Prudi

Can you add in any official docs that show you were living at the same address, even if the doc wasn't addressed to both of you? Bills, letters from the council, that kind of thing?

We submitted ALL of our bank statements for the year or so we'd been living together. I went through both sets and highlighted his transfers to me (he'd moved in with me so all the bills were already set up to direct debit from my account) to show that we had had joint finances for the whole of the previous year.

It looks like you have a nice evidence set there to me. If they ask for more evidence, I love Pollyana's suggestion of getting wills drawn up. Easy, shows commitment, and legally binding. Also, would your OH's family be willing to write statements in their own language? It may be worth looking into the requirements for submitting foreign documents (official translations, that kind of thing) in case the situation arises.

Honestly, good luck with it. I want to help because it looks like we had a bit of an easy ride compared to now where they seem to be requiring more evidence. If I'd been asked to provide more, I probably would have been stumped without this forum.

Green Grass

Many thanks for your help Prudi.

Re correspondence between January and June, there is no correspondence which is joint which is my main concern. I have credit card statements, a mortgage statement and another bank letter addressed to me. My partner has letters from the House of Commons, the UK Border Agency and a credit card company. So we probably have enough correspondence as individuals, just nothing joint.

Submitting 12 months of bank statements seems a lot but if that's what they expect, then fine. I will submit 7 months of credit card statements (evidencing joint usage) and 5 months of bank statements for our joint account since August. I only have internet statements for August to October which I hope is fine. I only started getting paper copies recently.

My OH family aren't so keen on her move to Australia so statements from them might be difficult. Compiling a second set of evidence just in case is a good strategy!

Thanks

moneypenny20

Doesn't matter. You're proving you live together so individual stuff addressed to the same property does that. We'd been married donkey's years when I applied but only had the leccy bill in joint names, everything else was either or.

kateomaco

Hello All,
Since our CO requested further evidence, we managed to gather further evidence, a big thick envelope full with further bank statements, we did our wills, more correspondence at the same address, membership cards at the same clubs, joint wedding invitations etc. We sent this off 4 weeks ago, and we emailed our CO to make sure he'd received it as he didn't confirm receipt as we'd requested. He advised he had received it and would review the evidence the following week (3 weeks ago).
Today we had an email from him advising he has reviewed our further evidence and that before making an assessment on whether or not we have satisfied the relationship requirements, he would like to interview each of us by phone. Has anyone else had to do this?! If so, how long did the interview last? And what kind of questions do they ask? It really does feel like he doesn't believe our relationship is genuine!
Thanks
Kate

Bermudashorts

Not common to see somebody having to attend an interview, hopefully someone who has can help you with the format of the meeting. You certainly come across as genuine so just keep calm and don't stress it.

I was earlier in the thread, thinking that you were putting too much on friends statements (which can be made up) and other evidence like plane tickets and wedding invites and maybe this swamped the really key evidence which is all about ADDRESS. Still from what you have said, I am surprised that it is not considered enough. There might also be a question about the length of the relationship, over three years and it should be straight to PR.

Good luck, I hope it goes well.

australianinleicester

Hi Kate,

We never had to go through the phone interview ordeal but we were prepared for it just in case. I made sure that I knew the name of the care homes that my OH's parents were residents of. I memorized dates of important events, ie when we realised we were more than just boyfriend/girlfriend, when we decided that we wanted to spend our lives together. When we began to live together, what were/are our immediate and long term goals. What date is his birthday, what is his middle name, what is his favorite food/drink/holiday destination/football club in effect how well do you know this man. How well does this man know you?

What ever they ask you I assume they will then ask him the same questions and see if your answers are similar.

Good luck, I remember how stressful it was waiting for our visa and that was without any of the extra stress of phone interviews and further evidence.

As I say, we never had to do the actual phone interview so hopefully someone with first hand experience will be along soon with more advice but this is how we were prepared to handle it should it be necessary.

SillyOldBag

I haven't seen all that many cases where people have had telephone interviews but I have seen a few and the post afterwards has always been words to the effect that "well that wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be!". As Bermudashorts said, don't stress, just remember that you are in a genuine relationship, they won't be asking any trick questions, just effectively talking to you about a subject you know well, all about you and your relationship with your OH. As to whether he believes your relationship is genuine, I don't think I would focus on that too much, it could just be a case that they have to make random phone checks on cases, it might be that this case officer likes to include that step as part of the processing, it might be that you just fall slightly short on one aspect of the requirements and to help pull you over the line to victory he needs to tick a couple more boxes by speaking to you both.

You know your relationship is genuine, just try and be relaxed open and honest when you speak to him.

Good luck

PS Here is one post I found. Here is another. It seems about 10 minutes for the interview seems to be the common factor!

Pollyana

From what I've seen and heard thats exactly it; if its a genuine relationship and thus you can talk easily about it, you'll be fine

LittleButton

Yes, my husband and I had telephone interviews. It really was nothing to worry about. All the CO wanted to do was go over some of the facts in our personal statements - so as long as you're familiar with the history of your relationship (which you should both be!) then you'll be absolutely fine.

Incidentally, the reason that we had telephone interviews was because we had put conflicting dates in our personal statements for something. My husband STILL managed to give the wrong date when questioned in the telephone interview - but our visa was approved all the same. I think this proves that they are not trying to trip you up, but get a feel of whether your relationship is genuine.

Just answer all questions honestly and genuinely and you will be absolutely fine.

Good luck!

kateomaco

Thank you for all the advice and information. It's made me not feel as stressed about it all! We've confirmed interviews next Wednesday during my lunch break & my partner when he finishes work, our CO advised the interview would be around 20 min, he's also the team leader, which makes me think perhaps he has to be seen to be doing a thorough assessment of applications he processes (fingers crossed!) At least it will give us an opportunity to ask questions etc. Just to wait now for Wednesday to roll around!

kateomaco

Hi Everyone,

I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me if you receive a letter in the post or an email advising if your visa's been approved or declined? We're waiting to find out & our 6 months waiting period is nearly up! We have received all other communication via email so assumed it would be via email but not sure.

Thanks
Kate

Mazza12

Hi Kate, If you opted for email as your preferred method of communication, which it seems you have, then you will receive the visa grant by email too I got a simple email telling me that my visa had been granted. Hope you hear good news soon.

kateomaco

Hi Mazza12, Thanks for that, I assumed as much but just thought I'd check as we've been checking the email everyday but nice to know it will be electronic & not waiting for the post!

kateomaco

Hi,

We applied in December 2011 for the visa but we're still waiting to find out if the visa has been granted. It's now 3 weeks after the 6 month processing period and when we emailed our CO 3 weeks ago he replied advising processing times are slighter longer atm but didn't expect it would be too much longer, however he didn't give us a time frame...so we're patiently waiting & checking email everyday but still nothing .

Is anyone else in the same situation?

Kate