem

Dominic2401

Dominic2401

Just rang Barclays, very helpful! They knew what I needed for the spouse visa application and will be sending officially certified copies of bank statements for the last 6 months attached with a letter that certifies by a staff member that these statements are official! They'll also send it by courier for an additional fee! Perfect!