Some Frustrating Queries

[odee]

Hi all

I have been reading thread upon thread and still my partner and I have some concerns. We were hoping you guys could help us with some answers - we are going to probably go ahead and phone the helpline at 13 dollars per minute

The situation:
I am due to travel home to the UK in April or May next year. We are saving hard and I will be coming back to stay with some friends in London, find a job and then send for my wife to join me as soon as her visa is processed from her home country. Anyway, we have the following concerns:

1) Assuming I find a job - is it enough to show a letter of offer from my new office to prove i will be able to sponsor my wife, with a breakdown of finances obviously, or am we looking at 3-6 months apart in order that I accrue the payslip evidence?

This is a horrible one, it plays on our minds the most.

2) Evidence of marriage - our wedding was a registry office job. We didnt tell parents and we didnt cut any cakes. I see a lot of threads (like the Pakistan one) claiming that photos with wedding dress etc etc, are all important. I feel this has to be a misnomer - not everyone does this wedding. Am i right?

3) Place of residence - since I will initially be living with friends I really dont want to run the risk of an overcrowding ruling. I will try to find an apartment before she applies, failing this I wondered about using the address of my family home in Scotland as her address. Its owned.

These are the main ones on our mind right now, and I would hugely appreciate any feedback on them. The whole thing scares us stiff what with 90% of the threads we read being help threads with unfortunate people being apart for long periods of time. We wish to make my wifes application as much of a shoe-in as possible,

Thanks for your help!

[leonex4t5]

Firstly, where are you at the moment? are you within the EU or Outside the EU?

[odee]

Firstly, where are you at the moment? are you within the EU or Outside the EU?

We are outside the EU.

[Greenie]

Hi all

I have been reading thread upon thread and still my partner and I have some concerns. We were hoping you guys could help us with some answers - we are going to probably go ahead and phone the helpline at 13 dollars per minute

The situation:
I am due to travel home to the UK in April or May next year. We are saving hard and I will be coming back to stay with some friends in London, find a job and then send for my wife to join me as soon as her visa is processed from her home country. Anyway, we have the following concerns:

1) Assuming I find a job - is it enough to show a letter of offer from my new office to prove i will be able to sponsor my wife, with a breakdown of finances obviously, or am we looking at 3-6 months apart in order that I accrue the payslip evidence?

This is a horrible one, it plays on our minds the most.

2) Evidence of marriage - our wedding was a registry office job. We didnt tell parents and we didnt cut any cakes. I see a lot of threads (like the Pakistan one) claiming that photos with wedding dress etc etc, are all important. I feel this has to be a misnomer - not everyone does this wedding. Am i right?

3) Place of residence - since I will initially be living with friends I really dont want to run the risk of an overcrowding ruling. I will try to find an apartment before she applies, failing this I wondered about using the address of my family home in Scotland as her address. Its owned.

These are the main ones on our mind right now, and I would hugely appreciate any feedback on them. The whole thing scares us stiff what with 90% of the threads we read being help threads with unfortunate people being apart for long periods of time. We wish to make my wifes application as much of a shoe-in as possible,

Thanks for your help!

1) Depends on how much you have managed to save but 3 months payslips would help to show employment is genuine and reliable

2) Do you have any wedding photos? If not then other photos of you together, and other evidence of your relationship will help - e.g. evidence of holidays you have been on, evidence of cohabitation, cards etc, have a look around the forum for examples the type of evidence you should provide

3) the two of you have to be living together at the address concerned - if you are going to be working in London then you aren't going to be living in Scotland. Have a look at the sticky topic on overcrowding. you dont have to had your own self contained apartment a room that the two of you have sole use of in a shared house may be acceptable depending on the size of the house and the numer of people living there. If the house will be overcrowded then you'll need to find somewhere suitable.

[leonex4t5]

if you were within the EU, i would have suggested to go through the EU law. but since You are outside the EU, then i will try and use my non legal knowledge in answer your question.

1) Assuming I find a job - is it enough to show a letter of offer from my new office to prove i will be able to sponsor my wife, with a breakdown of finances obviously, or am we looking at 3-6 months apart in order that I accrue the payslip evidence?

You should include evidence of your total monthly income from all sources, for example employment, friends, family, savings or property.
If you are providing documents from a joint account you should explain who the other account holders are, and why you have permission to spend money from the account. If your spouse or partner is employed you should also provide their employment and financial details. If you are not funding your stay yourself, the person who will fund it should supply the evidence. All the documents like pay slip and bank statements must be up to six months.

Evidence of marriage - our wedding was a registry office job. We didnt tell parents and we didnt cut any cakes. I see a lot of threads (like the Pakistan one) claiming that photos with wedding dress etc etc, are all important. I feel this has to be a misnomer - not everyone does this wedding. Am i right?

as far as you and your wife are over the required age of the country of marriage, then i think your marriage certificate will be fine. pictures of you and your spouse over the years would also help to prove your marriage is geniue.

3) Place of residence - since I will initially be living with friends I really dont want to run the risk of an overcrowding ruling. I will try to find an apartment before she applies, failing this I wondered about using the address of my family home in Scotland as her address. Its owned.

you would have to show evidence that you own the property or have permission to live there with your spouse, and ofcos that the property will not be overcrowded. you will have to be careful going this root, because you said you are looking to get a job in london and live in london, it will be difficult convincing the ECO that you will live and work in london, whilst your spouse lives in scotland, unless you are looking to live and work in scotland too.

[odee]

Hmm, thanks guys, good points!

We have been together for a few years now so it shouldnt be a problem showing old emails, text messages, holiday snaps, family photos etc. So that takes care of the marriage question.

Its looking more likely that I shall just try to find an apartment for us both then - I am limited on friends in London with space for us both so, yeah... thats a better option.

Finances!! ugh! Ill only have a couple of grand in the account, you know..the intention being that i simply live like a hermit with my friends until i find something (ill get paid well enough when i do find something, im in engineering). I was placing all my chips on a contract/letter of offer proving she was supported.

[abman51]

Do you really need 3 months wage slips?

Considering you've got people applying for visas on just the basis of a job offer?!

[archipelago]

I live with my wife abroad and we are hoping to move to the UK together very soon. I will be submitting an Offer of Employment letter,. I assume if one hasn't started the job yet they are likely to call the contact number to ensure it is a genuine offer.

We will be funding the first month before my first pay day with our funds in either my wife's or our joint account in Venezuela. From what I have read it doesn't have to be based only on the sponsors UK bank account, but can be a combination of sponsor and applicants finances.

[odee]

Frankly, I dont know if the 3 months or X months payslips are required, Ive read all sorts of answers to this question so as to render me incapable today!! Its impossible to get anything done when you begin looking into this, it really is.

I'll probably have to simply proceed on the basis of confirmed offer and hope that does the trick! Otherwise itll be a long wait without my Mrs. And obviously I cant go to the pub with my mates until shes with me to give me permission hehe.

[odee]

by the way, aoplogies all for another "query" thread. I see millions of them on here but I only found one that baguely fitted my particular concerns.

Turns out its more simple than originally thought, just a hard task.

[archipelago]

You need to read the Maintenance & Accommodation guidelines (if you haven't already) as used by the ECO's. Here it mentions it can be the sponsors current or proposed employment, and also includes the overcrowding rule

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/ecg/mainte ... ommodation

Also, I recommend you use the search function on this forum and go through it. I had so many questions and spent many hours on here learning everything. It is a fantastic source of information. Don't go spending $13 a minute to Worldbridge!

[odee]

Thanks.

Yeah my search button is wearing out now. Ive just about found every thread from the last year or so covering my queries.

Worldbridge was a last resort really - we went to a UK expo here a few months back and a border control person was kind enough to give us her personal email address in case of emergencies.

Its a nerve racking thing isnt it? the knowledge that youll be apart from the minute you walk away at the airport until whenever you find work and the visa gets processed.

Horrible feeling. I think we would do anything to avoid being apart for months.

[archipelago]

One other option would be if your wife does not require a visa to just visit the UK. If not you can both travel over and she stays with you whilst you start working.

[Casa]

A visitor visa for your wife would be unlikely to succeed (or be advisable) as she would have to submit strong evidence that she would return to her country of residence and have no intention to settle here.
Also, she would be unable to switch from visitor to spouse from within the UK. In which case you would gain nothing.

[odee]

yeah we are staying away from the visitor visa route - trying to keep the waters as unmuddied as possible and i read about people having difficulties after having already been in the UK for some time as a visitor.

[vinny]

Hi guys. I posted a while back about moving to the UK with my mexican mrs. Im currently in the UK and interviewing for jobs but now im here it strikes me that, damn, im not gonna enjoy being apart from her for too long.

A couple of questions come to mind i wonder if you guys could help with. 1 - is there ANY method by which i could have my wife joining me in a matter of weeks rather than months? waiting times in mexico are said to be 30 days. We are going to employ a visa advisor to help us...but he is reluctant to answer too many questions until we pay the fees and since im here looking for work, i really need to know what to expect.

2- we wont have savings after this, ill have work on rolling contracts - this isnt gonna work is it?

3- am i going to have to submit my decree absolute from previous divorce, legalised and apostilled?? even though the mexicans didnt ask for it for our marriage.

4- what happens if i lose my job, do we have some time to get sorted out again or does she have to leave the country when she eventually gets here?

Thanks for any calming words guys...my head is in a spin now im here looking for work and im not altogether sure its the correct move now. I suspect we will be apart too long and I worry about the future.

[odee]

ah here it is. thanks mod

[archipelago]

Do you have any family members that can provide 3rd party support? They would need to provide bank statements and wage slips/employment letter if working to show the support will be forthcoming. That sounds like the quickest option for you.

Can you get a letter from your job stating that your type of work is expected to carry on for the foreseeable future? Some people have had visas approved when the sponsor has submitted less than 3 months payslips.

You have to show evidence that you were free to marry at the time that you did. I think a decree absolute wouldn't need to be apostilled if it was issued in the UK.

If you lose your job after your wife has entry clearance then it doesn't matter, just look for a new one. Of course she cannot use public funds though.

[odee]

Do you have any family members that can provide 3rd party support? They would need to provide bank statements and wage slips/employment letter if working to show the support will be forthcoming. That sounds like the quickest option for you.

Can you get a letter from your job stating that your type of work is expected to carry on for the foreseeable future? Some people have had visas approved when the sponsor has submitted less than 3 months payslips.

You have to show evidence that you were free to marry at the time that you did. I think a decree absolute wouldn't need to be apostilled if it was issued in the UK.

If you lose your job after your wife has entry clearance then it doesn't matter, just look for a new one. Of course she cannot use public funds though.

no family here but ive a friend im going to ask. Actually im going to ask all my friends to help out on this. The problem I mainly have is getting the support proven and accommodation. The company i just interviewed with said theyd evn be interested in meeting my partner about a position..so she definitely has prospects.

the trick is jus getting her visa quickly. i hate to say it but i cant have us parted for too long.