"you must provide original and photocopy of all supporting documents"

[FreshFromTheGrave]

Hey everyone! We are 1 week away from applying for my wife's spouse visa!
Please help us take a look at our supporting documents list and help us figure out if we've got everything in order Quick background info: I am South African with ILR and wife is Malaysian, she is applying from Malaysia and I live in the UK.

We'll be supplying:

Essentials:

• Application form (still need to apply)

• Appendix 2 form (applying under category A)

• IHS receipt? (still needs to be done, assuming this is done after or during application?)

• TB test result

Question: Is SU07 sponsorship undertaking form necessary? We don't plan on including it.

Sponsor IDs:

• Sponsor cover letter

• South African passport (actual thing)

• BRP card (actual thing)

• Regular old photocopy of both and photocopy of SA ID book all in one page

Marriage:

• Original handwritten South African marriage certificate in a plastic sleeve as it's not A4

• Regular old photocopy of marriage certificate

• Regular old photocopy of South African marriage register as an extra (not supplying original)

Financial:

• Letter from my employer detailing salary, my position, when I started and that I am a permanent full time employee (salary well in excess of the £18600 threshold)

• 10 months of payslips stamped and signed by HR as they are printed off the internet, I know I can do with 6 but the more the merrier I guess

• 10 months of bank statements, one will be printed and stamped by the branch

Accommodation:

• Letter from landlord stating I live in the property, how long I have been there and that he has no objection to my wife living with me after she has received her spouse visa (I live in an HMO - for now)

• Property Inspection Report from third party company detailing room sizes and who lives in each room and stating that the addition of my wife will not make the home statutorily overcrowded as well as blurb about house being in state of good repair etc.

• Copy of HMO license stating maximum number of occupants licensed for (11 - when there are 7 in the house now).

English language:

• Wife's law degree from Cardiff University in Wales

• Transcripts from that degree

• Wife's old passports with old student visa

Proof of relationship:

• Printed photographs of us over 7 years, each photograph dated with location including one page of wedding photos

• 7 years worth of Facebook Messenger chats (2 messages per month for each year - so a lot of pages)

• 2 years worth of FaceTime call log screenshots

• Flight tickets from when we travelled together with both our names on the ticket and bus tickets from when I used to visit her weekly in Cardiff (I live in London)

• Photographs of some letters and cards we've sent each other (fiddly to include originals)

And that hopefully ought to do it! Are we missing anything? Should anything be removed?

[FreshFromTheGrave]

Sorry for small bump!

I'm starting to get worried about including both my actual passport and my brp card. It kind of leaves me without documentation and would be a headache if post office or home office lost them...

Wondering if South African passport is necessary to include it if I can just include brp?

[CR001]

Essentials:

• Application form (still need to apply)

• Appendix 2 form (applying under category A)

• IHS receipt? (still needs to be done, assuming this is done after or during application?)

• TB test result

Question: Is SU07 sponsorship undertaking form necessary? We don't plan on including it.

IHS payment is part of the online process correct. Form SU07 is NOT required for a spouse visa.

Sponsor IDs:

• Sponsor cover letter

• South African passport (actual thing)

• BRP card (actual thing)

• Regular old photocopy of both and photocopy of SA ID book all in one page

SA ID book is irrelevant to a UK visa application. It is only applicable in SA for SA stuff. If you are in the UK, there is NO requirement to submit your original documents anyway. Copies will be fine.

Marriage:

• Original handwritten South African marriage certificate in a plastic sleeve as it's not A4

• Regular old photocopy of marriage certificate

• Regular old photocopy of South African marriage register as an extra (not supplying original)

You need to submit originals, it is clearly mentioned. Only one marriage cert is necessary though. Why are you submitting copies of everything??

Financial:

• Letter from my employer detailing salary, my position, when I started and that I am a permanent full time employee (salary well in excess of the £18600 threshold)

• 10 months of payslips stamped and signed by HR as they are printed off the internet, I know I can do with 6 but the more the merrier I guess

• 10 months of bank statements, one will be printed and stamped by the branch

No, do not send 'the more the merrier' documents. Submit ONLY what is asked for. If your salary meets the requirement and you have been with the same employer for a long time, 6 moths payslips and bank statements is MORE than enough.

Accommodation:

• Letter from landlord stating I live in the property, how long I have been there and that he has no objection to my wife living with me after she has received her spouse visa (I live in an HMO - for now)

• Property Inspection Report from third party company detailing room sizes and who lives in each room and stating that the addition of my wife will not make the home statutorily overcrowded as well as blurb about house being in state of good repair etc.

• Copy of HMO license stating maximum number of occupants licensed for (11 - when there are 7 in the house now).

What about tenancy agreement or lodger agreement (as applicable)??

English language:

• Wife's law degree from Cardiff University in Wales

• Transcripts from that degree

• Wife's old passports with old student visa

Why are you submitting old passport and old visa. It is not relevant. She also does not need the transcripts if she is using a UK degree to meet the English requirement, she only needs the Degree certificate (original).

Proof of relationship:

• Printed photographs of us over 7 years, each photograph dated with location including one page of wedding photos

• 7 years worth of Facebook Messenger chats (2 messages per month for each year - so a lot of pages)

• 2 years worth of FaceTime call log screenshots

• Flight tickets from when we travelled together with both our names on the ticket and bus tickets from when I used to visit her weekly in Cardiff (I live in London)

• Photographs of some letters and cards we've sent each other (fiddly to include originals)

Fine.

[FreshFromTheGrave]

Hi all, we're just submitting my wife's spouse visa online application now. She is applying from Malaysia and all information we've been able to find up till now points to us having to send our documents to Sheffield.

We noticed this line "you must provide original and photocopy of all supporting documents" under visa appointment messages. Can this be safely ignored as a generic message? Document scanning isn't available for settlement applications from Malaysia as far as we can tell.

Thank you!

[FreshFromTheGrave]

IHS payment is part of the online process correct. Form SU07 is NOT required for a spouse visa.


SA ID book is irrelevant to a UK visa application. It is only applicable in SA for SA stuff. If you are in the UK, there is NO requirement to submit your original documents anyway. Copies will be fine.


You need to submit originals, it is clearly mentioned. Only one marriage cert is necessary though. Why are you submitting copies of everything??


No, do not send 'the more the merrier' documents. Submit ONLY what is asked for. If your salary meets the requirement and you have been with the same employer for a long time, 6 moths payslips and bank statements is MORE than enough.


What about tenancy agreement or lodger agreement (as applicable)??


Why are you submitting old passport and old visa. It is not relevant. She also does not need the transcripts if she is using a UK degree to meet the English requirement, she only needs the Degree certificate (original).


Fine.

Thank you as always CR001 I think you're right, I've paired down the documents a bit and thrown in my tenancy agreement now.

We're almost there! Biometrics on Thursday and then some round the world couriering and then just holding thumbs. Nerves are setting in a bit but I'm sure all will be fine

[CR001]

Imagine our nerves for each person we help and wait for the outcome.

You will be fine, shout if you have more questions, no matter how silly you think it is.

[FreshFromTheGrave]

Last minute question! Does the copy of sponsor's BRP/passport need to be certified at all? If so is post office certified copy acceptable or does it have to be a solicitor?

[shah185]

It does not need to be certified.

[seagul]

Last minute question! Does the copy of sponsor's BRP/passport need to be certified at all? If so is post office certified copy acceptable or does it have to be a solicitor?

Preferably send original passport & BRP because usually In case of British passport the copy may work.

[FreshFromTheGrave]

Last minute question! Does the copy of sponsor's BRP/passport need to be certified at all? If so is post office certified copy acceptable or does it have to be a solicitor?

Preferably send original passport & BRP because usually In case of British passport the copy may work.

You know what, for safety's sake I'll just throw the originals back in. There's no harm unless they manage to lose them both (famous last words) I don't really think I need them unless I apply for a new job. Still have drivers license for ID if I need.

[CR001]

Last minute question! Does the copy of sponsor's BRP/passport need to be certified at all? If so is post office certified copy acceptable or does it have to be a solicitor?

Preferably send original passport & BRP because usually In case of British passport the copy may work.

You know what, for safety's sake I'll just throw the originals back in. There's no harm unless they manage to lose them both (famous last words) I don't really think I need them unless I apply for a new job. Still have drivers license for ID if I need.

You DO NOT have to send your originals. You only need copies, not certified either.

[FreshFromTheGrave]

Ok that's 2 votes for uncertified copies and 1 for originals

Guys my wife had her biometrics at VFS in Kuala Lumpur today and a few things stood out to me:

1. They took the first 3 pages of her application form including the first declaration. Why would they need to do this? Now I'm unsure if I leave as is or reprint the the missing pages (nothing I can do about declaration as she's posted documents to me already - there are two declarations in the form though and they are identical so I will have 1 to include).

2. They took her old passports which we were going to include in the supporting docs (I know they're not strictly necessary). Again why would they need to do this? It strikes me as odd that VFS would take these.

3. *rant* at no point did VFS give any next steps after biometrics. We're lucky that we frequent these forums to find out information and know that we have to forward onto Sheffield, but what on earth do most people do if they're not given any information?! This whole process has been totally lacking in clarity from either Home Office or VFS, it's really stupid that so much vital information is not properly documented or given to the applicants. I wonder how many people get visas rejected because they didn't scour forums for additional information they should have been given or that should have been easily found. Makes me very thankful for these boards and the members who help us all out <3 Thank you guys <3

[FreshFromTheGrave]

Also when my wife asked the agent "what if I need my old passports to include with my supporting documentation?" the reply was "I don't know".

!!!???

Very inspiring.

[seagul]

Also when my wife asked the agent "what if I need my old passports to include with my supporting documentation?" the reply was "I don't know".

!!!???

Very inspiring.

Applicant has always to supply his/her all recent/previous original passports unless they are lost/stolen and the same almost every application asks.

[FreshFromTheGrave]

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to report back to say my wife's visa was APPROVED this morning!

A huge thank you to everyone who helped us out! Without the information on these boards and from you all I very much doubt we'd be celebrating like we are today