catsutton148

Hi,

My husband (US born) is applying for a UK spouse visa. I know they'll take his passport but I'm wondering for supporting documentation - for example our marriage certificate, our daughter's birth certificate, etc - do they need to be originals or will copies be sufficient?

BritInParis

You need to provide scans of the originals. You can either scan them yourself and upload them from home or pay the VAC to do it for you.

mavaas11

So correct me if im wrong.

Self upload - Scan originals

How about VAC do you take originals or scan the original and make a colour copy of them??

Cheers

BritInParis

If you want the VAC to scan your documents for you then you take the originals with you to your biometrics appointment.

catsutton148

Okay - so if I was to scan myself are there special requirements? (E.g. I know my iPhone has the ability to scan - is this permissible?) Also, do the documents have to be uploaded online or can I print and send the application and supporting documents by snail mail?

Thanks!

BritInParis

Generally speaking I would try and use a proper flatbed scanner rather than an iPhone app if at possible. If you don’t have access to a scanner then I would opt to have the documents scanned by the VAC. The documents will need to be scanned - there’s no postal option.

catsutton148

Thank you! This is helpful! (For when the centers reopen)
Am I looking in the wrong place on the UK gov website - or am I reading this wrong? It looks like they want me to send it by mail? (Sorry new to all this and there’s so much info!)

BritInParis

If you’re in the US then you can post it to New York for VFS to scan it for you but there’s no option to post it to the UK anymore.

catsutton148

Ah okay thank you! Makes sense now - sorry I should have specified we're currently in the US. So does that mean I would send my originals and VFS would eventually return those to me or would I still send scans of the originals?

Thanks so much for your help!

BritInParis

If you post your documents to VFS then they’ll scan and return them to you. No need for you to scan them as well.