# Spouse visa checklist - Kenya based application



## UK-Kenya (Jan 15, 2014)

Hi

My name is Neil and I am a UK born national living in London. I married my Kenyan girlfriend on 4 April 2015 in Tanzania. We have been in a relationship for 2 years 10 months and have visited each other every 4 months since mid 2012 (hers supported by a UK visitor visa in 2013). We've skyped twice a week since mid 2012 and sent c.1000 e-mails. We are hoping to submit a spouse visa in c.2 weeks (not a hard deadline), once she has all the documents (as sending some from UK).

I would be so grateful for someone to have a look and advise me on my wife's checklist and let me know if anything is missing/unnecessary/general tips that I can cover off in the next 2 weeks. 

Applicant Information
-Printed application
- Completed Visa Form VAF4A
- Completed Appendix form (VAF4A, App 2) – going route 3A for financial requirements, as I can prove I earn over the minimum earnings threshold required.
-TB report (done in March)
-Letter of introduction
-Passport (both old & current)
-Two color passport-sized photos – name written on the back
-Biometrics Confirmation
-Proposed flight itinerary to settle in England

Sponsor Information
-Letter of introduction 
-Undertaking form
-Notarized copy of current passport bio page (Notarized in September 2014 for marriage licence)

Accomodation

-Title register confirming my joint ownership of the property with my friend
- Signed bank letter confirming mortgage held my myself and friend
-Letter from my friend consenting to myself and my wife residing at the property at the same time as him
-Immigration property inspection report
-Council tax bill 
-Gas bill

Financial Information (applying category A, satisfy financial requirement):
- Bank statement data for the last 7 months (originals)
- Printouts of electronic payslips for last 6 months from employer
- Letter of Employment -Stating Gross annual salary, length of employment, current salary, Job title and employment is permanent in nature (on employer’s stationary), also confirms authenticity of payslips.


Applicant-Sponsor Relationship
-Marriage certificate
-Wedding and other relationship photos with family members (15)
- Printed copies of flight e-tickets for 5 visits to Kenya by sponsor, 2 visits to UK by applicant - 6 pages
-Skype Video-Call screen shots - have picked 5 calls, every 2 months apart for the last year. *I can't see to find how to collate a log of skype calls showing dates (but not content)* - 8 pages
-Screenshots of my hotmail account showing c.600 e-mails between the two of us (date, subject, not content) - 8 pages
-Copies of my passport stamps in & out of Kenya to prove trips (appreciate may not be necessary if flight e-tickets provided, but these pages also include the photo visas issued for Kenya so appear to provide extra proof) - 3 pages

Language

- My wife's original degree certificate from South African University confirming name, date and title of award.
- Original statement of comparability from NARIC confirming comparability to UK BA (Hons) level and English language level C1.
- *The original degree certificate does not state that this was taught in English - we had to obtain a scanned letter from the institution for NARIC as part of their comparability/language assessment. Surely the fact that the original signed NARIC letter confirms the level of English is sufficient?*


----------



## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

UK-Kenya said:


> Hi
> 
> My name is Neil and I am a UK born national living in London. I married my Kenyan girlfriend on 4 April 2015 in Tanzania. We have been in a relationship for 2 years 10 months and have visited each other every 4 months since mid 2012 (hers supported by a UK visitor visa in 2013). We've skyped twice a week since mid 2012 and sent c.1000 e-mails. We are hoping to submit a spouse visa in c.2 weeks (not a hard deadline), once she has all the documents (as sending some from UK).
> 
> ...


You only need a copy of the online version of VA4FA. You don't also need the printed application. 



> Sponsor Information
> -Letter of introduction
> -Undertaking form
> -Notarized copy of current passport bio page (Notarized in September 2014 for marriage licence)


A plain photo copy of the bio pages is all that is necessary. 



> Accommodation
> 
> -Title register confirming my joint ownership of the property with my friend
> - Signed bank letter confirming mortgage held my myself and friend
> ...


A council tax or gas bill-not both. 



> Financial Information (applying category A, satisfy financial requirement):
> - Bank statement data for the last 7 months (originals)
> - Printouts of electronic payslips for last 6 months from employer
> - Letter of Employment -Stating Gross annual salary, length of employment, current salary, Job title and employment is permanent in nature (on employer’s stationary), also confirms authenticity of payslips.


You only need 6 bank statements that reflect the 6 pay slips being deposited. If the pay clips aren't original they must be authenticated by your employer. Either have them stamped or accompanied by a letter verifying authenticity. The 2014 P60 should be included along with your contract. 




> Applicant-Sponsor Relationship
> -Marriage certificate
> -Wedding and other relationship photos with family members (15)
> - Printed copies of flight e-tickets for 5 visits to Kenya by sponsor, 2 visits to UK by applicant - 6 pages
> ...


You need log pages only and no more than 10 pages across all forms of communication. 

E-tickets are sufficient. You don't need extra proof. More isn't better. 



> Language
> 
> - My wife's original degree certificate from South African University confirming name, date and title of award.
> - Original statement of comparability from NARIC confirming comparability to UK BA (Hons) level and English language level C1.
> - *The original degree certificate does not state that this was taught in English - we had to obtain a scanned letter from the institution for NARIC as part of their comparability/language assessment. Surely the fact that the original signed NARIC letter confirms the level of English is sufficient?*


Not sure the scan will be sufficient. They really want to see originals.


----------



## UK-Kenya (Jan 15, 2014)

Nyclon - thanks very much for your reply.

With regard to two of the points you raised:

*Skype log:* Do you know how to create a log which shows dates but not content? I've looked through various Skype support forums for this and I have not been able to find out. In my Skype version I only seem to be able to view the entire conversation history for the last year, no summary log.

*Original degree certificate and original UK NARIC English assessment: *

So even an original degree cert (not mentioning English instruction) & original UK NARIC English assessment (confirming that the level of English that the course was taught in was C1) will not suffice? Seems beyond logical but I appreciate that isn't the point here.
To get the ball rolling, my wife is going to ask the university to post their letter to my wife confirming that it was taught in English. 

Thanks again


----------



## TziuH (Apr 29, 2015)

Pretty sure you need a notarized copy of the bio page not just a photocopy, which is fine as you already have one. 
You need both the online application form(personal details) and VAF4A appendix 2 (financial requirements. 

I provided lots of proof of our relationship as I've read stories from people who provided photos and marriage certs and logs of calls and somehow were told they hadn't provided enough proof of a genuine & subsisting relationship. 

You can get a visa refused for not providing enough info but not for providing too much.


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Nope. For British passport, a plain photocopy of bio page is enough, as they can always check details in the passport database. Certified copy needed for sponsor's non-UK passport, or original.
You need to provide sufficient evidence to meet the requirement, no more, no less. Of course it requires knowledge and experience to know what is essential, but that's why we have this forum to get help.


----------



## TziuH (Apr 29, 2015)

Agree  you totally can get the perfect balance of documents but I don't think an ECO would go, "this application has too many pictures and these emails are way too much, everything else is okay though but I'll still refuse to grant the visa because too many pictures" That's the point I was trying to make.

Can't get stressed over providing too many documents(within reason of course) but there is a chance you might end up being overly "no more, no less" and faff things up imo.


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Another way of looking at it is if your application is bloated with too much unnecessary stuff, the hapless ECO will have a tiresome task trawling through it all to find the essential ones, with the possibility that they may fail to find them and refuse you. OK, it will probably be overturned on appeal but why not make a streamlined application in the first place? I'm talking from 45 years' experience.


> there is a chance you might end up being overly "no more, no less" and faff things up imo.


Nope. Never done that.


----------



## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

The danger is that important documents get overlooked wading through a bunch of unnecessary documents.


----------



## TziuH (Apr 29, 2015)

Joppa said:


> Another way of looking at it is if your application is bloated with too much unnecessary stuff, the hapless ECO will have a tiresome task trawling through it all to find the essential ones, with the possibility that they may fail to find them and refuse you. OK, it will probably be overturned on appeal but why not make a streamlined application in the first place? I'm talking from 45 years' experience.
> 
> 
> *Nope. Never done that*.


I'm not talking about providing your great grandmother's birth certificate or your uncle's land deeds lol but providing the more rather than less necessary documents i.e providing 100 photos, emails going back 3 years, skype logs going back 2 years and whatsapp logs going back 1 year...providing they're arrange neatly, stapled together there's no issue with them. And like I said, *yes you could strike the perfect balance but if unsure better to go with more documents like that than less.*

I don't doubt that you're experienced, and you offer good advice for *free *of all things , but I mean for the people who've never heard of expat forum, for people who haven't consulted you, the idea of necessary to them might not mean the same thing, especially if they haven't done their research and believe you me there's lots of people like that. 

And being a regular person, you just wouldn't know.


----------



## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

You are just talking nonsense.
If you don't know what to submit, you ask.
Your line of arguing just encourages people to get into a panic mood and pile up all sorts of unnecessary stuff 'just to be safe'. We spend a lot of time telling people to weed out inessentials and concentrate on making a focussed application.
This thread is closed.


----------

