Uploading documents to VFS
Nov 6th 2019, 11:08 am
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 10
Uploading documents to VFS
I am going to attempt to load my wife's settlement visa application documents via the notorious VFS upload service. Does anyone know whether the each document has to be uploaded as a single PDF, or can I put multiple documents in a single PDF (subject to overall size restriction)
Thanks.
Thanks.
Nov 6th 2019, 3:04 pm
#2
Joined: Feb 2012
Location: Not in Paris
Posts: 17,508
Re: Uploading documents to VFS
You can put several documents in a single PDF and you are encouraged to do so for documents of the same type, e.g. bank statements. Less uploading for you and easier for your ECO to review.
Nov 7th 2019, 3:23 am
#3
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 10
Re: Uploading documents to VFS
Thanks. Will make my life easier too!
Nov 13th 2019, 8:29 pm
#4
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2018
Location: UK
Posts: 71
Re: Uploading documents to VFS
Hey Hughden,
Can you please give us some feedback on the VFS upload experience.
Thanks
Can you please give us some feedback on the VFS upload experience.
Thanks
Nov 14th 2019, 3:26 am
#5
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 10
Re: Uploading documents to VFS
In summary, much easier than I expected!
We had previously applied for a tourist visa and I had carefully gathered together all the documents, cross-referenced them, and had them neatly arranged. Then we went to VFS where a clerk spent forty minutes re-arranging everything to fit within their bar-coded header sheets. Still got the visa, but is was a stressful experience and not one I wanted to repeat, especially as this new application had twice as many documents.
I accessed the upload area by going into the UK government application link and then to the VFS site. The categories available for upload match the bar-coded VFS sheets. There is no obvious section for the applicant's documents, so I put my wife's letter and other key personal documents into "additional documents/other", along with a summary of the application which I have attached here (edited with xxxx).
The only VFS category I did not upload to was "educational" because it was not relevant. I had some trouble with "Appendix II" because there was no reference to it in the submission process. It appears to be a hand-written form accompanying a main form which is now only used for North Korea (!) and mirrors most of what is in the on-line submission; but we filled it in anyway.
The key to an easy upload was Adobe Acrobat. The files created by my scanner often exceeded the 10MB limit, but using the reduce file size option in Acrobat was very powerful. My biggest file was 77 documents, detailing all the trips we had taken together, with flight confirmations, passport stamps and photos. The initial scan was 72MB, Adobe knocked it down to 8MB. I used the 7 day free trial.
Uploads were quick and I had no failures. Reviewing is slow if you want to do it, I just went through it all once to make sure everything was there. I wanted to change a file in one section and had to delete all the files in that section and reload them all. Didn't take long but not ideal.
We go to VFS Bangkok next week to formally submit and do the bio-metrics. Will take all the paperwork with me, but it definitely lowers the stress knowing that we don't need to have anything scanned.
We had previously applied for a tourist visa and I had carefully gathered together all the documents, cross-referenced them, and had them neatly arranged. Then we went to VFS where a clerk spent forty minutes re-arranging everything to fit within their bar-coded header sheets. Still got the visa, but is was a stressful experience and not one I wanted to repeat, especially as this new application had twice as many documents.
I accessed the upload area by going into the UK government application link and then to the VFS site. The categories available for upload match the bar-coded VFS sheets. There is no obvious section for the applicant's documents, so I put my wife's letter and other key personal documents into "additional documents/other", along with a summary of the application which I have attached here (edited with xxxx).
The only VFS category I did not upload to was "educational" because it was not relevant. I had some trouble with "Appendix II" because there was no reference to it in the submission process. It appears to be a hand-written form accompanying a main form which is now only used for North Korea (!) and mirrors most of what is in the on-line submission; but we filled it in anyway.
The key to an easy upload was Adobe Acrobat. The files created by my scanner often exceeded the 10MB limit, but using the reduce file size option in Acrobat was very powerful. My biggest file was 77 documents, detailing all the trips we had taken together, with flight confirmations, passport stamps and photos. The initial scan was 72MB, Adobe knocked it down to 8MB. I used the 7 day free trial.
Uploads were quick and I had no failures. Reviewing is slow if you want to do it, I just went through it all once to make sure everything was there. I wanted to change a file in one section and had to delete all the files in that section and reload them all. Didn't take long but not ideal.
We go to VFS Bangkok next week to formally submit and do the bio-metrics. Will take all the paperwork with me, but it definitely lowers the stress knowing that we don't need to have anything scanned.
Nov 14th 2019, 8:47 am
#6
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2018
Location: UK
Posts: 71
Re: Uploading documents to VFS
Originally Posted by hughden
In summary, much easier than I expected!
We had previously applied for a tourist visa and I had carefully gathered together all the documents, cross-referenced them, and had them neatly arranged. Then we went to VFS where a clerk spent forty minutes re-arranging everything to fit within their bar-coded header sheets. Still got the visa, but is was a stressful experience and not one I wanted to repeat, especially as this new application had twice as many documents.
I accessed the upload area by going into the UK government application link and then to the VFS site. The categories available for upload match the bar-coded VFS sheets. There is no obvious section for the applicant's documents, so I put my wife's letter and other key personal documents into "additional documents/other", along with a summary of the application which I have attached here (edited with xxxx).
The only VFS category I did not upload to was "educational" because it was not relevant. I had some trouble with "Appendix II" because there was no reference to it in the submission process. It appears to be a hand-written form accompanying a main form which is now only used for North Korea (!) and mirrors most of what is in the on-line submission; but we filled it in anyway.
The key to an easy upload was Adobe Acrobat. The files created by my scanner often exceeded the 10MB limit, but using the reduce file size option in Acrobat was very powerful. My biggest file was 77 documents, detailing all the trips we had taken together, with flight confirmations, passport stamps and photos. The initial scan was 72MB, Adobe knocked it down to 8MB. I used the 7 day free trial.
Uploads were quick and I had no failures. Reviewing is slow if you want to do it, I just went through it all once to make sure everything was there. I wanted to change a file in one section and had to delete all the files in that section and reload them all. Didn't take long but not ideal.
We go to VFS Bangkok next week to formally submit and do the bio-metrics. Will take all the paperwork with me, but it definitely lowers the stress knowing that we don't need to have anything scanned.
We had previously applied for a tourist visa and I had carefully gathered together all the documents, cross-referenced them, and had them neatly arranged. Then we went to VFS where a clerk spent forty minutes re-arranging everything to fit within their bar-coded header sheets. Still got the visa, but is was a stressful experience and not one I wanted to repeat, especially as this new application had twice as many documents.
I accessed the upload area by going into the UK government application link and then to the VFS site. The categories available for upload match the bar-coded VFS sheets. There is no obvious section for the applicant's documents, so I put my wife's letter and other key personal documents into "additional documents/other", along with a summary of the application which I have attached here (edited with xxxx).
The only VFS category I did not upload to was "educational" because it was not relevant. I had some trouble with "Appendix II" because there was no reference to it in the submission process. It appears to be a hand-written form accompanying a main form which is now only used for North Korea (!) and mirrors most of what is in the on-line submission; but we filled it in anyway.
The key to an easy upload was Adobe Acrobat. The files created by my scanner often exceeded the 10MB limit, but using the reduce file size option in Acrobat was very powerful. My biggest file was 77 documents, detailing all the trips we had taken together, with flight confirmations, passport stamps and photos. The initial scan was 72MB, Adobe knocked it down to 8MB. I used the 7 day free trial.
Uploads were quick and I had no failures. Reviewing is slow if you want to do it, I just went through it all once to make sure everything was there. I wanted to change a file in one section and had to delete all the files in that section and reload them all. Didn't take long but not ideal.
We go to VFS Bangkok next week to formally submit and do the bio-metrics. Will take all the paperwork with me, but it definitely lowers the stress knowing that we don't need to have anything scanned.
Thanks for your informative reply.
I was wondering how you collected all the trips taken (77 docs) in one document.
I'm preparing my documents hopefully will submit mine in a few months
Best of luck!!
Nov 14th 2019, 9:19 am
#7
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 10
Re: Uploading documents to VFS
I have a (cheap) HP printer/scanner and one of the scanning options is to add another document to a scan. If you don't have such a facility, then you would have to do individual scans and get Acrobat to merge them into a single PDF, and then reduce the size.
Nov 14th 2019, 9:38 am
#8
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2018
Location: UK
Posts: 71
Re: Uploading documents to VFS
Originally Posted by hughden
I have a (cheap) HP printer/scanner and one of the scanning options is to add another document to a scan. If you don't have such a facility, then you would have to do individual scans and get Acrobat to merge them into a single PDF, and then reduce the size.
Thanks again
Nov 14th 2019, 4:58 pm
#9
Cruising through BE
Joined: Feb 2019
Location: UK
Posts: 166
Re: Uploading documents to VFS
Originally Posted by hughden
In summary, much easier than I expected!
We had previously applied for a tourist visa and I had carefully gathered together all the documents, cross-referenced them, and had them neatly arranged. Then we went to VFS where a clerk spent forty minutes re-arranging everything to fit within their bar-coded header sheets. Still got the visa, but is was a stressful experience and not one I wanted to repeat, especially as this new application had twice as many documents.
I accessed the upload area by going into the UK government application link and then to the VFS site. The categories available for upload match the bar-coded VFS sheets. There is no obvious section for the applicant's documents, so I put my wife's letter and other key personal documents into "additional documents/other", along with a summary of the application which I have attached here (edited with xxxx).
The only VFS category I did not upload to was "educational" because it was not relevant. I had some trouble with "Appendix II" because there was no reference to it in the submission process. It appears to be a hand-written form accompanying a main form which is now only used for North Korea (!) and mirrors most of what is in the on-line submission; but we filled it in anyway.
The key to an easy upload was Adobe Acrobat. The files created by my scanner often exceeded the 10MB limit, but using the reduce file size option in Acrobat was very powerful. My biggest file was 77 documents, detailing all the trips we had taken together, with flight confirmations, passport stamps and photos. The initial scan was 72MB, Adobe knocked it down to 8MB. I used the 7 day free trial.
Uploads were quick and I had no failures. Reviewing is slow if you want to do it, I just went through it all once to make sure everything was there. I wanted to change a file in one section and had to delete all the files in that section and reload them all. Didn't take long but not ideal.
We go to VFS Bangkok next week to formally submit and do the bio-metrics. Will take all the paperwork with me, but it definitely lowers the stress knowing that we don't need to have anything scanned.
We had previously applied for a tourist visa and I had carefully gathered together all the documents, cross-referenced them, and had them neatly arranged. Then we went to VFS where a clerk spent forty minutes re-arranging everything to fit within their bar-coded header sheets. Still got the visa, but is was a stressful experience and not one I wanted to repeat, especially as this new application had twice as many documents.
I accessed the upload area by going into the UK government application link and then to the VFS site. The categories available for upload match the bar-coded VFS sheets. There is no obvious section for the applicant's documents, so I put my wife's letter and other key personal documents into "additional documents/other", along with a summary of the application which I have attached here (edited with xxxx).
The only VFS category I did not upload to was "educational" because it was not relevant. I had some trouble with "Appendix II" because there was no reference to it in the submission process. It appears to be a hand-written form accompanying a main form which is now only used for North Korea (!) and mirrors most of what is in the on-line submission; but we filled it in anyway.
The key to an easy upload was Adobe Acrobat. The files created by my scanner often exceeded the 10MB limit, but using the reduce file size option in Acrobat was very powerful. My biggest file was 77 documents, detailing all the trips we had taken together, with flight confirmations, passport stamps and photos. The initial scan was 72MB, Adobe knocked it down to 8MB. I used the 7 day free trial.
Uploads were quick and I had no failures. Reviewing is slow if you want to do it, I just went through it all once to make sure everything was there. I wanted to change a file in one section and had to delete all the files in that section and reload them all. Didn't take long but not ideal.
We go to VFS Bangkok next week to formally submit and do the bio-metrics. Will take all the paperwork with me, but it definitely lowers the stress knowing that we don't need to have anything scanned.
Thank you for the tip of the file compressing.
