Hi everyone,
Just to share the details of our application, in case it can help anyone else.
Me: UK citizen since birth, employed full time, home owner, decent salary but no cash savings.
Fiancée: Ecuadorian, unemployed, savings of $6000 from sale of car.
Fiancée had been in UK on a Student Visitor visa (for which I had acted as sponsor) between October 2011 and March 2012, studying English full time. She took the Trinity GESE A1 exam and the Cambridge Key English Test (A2/B1) whilst she was in the UK. We were engaged in March, shortly before she returned to Ecuador.
We pulled together loads of documents and put them in clear plastic pockets in a spring file (a cardboard ring binder), separated by index number tabs, with a detailed contents page, as follows:
1. Covering Letters
Letter from applicant
Letter from fiancé/sponsor
2. Applicant's identifcation
Current valid passport
Two passport sized photographs
Copy of previous student visa rejection from 2011
3. Applicant's evidence of English language requirement
Certificate from Trinity GESE Level 2 exam
Statement of Results from Cambridge Key English Test exam
Statement of Entry for Cambridge Key exam (with results login details)
4. Applicant's finances
Bank statemenent and balance certificate (with translations)
Receipt of car sale (with translation)
Pre-pay credit card transaction statements
Letter from former employer confirming previous employment
5. Accommodation details
Land registry documents (official copies)
Mortgage statements
Council tax bill (proving single occupancy)
Utility bills
Estate agent's details, descriptions and photos of the house from when it was bought in 2006
Mortgage valuation report (to prove the size of the house, numbers of rooms, etc)
6. Sponsor's identification
Certified copy of bio-data pages from current valid passport
Original former passport (now expired) showing trip to Ecuador in 2011
Two passport sized photos
Decree absolute from former marriage
7. Sponsor's Finances
Bank statements (7 months)
Mortgage offer (recent remortgage) - to prove the value of equity in the property
Budget of fixed monthly living expenses (a simple Excel table)
Pension statements
Details of Life Assurance scheme
8. Sponsor's employment
Contract of employment
Letters confirming annual salary increases and bonuses
Monthly payslips (7 months)
P60s from 2011 and 2012
9. Evidence of relationship between applicant and sponsor
Facebook photo albums (we used a service called Yearbook which allows you to create a PDF album of your Facebook photos with dates and comments, etc. It was 60 double sided pages)
Supporting letter from sponsor's sister
Supporting letter from sponsor's friend
Facebook status screen prints
Skype screen sprints
Rebtel account history
Various greetings cards to eachother and from other people to the two of us
10. Evidence of intention to marry
Emails from registry office confirming date and payment
Booking confirmation from restaurant
Various emails to/from friends discussing engagement and wedding
With the printed application form and photocopies of absolutely everything the total folder weighed in at about 3kg so was pretty substantial. We felt that it was better to give them loads of information that they didn't require rather than not enough.
Timeline
Application submitted online: 1 May 2012
Mobile biometrics clinic appointment: 15 May 2012
Documents received in UKBA Bogotá: 18 May 2012
Assigned to immigration officer: 11 June 2012
Visa approved: 19 June 2012
Visa and documents returned: 21 June 2012
Good luck to everyone.
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