Visa application document check

Old Jan 14th 2015, 12:02 pm
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Default Visa application document check

Just wondering if anyone would be able to have a look at what I'm planning to submit for a spouse visa app. and see what they think.

I'm in Japan with a wife and 2 dual nationality children, and will be taking the savings route.

I'm planning to submit,

Copy of online form
Appendix 2
Applicant sponsorship form SU07
An explanatory letter from me, the sponsor
Japanese marriage certificate + translation
About 9 months of bank statements
Details regarding passing the FCE test.
Letter from my mother, who we'll be staying with at first, stating accommodation details, and Land Registry form showing full ownership.
Wife's passport and expired one.
My passport
Children's UK birth certificates (just to show further evidence of our relationship)
2 photos

I'll also add we lived in England about 6 years ago with her on a spouse visa then too. What effect, if any, do you think that might have on this application? I'm curious mainly, i.e would they be able to dig up some old file and see what evidence they had then?

Thanks for any tips.
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Old Jan 14th 2015, 3:11 pm
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Default Re: Visa application document check

I am not great at these lists but firstly would question whether the SU07 is necessary? I thought that was more for Dependants. My husband, as the applicant, also wrote an introductory letter.

As the sponsor, I did not send my actual passport but just a photocopy of the bio page.

Don't forget the bank statements must be originals or, failing that, must be stamped by the bank or accompanied by a letter from the bank. We each wtote a declaration on the source of the savings. In our case, it was from my husbands salary going back several years and we no longer had statements to show money going in, but our declarations were accepted. If you have evidence of the source of the savings, it is good to include it. And, of course, if any part of it was a gift, you must provide evidence of that.

It is advised to include an inspection of the property to show there will be no overcrowding.

We included about fifteen photos and correspondence addressed to both of us to prove genuine relationship.

My husband had ILR some years ago and we explained why we had to leave and why we wanted to come back in our covering letters. Not sure if they check the records.

Hope this helps and that, if I have forgotten something, someone else will chime in.
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Old Jan 14th 2015, 9:38 pm
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Default Re: Visa application document check

Echoing some of michali's comments I would also include a letter from your wife and no more than a dozen photos that cover the length of your relationship including your wedding and the two of you with your children.

I would also include your full British birth certificate and your wife's Japanese birth certificate together with an appropriate English translation as well as copies of the biodata pages from your children's British and Japanese passports.
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Old Jan 15th 2015, 12:26 am
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Default Re: Visa application document check

Thanks a lot for your replies and advice.

Yes, I was confused about the SU07 form too. When I started filling out the online form it told me to complete it, but now I can't see any mention of it on the online form. On most forums people say you don't need it as like you said it's only for dependent relatives, apart from one forum where someone said VFS in Shanghai refused to accept her spouse visa application until she'd filled out an SU07! I'll fill it out anyway, even though it contains absolutely no new information...
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Old Jan 26th 2015, 4:25 am
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Default Re: Visa application document check

Just a little update, we went to the VFS Global office and gave them our documents today and they seemed very keen on giving out advice, which I thought they weren't supposed to do. I didn't mind because it might have been good advice, but firstly they told the guy in front of me's wife that her marriage certificate was "out-of-date" which as his mother who was also there said, is impossible. How can a marriage certificate be "out-of-date"? They also told him he should have got a translation of it done, which is a fair point!

They said a similar thing to me about our marriage certificate. We got married 10 years ago and I had a translation done last month, but in Japan there's something called a koseki tohon which is like a family tree detailing the relationships (i.e marriages, births etc) of every citizen, which anyone can get a copy of from the local city office, so if we'd got divorced in the meantime it would show up there. They said it would have been better to get this koseki tohon as a recent copy would show our marital status now, but the marriage certificate should be alright. I can understand why they feel that way as it is more "up-to-date" in a sense as a marriage certificate just shows you got married but says nothing about getting divorced or not afterwards, but I don't think any other country has this official family-tree registration system and almost everybody applying for a spouse visa from other countries must surely be using a copy of the marriage certificate, however old it may be.

The man who dealt with my wife also said we should change the expected date of travel to 3 months from the date of application as opposed to May 4th which I'd written. I thought the ECO would automatically stamp it 3 months from when they processed the application and see that our expected date of travel was within 3 moths of the start of the visa, so that was helpful. Apart from that the man said everything looked good, but again I was surprised at the level of advice being given, be it helpful or not.
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Old Jan 26th 2015, 7:19 am
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Default Re: Visa application document check

Strange about the marriage certificates! They never expire! As to the intended time of travel, however, they are correct. You can only plan to travel three months ahead. Of course, as soon as you get your visa, you can enter the UK from the date of issue in the passport. Good luck!
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Old Jan 26th 2015, 9:00 am
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Default Re: Visa application document check

Cheers, hopefully it'll be alright.

It's funny though, when we got a spouse visa before when I was studying, I swear we applied in December. I remember going at the start of the school holidays and picking it up just after New Year, but the visa is stamped as valid from April 14th, which was the date we flew. Things were different back in 2007/8....
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Old Feb 10th 2015, 3:51 pm
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Default Re: Visa application document check

Just got a "decision made" email today, 2 weeks after document submission. I know I'm being paranoid and that there's nothing anyone can do to alter it, but has it ever been know for visas to get refused this quickly?
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