RobInKorea

Hello,

I am currently in the process of compiling all the necessary documents for an application for a spouse visa for my soon to be wife. We both live in Korea right now. I am a British citizen and she is Korean. I just have a few queries regarding some small things that I have not seen any answers for. I did use the search function and look in any threads on here that I thought may have the relevant answers.

First of all, regarding the proof of relationship section. I have the complete history of our KaKao Talk (Korean messaging app just like Whatsapp) chat starting from around 3 years when we first met right up until now. This is saved on my computer in a Notepad file. How do I use this in our application? It will be huge if I print it out, but I'm sure I read somewhere else that anything on CD or a USB drive will not be looked when we submit our application?

Secondly, and I feel a bit stupid asking this as it seems like it should be obvious but it's not to me, I have signed up online on http://visa4uk.fco.gov.uk and I started an application under the Apply for Someone Else option. On the very first section after it asks for the applicant's name it asks for email and phone contacts. Should these details be hers or mine? Or perhaps, do people advise just using the other option of Apply for Myself?

Third, when I set the account up this notification popped up...



...is this a bug on the site?

Apologies if any of this has been covered before/recently, but I couldn't see answers for these.

Many thanks

LondonSquirrel

I thought the applicant had to apply themselves ie your wife would apply?

SanDiegogirl

Your wife should be completing the form and putting in her details.

Pulaski

Right. The OP doesn't need a visa for the UK!

BritInParis

The OP can complete the form on behalf of his wife by selecting the option he has done. The applicant's details are still his wife's however. The correct selection for visa type is Settlement->Settlement->Wife. Obviously you will need to wait until you are married before you submit this application. A .txt file of conversations is useless as evidence of your relationship.

RobInKorea

Thanks for the reply.

Do you know what format should the conversations be in? I have read other people have used Whatsapp conversations, but how is this possible? Surely they haven't provided screenshots of their entire chat?

BritInParis

Social media contact is pretty useless as evidence full stop since it's very easy to fabricate. If you want to use it as evidence of contact during periods of separation then I would choose a selection of screenshots to illustrate key points in the relationship but no more than a dozen. The same applies to Facebook or anything else of that nature.

Has been a long distance relationship and you haven't lived together?

RobInKorea

No, it's not a long distance relationship. We both live in Seoul, but not together. We will be married in Korea when we submit the online application though. If chat logs on messaging apps are not deemed as a useful means of proving our relationship, what would be considered as strong proof?

Pulaski

Being married. At that point anything else is incidental.

formula

I think they have to show that it isn't a sham marriage for a visa.

https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk...eed-to-provide

Pulaski

"Incidental" = supporting the marriage certificate, so the burden of proof is much easier to achieve, and certainly isn't critically dependent on IM logs.

BritInParis

The marriage certificate is your number one piece of evidence. There's no requirement to have lived together before getting married. There are plenty of arranged marriages where the husband and wife have maybe met only once before the wedding. The RoK is not a high risk country for sham marriages.

If you don't have any joint financial or legal documents then I would recommend providing a written statement each describing how you met and the development of your relationship and then use photographs and other pieces of evidence to illustrate and support the claims you have made in your statements. Photos with friends and family are also good. Again no more than dozen. The ECO isn't going to be impressed if he or she has to wade through your entire Facebook photo collection.

RobInKorea

Thanks for the reply. So just to clarify, messaging app evidence is completely unnecessary but a well written statement supporting by photographic evidence of time spent with our respective families and of our wedding is substantial proof?

Phone records, e-mails, letters and cards are also mentioned here...

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...settlement.pdf

...I read somewhere else on here that letters/cards are also unnecessary because, similarly to what has been mentioned above, they are easy to just make up. However, would mobile phone bills highlighting calls we have made to each other be a worthwhile inclusion? There aren't a great deal of e-mails to include, but a few do exist.

Pulaski

Your marriage certificate, some photos of the wedding, and any other occssions, and a brief describe of what each picture shows is almost certainly sufficient unless your application is considered high risk. But if you've lived in Korea, and therefore presumably spent time with your wife before you got married, and have a marriage certificate and photos I don't see an issue. While sending a few e-mails and a phone records isn't going to do any harm, they are likely unnecessary.

BritInParis

Indeed. If you have not lived together before and will only have been married for a short period before applying then an ECO isn't going to expect to see reams of evidence nor frankly will they want to. Half a dozen pages of emails and phone records are useful if supports your relationship statements and the information is identifiable.