Visitor Visa Documents

[hornash]

Hi.
Been lurking here looking for some advice for a while but thought i would ask to try and get a better answer.
I have just come back from the Philippines and met up with a lovely girl who i have been talking to online while i was there. We would like her to come over here on a visitor visa first so she can meet my family and get used to the country a bit before we try and go much further. I will be sponsoring her while she is here so we know that we need my tenancy agreement, pay slips, bank statements, copy of my passport and an invitation letter. My question is do these need authenticating before she presents them to VFS in manila and have we missed anything out. We have email records to prove how long we have been communicating and pictures from when i was over there earlier this year. the UK border agency website is less than helpfull so any advice people have would be appreciated.

[Terpe]

Hi there hornash, and welcome aboard Filipino UK

I've taken the liberty of moving your post to the UK VISA/British Citizenship Section.

Hope that's OK

As a first step please read this recent forum thread.

Review post #4 and follow all the included links.

Please feel free to ask any further specific questions.

[Terpe]

....I will be sponsoring her while she is here so we know that we need my tenancy agreement, pay slips, bank statements, copy of my passport and an invitation letter. My question is do these need authenticating before she presents them to VFS in manila and have we missed anything out....

Despite the increased use of online facilities and 'paperless' activity, UKBA still state that evidential documents should be original.

I understand it's a pain, and I do know quite a few folks who have been given an unecessarily tough time with their banks when securing statements etc

That said I also know quite a few folks who have submitted scanned documents which have not been questioned by UKBA.

My personal position is always that of full compliance and minimising risks when it comes to UKBA so my advice is to always use originals. Of course this does not apply to passports where a photocopy/scanned image of the appropriate pages are accepted.

If it's just not possible to submit originals then a clear and concise explanation needs to be given as to why it's not possible and why UKBA should accept what you've sent.
But then you must also then accept the associated risk that they may not agree/accept.

As an aside, I've never known a visa refusal on the basis of not providing original documentation........not that I'm trying to tip the scales but it's probably worth the small risks and costs associated with Visit Visa application.

If you feel the need to secure certified copies of any supporting documentary evidence then again that's a personal choice. But do read the UKBA guidance first.

BTW it's not necessary for a solicitor to perform certification. Almost the same people who are eligible to countersign passport photo's may also certify your copied documents.

Just show them the original document and the photocopy and then have them write ‘Certified to be a true copy of the original seen by me’ on the document, sign and date it, print their name under the signature and add their occupation, address and contact number.

Hope that helps
Good Luck and hope you'll keep us updated

[DaveW]

Hi Hornash. I want to let you know that i have only just recently applied for a visit visa for a girlfriend who i have known for more than a year.

I completed the online application myself and sent all the supporting docs i thought would be ok. We added photos of us together and supporting letters by us both.

In the form i stated that she was self-employed, but i never showed any evidence of this job as it is only a small family store.

I gave my salary slips and bank statements to show I was capable of supporting her stay.
Anyway, it was rejected within a week of the appointment in Manila.

The reasons being that we gave no information of her intentions in the UK. even though we both stated it was just to spend time with me and meet my family as I have met hers many times.

Also we never provided any info on how we met and where. Totally impossible if you ask me, still don't know how we could have proved that.

So the conclusion was that they never believed she would leave when intended and plus they also said that our relationship seemed not genuine.

I was so angry, very mad.

So unless you can really show she will ABSOLUTELY leave when she is meant to, they will refuse entry.

I was shocked at the level of proof they wanted about our relationship.

I applied a fiance visa a few years ago which is a lot more serious and only gave then around six photos of me and my ex wife, it was approved without question.

Anyway good luck if you decide to so do it.

[grahamw48]

Sadly, they work on the basic premise that your 'visitor' is really likely to be a future overstayer, and that it's up to your visitor to provide enough evidence to prove to the satisfaction of the UKBA that this is not going to happen. Difficult.

For the small fee involved in applying...worth a punt, but be prepared for disappointment.

[BazJaz]

Hi Dave, I followed your post in another thread about you applying for your visitor visa, but then it went quiet and didnt say if you got it, so here I found out you didn't -sorry. We did the exact same thing, I had to fly my girl from Davao to Manila to submit the documents so cost us a bit, still refused visitor visa on the usual of "no real reason to return" - even submitted letters from her employer and her bank, so then applied for fiancee visa, costs billion times more but granted in 3 weeks, now she is here, married last July and FLR granted now.

I think I watched too many "Border patrol" programmes on TV and sent half a rain forest of paper documentation to them. (I did have a question about the English test which by chance I was working inside the UKBA here in UK as a engineer but they didnt know the answer to my question ! (well they did but it was the wrong answer I found out) I hope you can work it out - I love my Filipino wife, she is next to me now chatting away on skype to her friend from the baker shop next to where she lived, happy times! Good Luck - Baz and Jaz

[Arthur Little]

Hi.
Been lurking here looking for some advice for a while but thought i would ask to try and get a better answer.
I have just come back from the Philippines and met up with a lovely girl who i have been talking to online while i was there. We would like her to come over here on a visitor visa first so she can meet my family and get used to the country a bit before we try and go much further ...

........... ... makes perfect sense ... theoretically!

... so any advice people have would be appreciated.

Alas - as you'll have already gathered (based on two of our members' recent experiences) - obtaining a Visitor Visa isn't, in practice, quite so straightforward as it might, at first, seem ... despite each of the applicant's honourable intentions. Likewise, of course, you will, by now, have discovered the MAIN reason(s) as to WHY this's so.

But not ALL applicants are unsuccessful. And (who knows? ) your g/f may possibly even be among the lucky ones.

So ... ... for about a tenth of the cost of a Settlement Visa, it could well be worthwhile "taking the bull by the horns"!!

[hornash]

Just thought i would let you know that her visa application was successful. we asked for 6 weeks, and got a 6 months. We would just like to thank everyone on here because we have both been on here a lot looking for help and advice with the application and it looks like it paid off.

[BazJaz]

Well Done! Remember to get her a warm a coat and some Wellies

[Terpe]

Just thought i would let you know that her visa application was successful. we asked for 6 weeks, and got a 6 months. We would just like to thank everyone on here because we have both been on here a lot looking for help and advice with the application and it looks like it paid off.