[SBrown86]

Hi all, just looking if someone has had the same or a similar experience of applying for a spouise visa outside the EU.

Just a bit of background:

We met in April 2013 through a mutal friend, I flew from the UK to Skopje to meet with her and stayed there for a week. We started a relationship and I've been flying there to visit her ever since. We did look for advice on getting a tourist visa so she could come here but was lead to believe it was next to impossible.

We finally decided to get married a few months ago, and got married last month in Macedonia.

I've already created an application on VisaUK and the UK Visa Application Centre in Macedonia. I have also booked her an A1 English test for the 2nd July with IELTS, as this is a requirement for non EU applicants applying for a spouse visa.

I've started a new job this month which is £35K annual salary, so this will qualify me to be her sponsor. I'm also in the process of selling my appartment which will give us plenty of savings for our future together. I've already organised a new appartment for us to live in.

So this is what I have gathered so far:

• Letter from the employer confirming my role and salary there
• Letter from my new landlord that my wife will be able to live in the appartment with me
• Photos of us together spanning from 2013 when we met till the present and from our wedding
• Receipts from my flights to and from Macedonia from 2013
• Skype logs of our video conversations
• Facebook chat logs
• Viber logs
• Marriage Certificate
• Bank statements from the last 12 months, also statements showing my current savings
• Payslips from the last 12 months
• Copy of my passport

Have I missed anything? Obviously I'm very keen for my wife to come over so we can start our life together properly and she can meet with my family etc.

I want to make sure that everything is 100% so the Visa has the best chance of being given. It's going to cost a whopping £1,500 just to apply so we aren't taking it lightly.

Only thing I'm worried about is that I changed jobs twice this year (I had enough of my previous job from 2014 and the new job this year didn't work out). However, I now have the job that I want and it has a good salary.

Any advice would be appreciated, we will be devistated if they turn us down as we have waited 2 years already and we just want to be together. It's been a stressful process for both of us and we're trying to go through all the correct channels.

 

[Zara2013]

Hello,
Firstly have you checked on gov.uk the approved English test? This has changed recently.
Secondly which category are you applying under? As you have mentioned you changed jobs and you have saving etc.
Lastly you need nhs surcharge as well..but that you pay just before your application i.e. maybe a day before you apply.

Zara

 

[SBrown86]

Hello,
Firstly have you checked on gov.uk the approved English test? This has changed recently.
Secondly which category are you applying under? As you have mentioned you changed jobs and you have saving etc.
Lastly you need nhs surcharge as well..but that you pay just before your application i.e. maybe a day before you apply.

Zara

Thanks Zara, I have indeed. The approved tests from April 2015 point me to ielts.org, there is a test centre in Skopje called the British Council. Who have just started with the new tests for Visa applications. We have booked a test with them for A1, as that was the minimum required for this Visa. 2nd July was their first available date as it's a brand new test as of April.

We're applying for a 'Family of a settled person' which requires £956 for the Visa application and a further £500 for the NHS surcharge. That's why I mentioned the £1500 figure above.

Does that all sound correct?

Many thanks

 

[secretlobster]

As you have changed jobs and are only very recently making the salary needed to meet the financial requirement, can you show that you have made at least £18,600 in the past year through salaried employment?

 

[SBrown86]

As you have changed jobs and are only very recently making the salary needed to meet the financial requirement, can you show that you have made at least £18,600 in the past year through salaried employment?

Hi Lobster, yes, my payslips and bank statements will reflect that I have made at least 30K in the last 12 months.

 

[SBrown86]

From what I can see, catagory B will be okay? Less than 6 months with the employer but have sufficient salary within the last 12 months.

Another question, I'm currently in the process of selling my flat, and I have put down a deposit on a new flat to rent for myself and my wife to live in (current place needs modernisation and I'd rather get the money and buy new furnishing and have the flexability of renting for a while so I can purchase in the future without a chain).

Does it matter how long you've lived at your current address? I don't want to risk messing up the application! We have waited so long for her to come to England and will be devistated is she doesn't get the Visa.