# Need Help for UK Spouse Visa quickly!!!!!! please :)



## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

i am a us citizen and my husband is british

alright, so basically i met my husband in january 2011 on a dating website. he came and visited me 3 times- march, may and july. i went to the uk on the 6 month travel visa in august til now. im going back to the usa at the beginning of february and applying for the spouse visa- i have everything extremely organized, but i have a few questions and need some answers:

I do not have a current bank account opened, since I went to the UK in August 2011 on the six month travel visa, I took all of the money out of my bank account and closed the account. I figured it would be easier to keep track of the budgeted money that I wanted to spend while I was there. I did not want to have all of the international fees charged to my account and I like to know how much money I have at all times. 

1. When I went to England on the six month visa, I set myself a budget of the amount I would spend. I then gave my sister the rest of my money so I would not over spend in England. If I would have had access to the funds, then I would have probably taken it out of the account to shop and spend on other unneeded items. So, my sister opened a savings account with the money I gave her for when I got home from England. If I am granted the visa, I would be able to support myself until I would get a job. I have a job offer starting on March 5, 2012. I have included the offer letter in my supporting documents and I have also included the savings account statement. 
--so basically, i dont have a checking account, just a savings that is in my sister's name because of the above stated reasons, and i explained this in the letter i wrote to the embassy that i am including in my documents in sending to the UK embassy. what till they think of this?

2. Also, my husband is self employed and we have 8 months of pay slips and 6 months of bank statements, he has no savings account, but has more than the expected £105.95 that they require for support a week.. 
--will this be a problem that he is self employed and are there any specific things that he should include besides what i have listed?

if someone could help me that would be greatly appreciated! im just nervous about the two things i have listed--!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

CourtneyS said:


> i am a us citizen and my husband is british
> 
> alright, so basically i met my husband in january 2011 on a dating website. he came and visited me 3 times- march, may and july. i went to the uk on the 6 month travel visa in august til now. im going back to the usa at the beginning of february and applying for the spouse visa- i have everything extremely organized, but i have a few questions and need some answers:
> 
> ...


A bit messy arrangement and even with a covering letter, there remains a doubt if you are free to spend all the money in your sister's account. Much better to add your name as co-account holder and make it clear you have full access to the funds and are free to spend as you like.



> 2. Also, my husband is self employed and we have 8 months of pay slips and 6 months of bank statements, he has no savings account, but has more than the expected £105.95 that they require for support a week..
> --will this be a problem that he is self employed and are there any specific things that he should include besides what i have listed?


In case of self-employed, often with widely fluctuating income, it's better to send in annual account as he submits to the tax people, certified by his accountant.


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## Kitara (Nov 29, 2011)

Hi CourtneyS 

Closing a checking account is not a wise thing to do. The UKBA would like to see your pass 6 month debit and credit transaction. They would also want a reference letter from the bank. 

unless you can prove that money is yours. How can you prove that you gave the money to your sister? is there any bank transfer transaction? 

When did you get married? I see that you met your husband online jan 2011 and stayed in UK for 6 month. Did you get married in UK on your travel visa?


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## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

im not 100% how to use this website to attach what i am responding to how you guys did, but thank you so much for helping me, it is greatly appreciated!!

but i was just hoping that they would believe me about the bank account, but i totally understand that they wouldnt with the way some people are in this world today- my sister said she would write a cover letter to state that it is my money: but, i will figure something out for the bank account. 

my husband and i went back to the states beginning of december and got married and then came back to the uk for the rest of the time for my visa..

will they think it is weird that i already came to the uk for 6 months?

i leave in 5 days, and have everything together except for my bank info and nowill have my husband look into getting stuff from his accountant-- 

again, thank you so much for helping me!

im so nervous about applying for the visa.. if i wouldnt get it, it is so much $$ to throw away!


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## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

alright, so i had my name put my name on the account, and i will have the statements of the account, do they just look at the statements or do they contact the bank and everything to see why it would be in two names?


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## Kitara (Nov 29, 2011)

When you submit the statement of account under both name, best is to put a cover letter for the bank statement on why there is 2 name and the accessibility of the fund.. 

I have a joint account with mom, so i wrote a letter and get my mom and me sign.. 

Just my 2 cent worth..


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## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

Kitara said:


> When you submit the statement of account under both name, best is to put a cover letter for the bank statement on why there is 2 name and the accessibility of the fund..
> 
> I have a joint account with mom, so i wrote a letter and get my mom and me sign..
> 
> Just my 2 cent worth..




alright, thank you  so they just look at the statements to see tha u have enough money to support yourself?
also, i have a job offer here, and i am including that letter in my application from the employer, will that help my application at all?
and one more thing, do u have to submit your birth certificate?
some people say they have.. but i mean i ahve my passport and everything..
my mom lost my birth certificate.. and she doesnt know where it is..
im so nervous, i just want to have everything right!


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## Kitara (Nov 29, 2011)

yeah i understand how you feel. So i was very detail in my document. 

I have a letter from my employer on my start date and salary. I also submit 6 month of certified pay slip. 

I did submit my birth certificate.. Not sure if that matter.. My birth cert have my mom and dad name so it help me in the parent question as an evidence.. I know it is not necessary.. Just provide only. 

Things need to explain why, would be best to provide a letter and explain. For example: irregular transaction of huge amount to the bank account.


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## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

what is the parent question?
is there a way i could get a copy of all the questions before i actually fill out the application?


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## Kitara (Nov 29, 2011)

I fill in online.. before go on and submit, they will show the list of question and answer.. i copied everything in ms words.. and click the back button and save the application. 

Note: online application can be saved for 7 days and don't remember about the 30 days thingy..


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## Akay (Mar 11, 2011)

Guys...where did you actually find this info on how much exactly should a sponsor earn and what period back should be covered with it? as my Brit husband is just about to start his own online business - been working for others so far, but he will take over all the clients - so money WILL come,but we plan to start with that as we come to the UK.. we donćt have enough savings already... also we plan to rent a house, we don't own anything; I assume one of us would have to go and do that before we start the process at all!


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## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

Kitara said:


> I fill in online.. before go on and submit, they will show the list of question and answer.. i copied everything in ms words.. and click the back button and save the application.
> 
> Note: online application can be saved for 7 days and don't remember about the 30 days thingy..


alrighty, thanks!!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Akay said:


> Guys...where did you actually find this info on how much exactly should a sponsor earn and what period back should be covered with it? as my Brit husband is just about to start his own online business - been working for others so far, but he will take over all the clients - so money WILL come,but we plan to start with that as we come to the UK.. we donćt have enough savings already... also we plan to rent a house, we don't own anything; I assume one of us would have to go and do that before we start the process at all!


What you need is sufficient financial resources not to have recourse to public funds. The best source is established UK income through a job, over a period of 3 to 6 months. If you don't have UK income because you are both moving to UK at the same time, then sufficent joint savings which are available to spend in UK - not tied up in long-term investment like stocks and shares, and pensions (unless you are of pensionable age). You can also have sponsorship from UK residents like relatives. This can take the form of gift of money or free housing etc. 

If in your case you don't have enough savings to keep yopu both for up to 6 months and no established income, you may have to rely on external sponsor in UK or the British partner has to go over to UK first and gets established with a job and income before applying for spouse visa.

Remember the rules are under review and there is a chance that financial requirement will be substantially raised, up to around £26.000 a year before tax in UK spouse income (currently it's about half that), with savings and external sponsorship disregarded.


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## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

Joppa said:


> Remember the rules are under review and there is a chance that financial requirement will be substantially raised, up to around £26.000 a year before tax in UK spouse income (currently it's about half that), with savings and external sponsorship disregarded.


will that rule be changing within the next month?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

CourtneyS said:


> will that rule be changing within the next month?


Nothing has been announced. Usually rule change comes in at two points - April or October. So any change before April is most unlikely.


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## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

Joppa said:


> Nothing has been announced. Usually rule change comes in at two points - April or October. So any change before April is most unlikely.


alright, thanks!
by the way, how do you know so much about all of this?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

CourtneyS said:


> alright, thanks!
> by the way, how do you know so much about all of this?


I am a MOD!
Seriously I've been following immigration matters for over 40 years and they have become my hobby.


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## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

Joppa said:


> I am a MOD!
> Seriously I've been following immigration matters for over 40 years and they have become my hobby.


well you are a huge help and i appreciate you helping me so much!


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## Akay (Mar 11, 2011)

Yes, Joppa, you're really great! this is the current set of rules as I managed to find, hopefully it's up to date 
UK Border Agency | Failover Page


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## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

*random and little off topic*



CourtneyS said:


> well you are a huge help and i appreciate you helping me so much!


joppa- another question i had wwas about the show uk border forces.(since this is a hobby of yours, you may know the answer) i was watching it the other day and there was some trying to get the spouse visa and they were talking about highly trained people to detect fake documents..
do they basically just look at passports and other official documents like that, or do they come down to looking at signatures on letters, print offs of bank statements, house bills, any kind of document that you would get from just in the mail and diff things like that.. because when it comes to those different things, it seems like their are so many companies and people's signatures, that they would have quite the training!

i know for when you go for your drivers license in the states, you have to electronically sign on the screen and that goes into the system, so i wasnt sure if it was the same for british..

that show just amazes me at the diff technology and the way people can detect things with foreign people coming into their country!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

CourtneyS said:


> joppa- another question i had wwas about the show uk border forces.(since this is a hobby of yours, you may know the answer) i was watching it the other day and there was some trying to get the spouse visa and they were talking about highly trained people to detect fake documents..
> do they basically just look at passports and other official documents like that, or do they come down to looking at signatures on letters, print offs of bank statements, house bills, any kind of document that you would get from just in the mail and diff things like that.. because when it comes to those different things, it seems like their are so many companies and people's signatures, that they would have quite the training!
> 
> i know for when you go for your drivers license in the states, you have to electronically sign on the screen and that goes into the system, so i wasnt sure if it was the same for british..
> ...


Anything you show to an immigration officer or submit to UKBA as supporting document may be subject to scrutiny. For British passport, they can read the code and display on screen the digitized photo of holder, so if it's a forged passport, the two pictures won't agree. For other passports or ID cards, they can scan them and check against the warning index - UKBA's own database of immigration offenders, plus feeds from interpol and europol about lost and stolen travel documents. Also individual officers are trained to detect forged documents, looking at the edges, watermark, colours and so on. If you have seen 100s of genuine documents, fakes are easy to spot, but some are quite hard to detect.

Also they can subject submitted documents to verification procedure. You can read about it in UK Border Agency | RFL04 - Deception in an application - paragraph 320(7A) and at the start of visa application forms. 
There is a special unit within UKBA offices that deals with document verification. They can phone up banks, colleges, employers etc to check that the documents submitted by the applicant are genuine, contain correct data and so on.

Of course they can't check everything but there is no need to. First they profile applicants. A work visa application from a Microsoft executive is hardly likely to contain forged/false documents, while a fiancé(e) visa applicant who has no job but submits a bank statement with $20,000 balance is likely to be scrutinised. Secondly each office is aware of high-risk category of applications and they get singled out. Thirdly, they use intuition. If an application somehow doesn't look right or things just don't add up, they will investigate further. Of course checks aren't foolproof and rogue cases do get through, but even a threat of being detected and refused visa for 10 years must be a deterrence for all but the most ruthless or naive.


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## CourtneyS (Jan 24, 2012)

Joppa said:


> Anything you show to an immigration officer or submit to UKBA as supporting document may be subject to scrutiny. For British passport, they can read the code and display on screen the digitized photo of holder, so if it's a forged passport, the two pictures won't agree. For other passports or ID cards, they can scan them and check against the warning index - UKBA's own database of immigration offenders, plus feeds from interpol and europol about lost and stolen travel documents. Also individual officers are trained to detect forged documents, looking at the edges, watermark, colours and so on. If you have seen 100s of genuine documents, fakes are easy to spot, but some are quite hard to detect.
> 
> Also they can subject submitted documents to verification procedure. You can read about it in UK Border Agency | RFL04 - Deception in an application - paragraph 320(7A) and at the start of visa application forms.
> There is a special unit within UKBA offices that deals with document verification. They can phone up banks, colleges, employers etc to check that the documents submitted by the applicant are genuine, contain correct data and so on.
> ...


right that makes total sense..
idk if you will know the answer to this:
but, i came to uk in august and got the visa visitor stamp in my passport
and then when i came bac to the uk in december, i got an entry stamp-
i was told that means i can stay an extra three months, is that true?


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

CourtneyS said:


> right that makes total sense..
> idk if you will know the answer to this:
> but, i came to uk in august and got the visa visitor stamp in my passport
> and then when i came bac to the uk in december, i got an entry stamp-
> i was told that means i can stay an extra three months, is that true?


Each visitor leave (stamp) is usually valid 6 months, but is single-entry only. So as soon as you leave UK and common travel area (Channel Islands, Ireland etc), your leave expires and you must get a new one. In your case, you must have received a 6-month leave in August and it expired when you left. When you returned in December, you probably got another 6-month leave which allows you to stay until June. But you are only supposed to stay 6 months in any 12 months, so if you exceed that, you may get stopped and quizzed closely about your travel pattern and your exact purpose of visits, to check that you aren't trying to live and possibly work illegally.


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