A September 2013 post wrote:I am a South African national living in the US (I recently graduated from a US university), so I sent my UK ancestry visa application to the NY application centre. The visa application cost $460 or so, and I chose to pay the additional $150 to expedite the application. When it arrived in NY, I was informed by email that non-settlement visas had been taking about 8 days to process. A few minutes later I received another email acknowledging the priority status of my application, and informing me that the visa would take about 48 hours to process. This proved to be correct: two days later I received another email that the visa had been approved. My documents were mailed to me the following day.
I included the following documents:
General:
My current and previous passports.
The stamped printout of my biometric appointment receipt.
A cover letter detailing the evidence I had included regarding ancestry, maintenance and so on, and an explanation of the source of my (recently acquired) funds.
A Eurostar booking itinerary showing my date of arrival in the UK (I did not include the flight booking from the US to Europe).
Ancestry:
My grandfather's (mother's side) birth certificate - a certified copy issued by the general registrar office in England. Orange and yellow document.
My mother's birth certificate - a certified copy issued by the dept. of home affairs in South Africa. I believe this is the "vault copy" with a DHA stamp and signature.
My unabridged birth certificate showing my mother's full maiden name.
A certified colour copy of the picture page of my mother's UK passport, which was obtained through her father's UK citizenship.
Funds and intention to work:
3 months' bank statements (printed from my online account) showing a balance of around $4000 in my savings account. This balance was pretty new; for most of the 3 months there was little in my account.
A faxed copy of a reference letter from my bank confirming the current and average balances of my accounts, and the dates when they were opened.
3 month's credit card statements showing an unused $3000 line of credit.
An original contract of employment with my UK employer, signed by myself and the HR director, showing my annual salary.
Documents showing proof of legal status in US:
US F-1 visa (in passport)
I-94 form (in passport)
I-20 signed by my university (although I recently graduated).
OPT employment authorization card.
Other documents included:
A CV showing education and employment history.
A print-out of my online salary slip from my current employer.
Other documents included but not used (because copies and originals returned to me):
An original letter offering employment from my UK employer.
3 month's bank statements for my checking account showing salary from current employer.
An original transcript from my university.
A certified copy of my mother's marriage certificate.
Hope this information is useful to folks!
