Spouse Visa - Need advice...Please Help!

[gotshakespeare]

Hello,

I am new to this so forgive me if I haven't done it correctly. I am in the middle of organizing all of my evidence to apply for my Spouse visa next week. First, I want to say thank you to so many of you who posted on here because you have enlightened me to so many things I didn't know. I hadn't even thought about how the information should be organized until I read posts on here and realized that it has to be organized and indexed so that they don't have to dig through everything.

So I have gone out and bought a ton of binder envelopes and dividers as well as a three inch 2-ring binder. I have read up and studied everything about how it should be indexed and such, but I have run into a problem. I am just about half way through with putting it all in order and my binder is OVER full! I can't seem to find a binder that is bigger than 3 inches here in England, but I am able to find a 5 inch one in America for when I go home that might work but might still be too small.

So I guess my question is would it be ok to seperate all of the documents? I mean I have them all divided up into sections, for example: App & Letters, Passports & IDs, Our Wedding, Our Relationship, Our Home, and Financial & Employment. So would it be ok to have each of those in it's own binder or is it better to have it all indexed in the same binder? Is there something better to use than a binder?

Does anyone have any tips on the best way to organize such as products or the way it looks best to an Officer?

Any help anyone can give would be more than appreciated! My husband and I are so scared that we aren't going to get to be together and this is just one more thing that we are afraid is going to get us rejected.

Thanks,
Stacey

[mrsbean]

Dear Stacey,

I know how it feels to be worried about all of this visa stuff, but please don't let it get the best of you. I applied for my spouse visa in Ukraine (as I am Ukrainian) but I had resided in the U.S. for the last 10 years - so I know how you can't find things in Europe that were easily available to you in the States.

Now when I submitted my application, I did have everything organized in binders. I had the same problem - I couldn't fit everything in one 3" binder. So I got a second 3" inch binder and put the rest of it in there. I titled each binder on the front with my name, type of visa I was applying for, and my visa application number (you get it once you fill out an online application). On the inside of each binder I created an index page outlining what that particular binder contained. Basically, I had one binder for original documents that I wanted and needed back and it stated that on the inside with the list of those documents. The second binder contained all the copies and I named it "COPIES" that they could keep because they do want to have all the copies of the originals that you submit. I also indexed everything inside such as passports & proof of residence, bank statements, employment verifications, accommodation, etc. for both originals and copies.

I got my application approved in a record time - of course, it does depend on individual circumstances as well, outside of organization... But my application was approved in 10 business day vs. an average for my country of 60 business days.

Don't stress out too much over it. I know I did

Best of luck to you and God bless!

Kate

[Casa]

Make sure you don't submit too many documents which aren't essential as you risk the ECO missing those that are.

[gotshakespeare]

Kate,

Thank you so much for your reply! We are trying very hard not to stress and to be positive. From everything I can find we meet all of the requirements - we are over 21, legally married, had a relationship before getting married and continue to have one after, we don't have a lot of money but my husband has a steady job he has had for nearly 4 years and I have never been without work, we do have a place to live though it is with his parents, but they have written letters stating that we can stay here and we have all of their financial information as well as deed to the house, mortgage payments, and council tax. Neither of us have anything in our backgrounds nor have either of us had anything negative on our immigration record. So given all of that we don't feel there is any reason to be rejected, but (and I am not going to go into a fairytale sob story ) we have waited so long to find that one right person and to be together we are terrified we are going to be ripped apart.

I hadn't actually thought about having one binder for originals and one for copies. The only potential problem I see with that is that what I have in their now is all originals (marriage certificate, photos, letters, phone bills, plane tickets, pay slips, bank statements, etc) I haven't even put the copies in and already only half way through I am out of room. Would it be too much to put them all in seperate binders for each category and have the copies next to the original? I know that would be alot of binders though I did buy pocket envelopes to put in the binders for those documents and things (legal documents, pictures, etc) that can't be hole punched to put in a binder and since they have a snap at the top they take up more room so would it be better to have those in one binder and another binder just for paper originals that can be hole punched and copies? (that may have been what you meant...sorry if it was) I would of course have them all divided and as immaculately indexed as possible.

I apologize if I am being completely crazy about this. I tend to obssess and since this information holds mine and my husband's future in its clasps I might be being too particular with it. I think its amazing that yours was approved so quickly and I can only hope that ours is the same or at least close. Though I don't know your particulars or if they are much different than ours, but I am so happy to know that yours worked out successfully and I wish you and yours a wonderful life of happiness.

Thank you so much for any additional information you can give!

Stacey

[gotshakespeare]

Make sure you don't submit too many documents which aren't essential as you risk the ECO missing those that are.

Casa,

I have read several of your posts and you seem to know quite a bit about all of this immigration business. I have seen you put that on many people's posts and it makes so much sense because you want them to see why you meet the requirements and not get lost in all of the extra that makes us a couple.

The only problem I have is that being as I am the one in the relationship and it was my wedding I am having a hard time figuring out what is important and what isn't because to me every little detail is important. I know that an ECO won't be as sentimental as I am but I am having a hard time pulling myself away and being objective. That mainly pertains to the relationship documents and the wedding. I have read through many posts here and tried to only pull the documents together that everyone else had as well as a few more that are specific to my husband and I as we met online so there are alot of emails, instant message, phone calls, and texts. I am assuming they don't need to know the particulars of what we said in our instant messages so probably just a few screen shots of the days and times we talked would do? The phone calls and texts - do they need phone bills from both phone lines or just one or the other showing contact? would they need all of the pages for every single month or just a few again just showing contact? We sent several greeting cards and things back and forth for various holidays and birthdays, but didn't keep the envelopes so there is no date or anything - is it even worth including those? I think I need to cutdown on the amount of wedding photos I have because there are over 100 and they probably don't need that many do they?

I know I probably sound ridiculous and you are wishing you hadn't responded, but as you can probably tell I am scared and need any and all help I can get. Anything you can tell me would be more than appreciated!

Thank you,
Stacey

[Casa]

The ECO certainly doesn't need to see 100 wedding photos. 10 or so would be more than enough. It doesn't really matter which one of you made the phone call, neither do you need to show all the personal conversations on emails...screen shots are fine. There's no point in including greetings cards etc if you don't have the envelopes as without these it would prove nothing.
Don't focus so closely on proving the relationship that you submit a weak application showing sufficient income and adequate accommodation (no overcrowding).
Remember that you also need to submit a letter from your husband's family confirming that you can live with them. If they have a mortgage then you'll need a copy of their mortgage agreement...if the property is rented, a letter from the landlord permitting you to stay there.

[STLewis]

HI,

When I prepared my husbands spouse application we used a Lever Arch file. I typed up an Index at the front and used card dividers to separate each section, as per the Index. I placed everything in plastic wallets also.

I suspect you are including far too much if you need two folders. I was extremely thorough and my Lever Arch folder was adequate. perhaps your using a ring binder instead?

[gotshakespeare]

Don't focus so closely on proving the relationship that you submit a weak application showing sufficient income and adequate accommodation (no overcrowding).
Remember that you also need to submit a letter from your husband's family confirming that you can live with them. If they have a mortgage then you'll need a copy of their mortgage agreement...if the property is rented, a letter from the landlord permitting you to stay there.

You are right I shouldn't focus so much on proving the relationship. I should submit a stong (I am thinking that is what you meant instead of weak) application showing sufficient income and adequate accommodation, because that is probably more important. I told you I was too sentimental. I do have letters from both of his parents stating that we can live here indefinitely and it explains what we pay and what it covers. We also have all of the mortgage information and statements and a survey of the property detailing the accommodation and that there is plenty of room for me to live there without overcrowding.

I will remove the greeting cards and significantly reduce the amount of wedding photos. I will also look and see what else I can remove. So I guess I shouldn't supply so much personal information, but in your opinion if I did still have too much to put in one binder should I seperate it into two binders then like Kate said?

[Casa]

How you present it is a matter of personal choice. What you submit is what matters.
An application won't be refused because it's not in the right type of folder.

[gotshakespeare]

HI,

When I prepared my husbands spouse application we used a Lever Arch file. I typed up an Index at the front and used card dividers to separate each section, as per the Index. I placed everything in plastic wallets also.

I suspect you are including far too much if you need two folders. I was extremely thorough and my Lever Arch folder was adequate. perhaps your using a ring binder instead?

The binder I have at the moment says Lever Arch File on the side and is from Wilkos. It does have 2 rings inside the binder though so to me that is a ring binder but I could be incorrect. I am not completely used to the products in England. It is 3 inches wide and doesn't quite fit everything, but as Casa said I need to cut everything down regarding the wedding and relationship and focus more on the money and accommodation. The pocket wallets do take up room so I might put those documents in those pockets in a seperate binder and everything else in another. Was your husband's application successful? Any tips you can give would be fantastic!

Thank you so much!
Stacey

[gotshakespeare]

How you present it is a matter of personal choice. What you submit is what matters.
An application won't be refused because it's not in the right type of folder.

Thank you so much that actually makes me feel a ton better! I tend to obssess if you couldn't tell

[skyepark]

I had 35 pages of originals and the same of copies, i put some docs back to back in one plastic wallet, I included an index page and labelled sections by letters. I have written a list of what I included in another thread.