Dependent/partner visa application from India– my experience

[vchhabra18]

Hello tier2_applicant,

I have a quick question about the tenancy agreement "AAA’S TENANCY AGREEMENT".

I am in exactly the same situation you were in - Tier 2 general sponsored visa, Indian wife - requirement of dependent visa et al.

I have everything that is needed except the tenancy agreement. My friend owns a house here and I rent out a place in it. There isn't any tenancy agreement to be provided - plus I don't pay him anything either. Will a letter from him stating that he is happy to accomodate me and my wife at his place suffice? or do I need to ask him to get an agreement prepared?

Only mindful of the fact that if it looks like he earns money with me staying at his place will cause tax issues, which is not even the case. But sure won't be able to justify this bit?

Any suggestions or workarounds please?

Regards
VC

Hi everyone,

I recently, successfully applied for my wife to join me in the UK as a dependent. Just wanted to let you know how I went about it in case this can be of help to anyone in a similar situation to me.

I have been in the UK since September 2008. I started my studies and switched to post Study work in late 2009 once my masters was awarded. I did a few short term jobs till October 2010 when I found the job I liked on a full time basis. This organisation sponsored my work visa starting Jan 2012. I decided to get married in March 2014 and apply for my wife’s visa from India via VFS.

My wife is an Indian citizen, like me. She had never been to UK before. I logged her application via the VISA4UK website – which is the norm now. I entered all the required details pertaining to my visa. Also, I had to enter my wife’s details including her addressed in the past 5 years, her parent’s info etc. In the cover letter which is on the last page of the VISA4UK online application, I added a list of all the documents we were going to submit as part of my wife’s visa application.

I made the payment online to get an appointment exactly 5 days after the wedding day.
The idea was to get the marriage certificate issued in these 5 days. All other documents are pretty straightforward and were ready even before I went to India to get married.

We opted for document submission in person.
The CATEGORY was PBS TIER 2 GENERAL and TYPE was TIER 2 GENERAL PARTNER
TYPE OF VISA: PBS Tier 2 General
PURPOSE OF APPLICATION: Work
TYPE OF APPLICATION: Tier 2 General Partner

We listed the date of planned arrival in UK as 2 weeks after the wedding day - since this seemed enough for visa processing as per UKBA/VFS guidelines. In the question, How long do you intend to stay in the UK, we answered ‘As per partner visa validity’

In Maintenance section,

WHICH ARE OF MAINTENANCE ARE YOU APPLYING UNDER : OWN/MAIN APPLICANT FUNDS
WHAT EVIDENCE OF FUNDS HAVE YOU SUPPLIED : MAIN APPLICANTS/FIANCES BANK STATEMENTS AND PAYSLIPS


This is the list of documents I mentioned in the VISA4UK application cover letter and submitted on the appointment day:

I AM APPLYING TO JOIN MY PARTNER XXXX XXXX, WHO IS ON A TIER 2 GENERAL LEAVE TO REMAIN IN THE UK.

DOCUMENTS INCLUDED FOR THE APPLICATION ARE-

- MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE,
- AAA’s PROOF OF EMPLOYMENT
- AAA’s PASSPORT COPY
- AAA’S BIOMETRICS CARD COPY
- AAA’S PAYSLIPS
- AAA’S BANK STATEMENTS
- AAA’S TENANCY AGREEMENT
- AAA’S COPY OF AIR TICKETS FOR ARRIVAL IN INDIA
- COPY OF XXX’S PASSPORT PAGE SHOWING ENTRY STAMP TO INDIA FOR WEDDING
- COPY OF WEDDING INVITATION
- WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHS
- UK PRE-DEPARTURE TUBERCULOSIS DETECTION PROGRAMME MEDICAL CERTIFICATE
- APPLICANT’S PASSPORT

(please note AAA being me and not my wife)

In addition to the application and supporting documents, on the appointment day the VFS center took Biometric scans and kept all the original docs except for my passport and Biometrics card. This process took around half an hour where only my wife was permitted in the VFS visa center. She was given a receipt which she would have to submit to collect her passport and application support documents.

My wife got a call from the VFS center 3 working days (+ 2 weekend holidays) after the application was submitted that she could collect her passport and original docs. The collection took half an hour as there was a long queue for the collection service. All the original documents along with the passport were returned with the visa stamped inside the passport - the validity being same as my sponsored visa.

I think I have covered what I needed to cover about my application. Even though my case was a very straightforward one, I hope this helps someone. If anyone has any questions regarding my application, I would be happy to answer them in this thread.

[tier2_applicant]

Hi,

It should not be an issue. I attached it with my application to make the application as 'complete' as I could. The tenancy agreement is not a mandatory document.

[vchhabra18]

Perfect - thanks for your quick response.

Regards
VC

Hi,

It should not be an issue. I attached it with my application to make the application as 'complete' as I could. The tenancy agreement is not a mandatory document.

[kinju]

Hi tier2_applicant,

Thanks for sharing your experience here. It is helping us a lot. We have exact similar case.

My Fiance is in UK on Tier 2 General Visa and I am in India. We are getting married within two weeks and we are planning to go back to UK after two weeks of applying visa (hopefully).

The question is: do I need to update my passport after getting married with the new name and address (including my husband's name and his address)? Or I can apply for dependent visa using my old passport with my Father's name and old address?

We are going to submit all the supporting documents including marriage certificate, photographs etc.

Please let us know as quickly as possible.

Thanks & Regards,

[ravisb_2014]

I think tenancy agreement is important if dependent is a children. Not sure where is it in the guideline, but I have come across in this forum from earlier posts.

[durga]

Hi,
Thanks for the detailed post.

I am working in UK from past 4 years on Tier 2 ICT Long term staff, I will be getting married in 2 weeks time. We are planning to fill the online application ( for my fiancee) now and book the visa appointment 1 week after the wedding. We will be married by the time we submit the documents in the VFS office, I have few questions while filling the application, could you please clarify

1) In Select Visa type, i have picked following options to generate the application
What is Reason for visit? I am confused with this , Choosing "Work" is Ok? i don't find any other suitable option for dependent
Visa Type? Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) visa
Visa sub type? Long-term Staff Partner , up to 3 years (After 3 years, last year i have extended my visa for 2 more years)

2) What is your relationship status? Is it OK to specify "Married " before wedding? as i am applying online before wedding, or do i need to specify " Fiancee /Civil partner "

3) How long do you intend to stay in the UK?
It is not accepting me to enter "As per partner visa validity", my visa is going to expire in Nov 2015, so 1 year is Ok?

4) There is a section for "Spouse / Partner" under Family details
There is a option "Will your spouse/partner be travelling with you"? Yes
Enter Current Passport or Travel Document Number, is it asking about my passport number or my fiancee passport number? Because we have already filled her passport details at the beginning and my passport details in About the main applicant.

5) Did your partner live with you? Is it a No , as we don't live together before wedding.

Thanks,
Durga

[ksrangal]

Hello,

My wife got CoS from one of the employer in UK. So we going to apply for tier 2 visa. I have following doubts, please help:

1. Can we ( Husband+wife) both apply for tier 2 visa in single application ?
2) OR we have to apply through separate applications :
Wife- main applicant.
Husband - dependent.

In case of (2), how two different applications can be presented as one case? Does dependent application need to mention main applicant's CoS or any other information ?

Cheers!!!

[moonlight55]

Hello,

My wife got CoS from one of the employer in UK. So we going to apply for tier 2 visa. I have following doubts, please help:

1. Can we ( Husband+wife) both apply for tier 2 visa in single application ?
2) OR we have to apply through separate applications :
Wife- main applicant.
Husband - dependent.
Separate application.

In case of (2), how two different applications can be presented as one case? Does dependent application need to mention main applicant's CoS or any other information ?
There will be questions related to that in dependent's application. Start filling the online form, you'll get it.

Cheers!!!

[ksrangal]

Thanks for the quick reply.

(1) We had started filling tier 2 main applicant. There it asks that if spouse is travelling with you and does (s)he has valid visa. What should we fill there?

(2) We are married since 2 years now. We have a registered marriage certificate issued by the Marriage office. Is that sufficient proof to show that we are married or do we need to produce additional supporting documents?

Cheers!!!

[moonlight55]

Thanks for the quick reply.

(1) We had started filling tier 2 main applicant. There it asks that if spouse is travelling with you and does (s)he has valid visa. What should we fill there?
You should know the answer for this. Are you planning to travel along with her? If yes, the answer is yes. You don't have a valid visa at the time of application. So, No. You are applying for one.

(2) We are married since 2 years now. We have a registered marriage certificate issued by the Marriage office. Is that sufficient proof to show that we are married or do we need to produce additional supporting documents?
It depends on case by case. I've seen cases where visa is approved only on the basis of marriage certificate. in some cases, they've rejected it asking for proof of relationship subsistence (such as marriage invites, marriage photos, call logs and so on. The list is not exhaustive). It's your call what you want to submit. If it's a first UK application together, I would personally recommend to provide additional documents if possible.

Cheers!!!

[ksrangal]

Thanks, it really helped.

Please review following list of documents which we are going to submit for tier 2 General visa.

Main applicant (wife) :
- CoS (original)
- offer letter from employer (Print out)
- Bank statements (Original)
- Police certificate (Original)
- TB test report (Original)
- Passport (original)
- Marriage certificate (original)


Dependent (me) Applicant:
(I am software eng and currently working)

- CoS ( Wife's) (copy)
- offer letter from wife's employer (Print out)
- Bank statements (Original)
- Police certificate (Original)
- TB test report (Original)
- Passport (original)
- Marriage certificate (original)
- Property papers which has both of us names ( to support marriage) (original)
- My company's insurance which has my wife's name there (to support marriage) (printout)
- 3 marriage pics ( to support marriage)
- facebook account screen-shots ( printout)

Should I attach my employment proof ?
- My employer letter that I am working.
- My Pay slips

Should all documents which are not original needs to be notarized ?
Eg: my company will issue electronically generated play slips and all.

Anything else?

[moonlight55]

These docs are not required:
- CoS ( Wife's) (copy)
- offer letter from wife's employer (Print out)
- My employer letter that I am working.
- My Pay slips

Notorisation is not required.

Ensure:
- the bank statements show a little more than the reqd amt for maintenance. Use oanda.com exchange rates for calculating in GBP.
- Hope marriage certificate is in English. Else, official translation is also reqd.
- Need to enclose your wife's original degree certificate.

[ksrangal]

Thanks!

Like you said " - Need to enclose your wife's original degree certificate."

Just to be clear, She needs to enclose original degree certificate with her own application. NOT me. Right?

[moonlight55]

Right. I'm assuming you both are applying together.

[ksrangal]

Good News!

We got the visa.

We applied for priority visa on Monday at Bangalore vfs office, and it got granted and delivered on Thursday evening. Pretty fast service.

This forum was really helpful and you guys are doing great job.

Cheers!

[udayphysio]

Dear friends,

I am currently on Tier 2 general visa (since Sep 2012) and have recently changed my employer on Jan 2015. I will be starting my new job with Employer on Mar 2015. I am planning to apply for my wife dependent visa on Apr 2015. Does one month pay slip from current employer enough? and also i am planning to attach my previous 3 months pay slips and P45 certificate from previous employer.

Advice please.

Thanks in advance

[uk121]

Dear guys,

I am applying for tier 2 dependent visa from India, can someone please respond to the queries below?

1. Can you apply Tier 2 dependent visa under priority service? (bangalore)
2. There is a question on medical treatment under went in UK, can you please confirm whether ' pregnancy/delivery' comes under 'treatment'?? my son born in UK. Do i have to declare this?

thanks in advance

[moonlight55]

Dear friends,

I am currently on Tier 2 general visa (since Sep 2012) and have recently changed my employer on Jan 2015. I will be starting my new job with Employer on Mar 2015. I am planning to apply for my wife dependent visa on Apr 2015. Does one month pay slip from current employer enough? and also i am planning to attach my previous 3 months pay slips and P45 certificate from previous employer.

Advice please.

Payslips / P45 is not required as part of the application.

Thanks in advance

[ksrangal]

Dear guys,

I am applying for tier 2 dependent visa from India, can someone please respond to the queries below?

1. Can you apply Tier 2 dependent visa under priority service? (bangalore)
YES. extra free is ~12K per applicant. You get visa processed in 5 working days.

2. There is a question on medical treatment under went in UK, can you please confirm whether ' pregnancy/delivery' comes under 'treatment'?? my son born in UK. Do i have to declare this?

thanks in advance

[uk121]

Thanks Ksrangal!

Can someone please clarify my second query?

2. There is a question on medical treatment under went in UK, can you please confirm whether ' pregnancy/delivery' comes under 'treatment'?? my son born in UK. Do i have to declare this?

Thanks

[ksrangal]

Thanks Ksrangal!

Can someone please clarify my second query?

2. There is a question on medical treatment under went in UK, can you please confirm whether ' pregnancy/delivery' comes under 'treatment'?? my son born in UK. Do i have to declare this?

Thanks

I do not know about this scenario.

Cheers!!!

[ksrangal]

It would be really helpful, if someone can answer following questions:


My spouse is holding tier 2 general visa and working in UK. I am holding Tier 2 general dependent visa.
Currently I am working in Indian IT company. My company has agreed to give ICT to UK office. My questions are :

1) Will I be having both the visas ( dependent and ICT ) or only one visa is valid at a time?
2) When I will apply for ICT, what will happen to my current dependent visa?
3) After completion of ICT (5 years), will I be able to apply for dependent visa again? Provided that my spouse is still working in UK.
4) Will cooling off period apply for me in case I want to apply for dependent visa after my ICT period gets over.

Thanks.

[moonlight55]

It would be really helpful, if someone can answer following questions:


My spouse is holding tier 2 general visa and working in UK. I am holding Tier 2 general dependent visa.
Currently I am working in Indian IT company. My company has agreed to give ICT to UK office. My questions are :

1) Will I be having both the visas ( dependent and ICT ) or only one visa is valid at a time?
The latest visa will override the old one.

2) When I will apply for ICT, what will happen to my current dependent visa?
It will become invalid.

3) After completion of ICT (5 years), will I be able to apply for dependent visa again? Provided that my spouse is still working in UK.
As per current rules, Yes.

4) Will cooling off period apply for me in case I want to apply for dependent visa after my ICT period gets over.
As per current rules, No.

Thanks.

[ksrangal]

OK. Thanks!

One basic question. If some rule changes, will that applies to immigrants who are already in UK OR new rules will be applicable to immigrants who are going to apply AFTER the rule change?

[moonlight55]

Logically, it should be applicable for those who apply after the change. But, no one can guarantee that the changes will always follow this. This is not in anyone's control, so you cannot make your decisions based on this. Go by the current rules.