# UK Spouse Visa Supporting Letters



## DavidScottish (Feb 5, 2014)

I am Scottish and my partner is Mexican. She is going to apply for the UK spousal visa soon. 

Since we are applying in Mexico - who should we address our supporting letters to? The Entry Clearance Officer?

In supporting letters I mean: Letters from my employer/bank, letters from family & friends etc

Also, should we put a "to" address on them? such as the embassy address in Mexico city? Or am I overthinking this and does a generic letter suffice?

Many Thanks

David


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Only certain letters will carry any weight. You need employment letter, and you may need letter from your bank to certify online statement etc. If you are sharing accommodation with your parents or relatives, you need a letter of invitation/offer from them. Sponsorship letter from you and introductory letter from your partner are also recommended. But anything else in the form of support or character reference from friends and family will carry no weight as they are subjective (i.e. you only ask people who will say nice things etc). So don't include them.
Essential letters may be addressed generically 'To whom it may concern', or specifically to ECO, UKBA, British Embassy, Mexico City etc.


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## AmyD (Jan 12, 2013)

Do not send letters from friends and family. They will be ignored and they clutter up your application. The letter from employer can be "To whom it may concern".

Just address your sponsorship letter and her cover letter to "Entry Clearance Officer" - nothing else is needed.


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## KHP (Oct 25, 2012)

Hi,

I've just checked what my husband and I put on our supporting letters. We put the address of the office in Bogota in the header and "To the Entry Clearance Officer". This seemed to be OK.

Good luck!


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## DavidScottish (Feb 5, 2014)

Cool Thanks! Its just these wee details that we dont want to muck up on. 

We were thinking of just having the friends/family letters from people stating that we have met each other and that we are in a relationship. We have people in mind that are teachers etc (ie reliable people) but I can see why not to include them.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Well it doesn't really matter as all supporting documents go to the appropriate visa office, often at a regional visa hub such as Bogotá.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

What UKBA want is objective evidence to back up your statement, such as travel tickets and hotel bills to show you have met, Skype log to show you have kept in touch, and so on.


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## KHP (Oct 25, 2012)

Yeah, I know why it's tempting but I wouldn't bother. When you get the documents back you can see they go for exactly the documents they want and barely look at anything else. I think keeping it simple is the way to go.


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## DavidScottish (Feb 5, 2014)

Sweet, sounds good.

You mention Skype logs. How best should this be presented? Screenshots? Copy and paste from skype into MSWord? We are at 50 pages on MSWord already, any tips on how to make it a bit more streamline?


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## KHP (Oct 25, 2012)

I think we had about 8 pages in total (a page from each 6 month period). We just used screenshots of email logs and Rebtel phone bills. We didn't even bother with chat messages or anything like that.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

50 pages are way too much. What I say is if your relationship has been over several years, just submit one piece of evidence for every 6 months. If you have only known each other for a short time, you need to supply more, but in any case communications record shouldn't come to more than 10 pages of A4 at most.


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## Bargainista (Mar 5, 2014)

I just wanted to jump in here to ask Joppa or the forum at large, something about the amount of communication/ongoing relationship evidence. If the marriage is a long-standing one of several decades, does he - or anyone - still recommend this rough rule of thumb of one piece of evidence per six month period of the relationship? I was planning to give far less, clustered more around the beginning period and the latest. The middle period seems to have leaner pickings, so to speak.


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## Whatshouldwedo (Sep 29, 2013)

We have been married for 47 years and I sent 15 photos to cover as much of the period as possible. As we have always lived together, I just sent a few pieces of correspondence addressed to both of us. I had no correspondence from the early years as we relocated several times and we did not keep old bills, etc.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Yes, that should suffice, if you are married with children and so on.


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## Bargainista (Mar 5, 2014)

Thank you Whatshouldwedo and Joppa. I'm always touched by the generosity of the people who share their experience and take the time to extend their solid advice on this forum. So grateful!


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