Originally posted by misterfixit+Jul 7 2005, 10:00 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(misterfixit @ Jul 7 2005, 10:00 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'>Here are my questions.
1. Take form or get there? Maybe I'm dense but I cant see a direct instruction and my stolid engineer head is too slow!
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Download it off the British Embassy website. You want the settlement one.
Your phone bills sounds fine. Explain to them (in a letter) the circumstances of your relationship - sounds plausible to me to explain why there are no letters. Telephone bills alone will show your commitment. Just anticipate any gaps in the story which you think they would try and pick at and explain them in advance in the letter - much better to do that than wait for them to see the gaps - they won't get back to you to clarify, no matter what it says on the website, they'll just refuse. They can't be arsed.Originally posted by misterfixit@Jul 7 2005, 10:00 PM
2, Macel was teachibng in Africa for 4 years now and since we have been together, the only way have been able to get a letter to her is by DHL £50!!!!!! we have only sent a couple, but my bt bill from the last year is over £2500 and itemised, coupled with a montly cell phone bill of £100ish for the last year.
The lack of letters really worries me but while being in Africa its impossible to send by snailmail and actually recieve or have delivered... is this a problem?
Also, if you have emails, they can help. Better than nothing. Same with photos.
Hmm - if the landlord is your 'friend' - can't you get him to agree to a contract and backdate it? Or at least a letter from him confirming how long you've lived there, the specifics of your verbal agreement, etc? Again, anything is better than nothing. Depending on how friendly he is, copy of mortgage statement of his, or title deeds, plus a letter from him saying it's ok for you to live there. I presume you pay rent - will this be apparent from your bank account? If so, explain it as such in your letter. It's all evidence.Originally posted by misterfixit@Jul 7 2005, 10:00 PM
3, My house is rented, I'm on council tax plus all bills, all are payed promptly, but my landlord is a frewind and I have no contract. Have been renting from him for over 3 years now. Have a letter from him saying Cel is ok to stay, but nowt more official than 3 years of bills and the letter to say this is my abode!
Don't forget - embassy clearance officers are braindead civil servants who have the creative flair of a dead moth. Anything slightly outside the ordinary (ie, not a mortgage or a rental contract) and they can't cope. Make it as simple for them as possible, otherwise it's more than their below average GCSE grades can cope with. A nice shiny contract with suitable dates works best, but if this isn't possible, then just overwhelm them with alternative evidence - the more there is the less inclined they'll be to go through it and find gaps, they have neither the time nor the inclination. If there's not much evidence, they have an easy option to refuse - if there's loads, they're more hesitant cos they might miss something obvious which would make them look stupid on appeal. So, the more you can get here, the better. But don't rely on ECOs being an understanding lot who will accept gaps in evidence and have sympathy with your circumstance. They're soulless droids who would eat the pig that saved their own children.
Put it all in your letter. It also helps towards "genuine relationship" matters. You showing you've considered what it will be like for her to settle in, etc, is all good, it helps convince them it's a genuine relationship and not a scam/bargirl trying to make good/westerner trying to buy himself a trophy bargirl wife.Originally posted by misterfixit@Jul 7 2005, 10:00 PM
4, Have a small deposit saved, (with evidence) and a big addition my parents want to contribute, but I won't buy a house until Cel is here, I want it to be hers as it is mine. i dont want everything to be alien, and feel fixed, I want to settle and start our life with my wife by my side and that includes nesting. Will the ECO uinderstand this?
Be VERY CAREFUL in mentioning money from any one else, including your parents, If you inadvertently admit to having to rely on other people's money to support yourselves (including to buy a home for yourselves) THEY WILL REFUSE YOU as the rules state you must be able to support yourselves. Make it quite clear you CAN support yourselves and if you mention having money from other people, make it quite clear this is a bonus and not in any way needed to support and house yourselves. Don't give them an excuse to say no.
Photos, phone bills, evidence of you supporting her, payslips, bank statements showing a regular salary going in and a regular rental payment (or bills, etc) going out, plus a nice heart warming story of how you met and fell in love. Make it clear it was YOUR idea to live in the UK as it is the only way you can continue to support your wife, NOT HER IDEA, and that if refused you would be prepared to either move to the Philippines or another suitable country you could both go if you could find empoyment there. Make sure YOU proposed to HER in your application. Make sure you both can tell the story of your relationship, from first meeting, to falling in love, to how you propsoed, when, where, and she can give good reasons why she wanted to marry you (lovely guy, I love, him, so sweet, so kind, i like his sense of humour, he makes me laugh (with examples) etc) - and that she makes it clear she wasn't looking for a foreign husband. The more rounded and satisfactory the story, the less it matters about little gaps in evidence, because the ECO will be convinced about the genuineness of your relationship.Originally posted by misterfixit@Jul 7 2005, 10:00 PM
I have buckets of photos from meeting, payslips good job and all else, but these things niggle away. Pete I know how nervous it makes you! For our wedding, there will be Cels family, my mum and dad, grandma, auntie(godmother), uncles, godfather and freinds. And I worked very hard at the start of our relationship and made my freinds and collegues bloody sure this is for me.
If you want to be doubly safe, ask the NSO for a CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage) in respect of your wife (for the time before she married you). The Embassy may well ask for one themselves (it's fairly routine) and, if they do, and you've already got one and know it's ok, then you can rest safely in the knowledge that the application has been approved (they wouldn't pay for this request otherwise) and once it comes back clean (about 4 weeks later) everything will be sorted. Or if you're really lucky, you'll get approved on the day.
Good luck.
<!--QuoteBegin-misterfixit@Jul 7 2005, 10:00 PM
I hold Cel on high and it terrifies me thet a little person who doesn't know us has so much power over our life.
Please just pass comment on how you think our evidence will be recieved! I wonder how many others are worried for similar reasons.
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It's a horrible, horrible, soulless process. No matter how solid your application, everyone will feel equally worried because, as you say, so much power over your life rests in the hands of one smarmy little oik of a civil servant in the most unfriendly embassy in the world. Just get everything down on paper in your application - anticiapte your weak parts and answer them beforehand - he'll be more impressed that his own questions are answered than if he reads it and feels it's incomplete and full of gaps.
