# Spouse Visa Proof of Relationship



## emackintosh8 (Oct 12, 2017)

Hi there~

I'm looking for help checking my Relationship Proof Docs are sufficient and not overboard (as I'm forever trying to hold back natural tendencies...) and I have a few questions below my docs. 
Here's some background...

Applicant: Me, US citizen living in US
Sponsor: UK husband living in Scotland
Applied: online Sept 24, 2017 from US
Sending completed docs to Sheffield: Praying for Nov. 6th. after Biometrics 

1.We met online and dated traveling between US and UK and talking online from May 2005-October 2006
2. Married and living in the States October 2006 until January 2017.
3. We were together in Scotland when he moved back and the only time we've been apart is July 2017 for a month and Sept until present when I was visiting him in the UK

*List of Relationship Proof*
*Spreadsheet of our trips during dating and to and from the UK while married
*Original Marriage License
*Picture Timeline with dates and description of activity - 16 pics on 4 pages
*Screenshots of FaceTime while we were apart in July 2017 and Sept-now. 
3 pages total
*Proof of co-habitation. 6 or 7 varieties of bills, a couple from each type between 
January 2015 and January 2017 with both our names on them
*Proof of trips including visa stamp pages OR E Ticket email OR credit card statement 
showing flight purchase. 


*Questions*
1. Is any communication proof needed from the time we dated? 
2. Is one type of proof sufficient for flights? There are a couple that I only have visa 
stamps for.
3. Odd question about pm departure/am arrival
The ticket says January 23 pm departure for the overnight to Scotland arriving am 
next day, so of course, the visa stamp is the next day. Please tell me the ECO will 
put 2 and 2 together...
4. The pictures are uploaded and I used MS Word to write a description and date next 
to each pic. Do I need to use actual pictures on photo paper? 
5. For Co-Habitation bills - Do I need to include the whole bill statement, which is sometimes 3-5 pages and should I keep them stapled? I know they're a no-no in the app...


Many thanks for taking the time to consider!

em8


----------



## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

1. Is any communication proof needed from the time we dated? 

yes

2. Is one type of proof sufficient for flights? There are a couple that I only have visa 
stamps for.

it's sufficient, your passport stamps are fine

3. Odd question about pm departure/am arrival
The ticket says January 23 pm departure for the overnight to Scotland arriving am 
next day, so of course, the visa stamp is the next day. Please tell me the ECO will 
put 2 and 2 together...

they will, no worries

4. The pictures are uploaded and I used MS Word to write a description and date next 
to each pic. Do I need to use actual pictures on photo paper? 

no

5. For Co-Habitation bills - Do I need to include the whole bill statement, which is sometimes 3-5 pages and should I keep them stapled? I know they're a no-no in the app...

we included the entire bills even though they are a number of pages long. Used paperclips. May not be required but we thought better safe than sorry. If they don't need them, they can throw them away.


----------



## emackintosh8 (Oct 12, 2017)

Thanks so much for your help ashkevron.
Been trying to find communication proof from 2005-2006 and have been unsuccessful with getting old phone bills and the site we communicated on doesn't have the chats anymore - my last hope is getting bills from the 3rd party phone company we used to make the calls cheap - telecom USA.

Thanks again~


em8


----------



## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

Last few years should suffice, no need to go all the way back to 2006. Good if you have something, not the end of the world if you don't. When I was looking through my and my husband's old communication stuff, all I managed to find were some weird emails from our Travian days, god knows what visa people thought of it. Was something along the lines of: "Chief Joker, babe? Horses much faster, maybe collaborate with a Gaul? But we'd have to feed him and not enough crops. *kiss*" Bonkers...


----------



## emackintosh8 (Oct 12, 2017)

HAHA! Thank you for that~
Managed to dig up a couple of emails from 2005/6. No hilarious references to the Gauls though...

Thanks again~
em8


----------



## Azure13 (Jun 22, 2013)

Please correct me if I'm wrong because I'm just about to apply for my UK spouse visa too, but I would have thought if you've been married for 11 years you wouldn't need too much, if anything, from pre-marriage times. From what I experienced doing the immigration process in the US (which I know is different from the UK process), concrete joint financial ties were looked at as the most important - cohabitation leases or mortgages, notarized living wills, joint bank accounts, retirement account beneficiary records. I have a bunch of pictures from dating to now but was not planning on including much else in the way of communication records or our emails to each other. Is that wrong?


----------



## clever-octopus (May 17, 2015)

Azure13 said:


> Please correct me if I'm wrong because I'm just about to apply for my UK spouse visa too, but I would have thought if you've been married for 11 years you wouldn't need too much, if anything, from pre-marriage times.


This is correct to my understanding as well. 

You're not asked to provide any communication evidence (Skype/chat logs/emails) anymore, at all


----------



## sroy (Sep 4, 2017)

Wait, they don't require chat logs or communication evidence??


----------



## clever-octopus (May 17, 2015)

No - read under "Proof of relationship":

https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/provide-information


----------



## sroy (Sep 4, 2017)

Oh thank you for this! I am applying for the fiancé visa (outside the UK) so now am unsure how to prove that we're in a relationship if I don't need to supply communication or photos? Its not like we have lived together, or have a marriage certificate. I don't want to include extra things that they don't want to sift through.


----------



## clever-octopus (May 17, 2015)

Yeah, they changed the guidance a couple of months ago. Based on some of the testimony here regarding supporting documents, I have to believe they received something to the order of millions of pages of emails/chat logs/video call screenshots, and just decided that they would ask for evidence if the relationship seemed suspicious. 

I imagine that right now they have more pressing matters than scrutinising 11-year marriages between people from Western countries!

For the fiancé visa though, you should still supply some kind of proof that you have even a provisional booking with the registry office/wedding venue


----------



## sroy (Sep 4, 2017)

This is great news, I really didn't want to have to compile all that information . Thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction


----------



## emackintosh8 (Oct 12, 2017)

Thank you c-o


----------



## kiende (Nov 14, 2017)

sroy said:


> Oh thank you for this! I am applying for the fiance visa (outside the UK) so now am unsure how to prove that we're in a relationship if I don't need to supply communication or photos? Its not like we have lived together, or have a marriage certificate. I don't want to include extra things that they don't want to sift through.


You actually need to. otherwise how else would you prove to ECO that you are in a genuine relationship.As the lawyers say, you'd rather have more info than less. I printed 4 months whastapp convos.. was about 200 pages. i also screenshot our whats app calls for the past 4 months. 

I just submitted my application as well- fiance visa last week. onto the waiting now. Good Luck in your submission


----------



## clever-octopus (May 17, 2015)

> otherwise how else would you prove to ECO that you are in a genuine relationship.


By asking you to provide evidence if there is any doubt. There are questions about your relationship on the application itself (Appendix 2) which, if answered honestly, would indicate whether or not the relationship is genuine.


----------



## kiende (Nov 14, 2017)

clever-octopus said:


> By asking you to provide evidence if there is any doubt. There are questions about your relationship on the application itself (Appendix 2) which, if answered honestly, would indicate whether or not the relationship is genuine.


The home office can be very picky. Anyway we did this under the advise of our lawyer. My fiance and I felt comfortable this way.


----------

