# better to write a cover letter for the spouse visa?



## LilyJH (Apr 11, 2016)

Hi, 

I am from South Korea and my husband is British and we are going to apply the spouse visa on the second week of May so we want to double check with experts on this site before we submit our documents.

I posted the question here about applying the spouse visa without the wedding picture is okay or not and received very helpful replies from Joppa and Kimi2490. thank you again. 

We have different question now. I mentioned that I have received the refusal entry letter at the Gatwick airport because I lied. ( I've included the previous thread I posted so please check below)
Me and my husband think we better write the cover letter for the denied entry record also Joppa suggested us to write the cover letter too but the agency manager we've hired said writing a cover letter could lead us to get the bad result? So we are very confused what is right because we strongly believe that writing a cover letter for the denied entry record is the best idea to succeed our visa application. 
So we desperately need help and want to know what other people think about this situation. 
We will be much appreciated if you give us your thoughts&opinions.

If you think we better write the over letter, as I wrote two cover letters a bit differently so if you could, read these two letters and give us your thoughts which letter looks more convincing. 
(I've wrote two differently because not sure if I better explain the situation precisely about the mistake I've made and apologies about it at the same time or just write the strong apology written is better)

*The first letter,*

To whom it may concern.
This letter accompanies my application for a marriage visa. 
I am writing this letter to prevent any confusion or doubts arising from the entry refusal letter I received on 25th October 2015. I swear and attest that what I am going to explain to you in this letter is the absolute truth.
I confess that, last October, I did lie to the immigration officer about my relationship with my now husband, [his name], namely that he was just my friend, when, in fact, he was then my steady boyfriend and I wanted to visit him and his family in the UK. That was the true, and only, purpose of my visit, 
It was therefore not true when I alleged that the purpose of my trip was to visit the UK and travel around the UK and Europe. I only wanted to be with Jack and to spend some time with him before we get married. 
As you will be aware, the officer who interviewed me found some marriage research papers I had with me in my bag and questioned me about what these were for. I replied it was for me and my British boyfriend who was going to marry me. She then asked me my boyfriend’s name.
At this point, I started to panic and tried to conceal my genuine relationship with [husband’s name]. I worried that if I disclosed that I was staying with him, I might not be permitted to enter the UK, and stupidly thought that I could hide this. So I maintained that he was just a friend and then I further lied that my boyfriend was called [ex boyfriend’s name as its mentioned on the refusal letter as well saying that I've mentioned this name] (actually, an ex-boyfriend, with whom I had broken up in 2014).
The officer then asked me for [ex’s name]’s contact information, but as we had broken up over a year ago, and had not kept in touch, I was not sure if his contact details had changed, and in any case was reluctant for him to be contacted. I then confessed to the officer that I had lied to her from the outset, and that [ex’s name] was no longer my boyfriend.
I confessed that I had hidden my genuine relationship with [husband’s name], and apologised for not being truthful from the beginning.
[ex’s name] has got nothing to do with this application. It is only because I started to panic badly that I made up that story, I truly regret and apologise for the inconvenience and confusion I have caused you
I have fully understood and accept the refusal to permit me to enter the UK last October. I appreciate that I lost credibility by giving false information, but did try to make amends at that time by confessing openly to the officer.
However, in this visa application I swear that my relationship with [husband’s name] is genuine. Ours has been a long-standing relationship. We started going out in 2012 and then broke up in 2013, after about nine months. We got back together in May 2015 and then got engaged on 3rd January this year. We wish to have a proper wedding ceremony in the UK which both families have agreed on and can both attend as we want this to be a special moment for us with both my parents and her parents meeting for the first time..
To support my visa application, I am providing some relevant documents and pictures of us with our families, which, I trust, will establish and prove our close and genuine relationship. I would ask that you kindly review them make your decision
I can assure you that this application and all all documents I am providing are genuine and trustworthy. I await your kind decision.
Yours Sincerely, 

[My name].


*The second letter,*

To whom it may concern.
. 
I am writing this letter to prevent any confusion or doubts arising from the entry refusal letter I received on 25th October 2015. I swear and attest that what I am going to say to you in this letter is the absolute truth.
Firstly, I would just like to express my sincerest apologies on what occurred this day my actions where something I have taken full responsibility for. I panicked and got scared of the situation I was facing and made a bad decision one of which I am now completely aware how wrong it was and I was held accountable for my actions.
I cannot stress enough since that day how careful I have been with any future events as I and my husband [his name] just want our application to be a successful one. I have taken every precaution to ensure that mistakes like this will even happen again.
Once again I would just like to say how deeply sorry this event took place and you have my word and absolute certainty that something like this will never happen again.
Yours Sincerely, 
[My Name].


On the comment section below(due to the limitation of text), I am including the previous post I've written so you can check the detail situation we are at.


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## LilyJH (Apr 11, 2016)

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[ the beginning has been omitted ]

Our relationship is quite different to most of people.
We met on September 2012 while I was in the UK as a student and broke up after 9months relationship. We got reunited again on May 2015 while I was in USA doing internship after I completed my Uni course in the UK, he visited me in New york twice and after I back to my country on October 2015, he visited me again twice and proposed me so now we are married under my parent's permission. 
So far we have lots of evidence of our relationship's status to show such as photos (Me and him also with my families./ not with his families as I couldn't travel to the UK so couldn't met them since I left the UK but we are in touch on facebook. They"his Parents" have also accepted our wedding), flight tickets to New York and Korea, skype calls, whatsapp converstion& call logs and facebook messages between us.
However, we can't include our wedding photos to show them but we think it's quite important thing to show especially for us because I've received refusal entry letter at the Gatwick airport on October 2015 when I was trying to travel to the UK after I finished my internship in New york. 
It was because I stupidly lied to Immigration officer at the Gatwick airport at customs when she questioned me. 
She asked me where I am going to stay so I said I am going to stay at my friend's house but actually was planning to spend time at my boyfriend's house (who is now my husband) : I've lied about our relationship. I said he is just my friend.
and she asked me further of his name and contact number. But when she checked my baggage and everything, she found my research papers of marriage visa (because at that time, we thought we could apply spouse visa while I am in the UK with tourist visa). She asked me about what the research paper was for and from this point, I started to panic really bad and said oh because me and my british boyfriend wants to marry. She asked me who is my british boyfriend and I stupidly mentioned my ex name.. which was the biggest mistake I've ever made.. obviously she asked me his contact number as well then I realised I am making a huge mistake and started to confess the truth that actually the friend I mentioned is my genuine boyfriend, the person I mentioned is now my ex and we( me and my boyfriend) want to marry and thought we will be ok applying the spouse visa while I'm in the UK and etc. She called him with the number I gave her and found out that we are in a relationship as well because my husband did tell only the truth of us. 
So yeah I've lost their credit and she recorded everything I explained above even my ex boyfriend's name I've mistakenly mentioned.. 
So they've refused my entry to the UK and sent me back to New York after the longest interview I've ever had.. I've admitted what I've received and deeply regretted that I've lied to them. I apologised to the immigration officer but she didn't mention on the letter that I've apologised but mentioned my confession of our real relationship.
My husband booked the flight ticket to New York straight away and the next day I've sent back to the U.S, he arrived and stayed with me for about 5 days and we both came back to our each countries. 
Since then, I've never traveled nor even tried to travel to the UK.
My husband also know everything. He was mad at first but he has forgiven me and now he also concern about that record I have.
Other than that, everything is fine. I've never been in trouble while I was in the UK for about 5 years with the student visa. No criminal, not banned, nothing.


[ Omitted the end bits ] 

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We are going to include our whatsapp conversation which is over 300 pages ( its actually was over 1000 pages but we skipped some conversations) to prove our strong genuine relationship, call logs on whatsapp& Skype, flight tickets, hotel reservations, email from British embassy in South Korea to confirm the appointment we've made to receive affidavit so we can get the marriage certificate, Marriage certificate, conversation between me and his parents on facebook, letter from his parents that they are accepting our marriage and the photo of us and with my families (about 35 photos in New York&South Korea).

[Also, I've met his parents a lot of times when I was in England as a student but we don't have any picture has taken together so we are thinking about taking a picture on Skype together and include that on our photo portfolio? Would it be helpful?]

And other essential documents like financial proof and every other things that are required to submit.

Thank you very much for consuming your time to read my post.
Please let us know your opinion. 

We will be very much appreciated.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

First, don't attach any of those letters, not because you need to explain what happened in October but they are totally inappropriate in content and in tone. You just give details of your entry refusal on application, and then attach a letter/note. Quote from the refusal letter you have received at Gatwick (hope you've kept it), just take responsibility for what happened and express regret and remorse for dishonesty, but in a non-emotive way. Write something like: I fully accept the grounds on which I was denied entry, and I regret it. Don't try to explain why you have genuine relationship - the evidence you attach should be self-explanatory. Also 300 pages is ridiculous - they won't read them, so more like 10-15 pages, just the fact you kept in touch with no contents. Your cover letter should make only the briefest of mention about entry denial as part of your travel history, and concentrate instead on brief facts about how you met, how your relationship grew, about engagement and marriage, and future plans and intentions.
Your husband should not mention your entry denial, and just concentrate on describing your relationship from his own standpoint.


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## LilyJH (Apr 11, 2016)

Thank you so much for your advice Joppa.
I've informed my husband your advice and he has got the question. 

My husband wrote our relationship development statement before and have mentioned how we met and how our relationship developed and everything. And when he met my parents to get their permission to get married and all detail information about how it proceed. 

But his question is, 
"if it's okay to mention it in that way to show that when that happened I came to help and be with you no matter what the cost or situation which shows how strong our relationship is. Or should I just not mention it at all"

Because in the middle of the statement he wrote, he briefly wrote like this,

"We decided that (my name) should come back to London for about 2 months’ while we gather all our information together and figure what we need to do to get this process started. We had already planned to go to South Korea in December 2015 so I could meet her parents (my parent’s name) and the rest of her family. The initial plan was once we had gone to South Korea in December (my name) would stay in Korea and I would return back home to England where we would continue our long distance relationship as before while applying for our visa.
Yet another stepping stone in our relationship happened, (my name) got refused entry into the UK and sent back to New York, USA. We were devastated it felt like we were never going to achieve the life we want so much. (my name) was distraught and I couldn’t bare letting her go through all that alone.
I explained the situation to my boss (his boss’ name) and he managed to arrange so that I could get some days off work and I spent my entire monthly pay and borrowed some money from my dad (his dad’s name) on a last minute ticket and hotel (JFK Inn) to New York which was made on his Visa Debit Card. So there we were in New York again trying to figure out what to do we spent all day and night talking about it and decided it would be best if (my name) went back to South Korea and I went back to England just like we had planned to do in December."

Please let us know what you think about this.

We really appreciate your great help.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Far too wordy. Just outline relationship history briefly.


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## LilyJH (Apr 11, 2016)

So you think its the best not to mention anything at all about the refusal letter in the relationship development statement?

Thank you


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## LilyJH (Apr 11, 2016)

he is a bit curious of how to explain his three day visit that he made when I got refused without mentioning the refusal itself?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Just say something like, 'Following my fiancée's denied entry, I made a 3-day visit.'


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## LilyJH (Apr 11, 2016)

We will take your advice.
Thank you very much! You've been extremely helpful


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## LilyJH (Apr 11, 2016)

Thank you for your advice Joppa you have been fantastic in helping us.

Just a quick question as we are double and triple checking all our documents now as we will be applying soon. Earlier you stated " You just give details of your entry refusal on application " did you mean give these details on the cover letter? or on the online application ( which we have mentioned )

Looking forward for you reply.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Attach a separate note/short letter to the printed-out form, cross-referenced to Travel History.


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## LilyJH (Apr 11, 2016)

Thank you Joppa,

We have another quick question.. for financial requirement, we are showing my husband's earnings for 6 months and including my savings, and there is a question section 3.75 Cash savings: b)Source of funds, and on that part, I've wrote, " Savings and gift from my parents".
will that answer be okay? because my husband said he read something about that question and should never say loans from parents or gift from parents so I am not 100% sure if that answer going to be okay or not.. 
please let us know! 

Thank you.


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## LilyJH (Apr 11, 2016)

and also on the question of How long has the account been held? and I said over 7months.. would that be ok as well? because I am just not sure how long I've had this account for but would it just seems like I've made this account just to apply visa or something? I'm sure I've had this for long but just not sure so I wrote that though.. 
please let us know! 
Thank you so much.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Do you need savings to meet the requirement? If yes, then:
You need more that a simple statement about the source of savings. If gifts from parents, you need a letter from them gifting you the money with no strings attached, and bank transfer evidence. If it was cash gift, evidence of the cash being paid in.
You need to show statement covering at least the last 6 months prior to visa application.


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## LilyJH (Apr 11, 2016)

Yes we do need savings to meet the requirement and it's been there for 6 months.
I just received the letter from my mum saying: I ( my mum's name ) declare that the sum of ( amount ) is a gift. 

And then signed by her and they are all written by her hand writing. Would that be okay?
We don't have money transfer evidence though.. would that be a problem?
The agency we've hired didn't tell us to prepare all these at all(the letter from my mum that she gave me as a gift and transaction evidence.. ) but just found out after by our researching..
God.. we are applying tomorrow so its a big urgent .. 
Please advice us.
Thank you so much


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