Thread for Outland LONDON, UK Applications!

[gideonj]

scooper81 don't worry.

For one thing everyone (including me!) is erring on the side of caution. For another you guys have your marriage certificates, those alone are impressive enough, especially as they don't imply (due to timing) that you married for any reason other than partnership.

Me and my partner are only common-law partners, and have been together 3 years, so I have more to proove than you, and also less solid things to try to proove it with! (No marriage license, no mortgage or life insurance) so I will throw everything I have at them.

Finally, if they doubt you, I presume they might be more likely to call you for interview or request more evidence, but they won't just shut down the application unless there was something that barred it from being processed.

 

[gideonj]

Also thanks so much for the detailed reply CanadianCanuck, very helpful. Probably wont include that many photos! but good to know I'm thinking along the right lines.

 

[Woffles]

Still in the pre-applicaiton stages here. My goal of a 1 week turnaround a little optimistic! :

My police certificate has arrived with my parents in the UK, they will now send it to me so that I can send all the other parts of the application to Misseunga. I paid for the expedited option, and they were very helpful and fast.

Worth noting,I could not provide 2 proofs of address, I had my bank statement, but not anything else (bills in girlfriend's name). So I used my printed out mobile phone invoice from Mobilicity, which did not have my address on it, and photoshopped my address to it. I provided no false information, but given that Mobilicity had my address displayed and my account details and name etc displayed on different parts of their website, I just copy pasted it all together.

There was no objection to this as the second piece of proof. I'm not recommending any fabricate documents, and certainly not with false information! But if you are stuck for it and there is a reasonable option that can be adjusted to fit their parameters, it worked for me. Your mileage may vary!

Question: Can anyone advise me how the proof of relationship submission tends to go down?

As far as I can tell, on form IMM5540E, they ask questions about the nature of the relationship etc, and at the end it says 'on a separate sheet of paper provide any additional details of your relationship that you believe would help to prove your relationship is genuine and continuing.' This seems like the opportunity to provide all the extra details people talk about here. Now I don't want to go overboard, but I am thinking of including:

-detailed timeline of relationship
-bank statements from joint account
-bank statements at previous addresses showing that we lived together for several years
-signed joint tenancy agreement
-photos of us on holiday together
-plane tickets

(should these be originals or copies?)

is this 1) way too much information 2) not the place to do it (is there somewhere else all this should be submitted, I can't seem to find it) 3) given that this isn't just a 'separate sheet of paper' I'm planning to include an envelope labelled 'Evidence of nature of relationship' and including it in with everything else.

I'd just really like to know the thoughts of anyone who has done this, what they did and if anyone has feedback from CIC about insufficient evidence etc.

I'm really regretting not sending my police check forms express to the UK. I paid for tracking but that's been about as useful as a chocolate teapot. I decided to try and save money as this whole thing is going to cost a lot. It's all the little things like medicals, passport photos, photo printing, ink for our printer (actually, we bought a printer especially for this) that add up, and then of course, the $1000+ for the actual fees. Aaaanyway, I just wish I had sucked it up and paid the (more) expensive postage. My main concern is that I sent a $100 bill as it was the only way I could pay for it (my endorser is going to write me a cheque), and obviously I don't want to lose that. It's frustrating because I sent my mum a package a little while ago with some gifts and stuff in and it got there so fast by regular air mail. I posted the police check stuff on the 12th, it arrived in the UK on the 17th so I'm hoping hoping hoping it arrives at my friends' today (Wednesday). Sorry for grumbling out loud!

As for getting the application done in a week, I wish. Even if it weren't for the police check, it still seems to have taken me a while to gather all my evidence together, get information from people, etc. Which reminds me, I need to chase my mum up about schools I attended when I was young because I haven't a clue (I was born in S Africa).

@scooper81: Some people have included binders full of evidence (and you're not meant to have binders anyway) but I've seen photos of other application packs and they're really quite small. So I wouldn't worry about it And like Gideonj said, if they need more proof then they'll ask for it. My boyfriend and I have only been together for just over 18 months so this obviously concerns me as it's not that long in the grand scheme of things, but I'm pretty sure I'm covering all the bases (I hope!)

 

[CanadianCanuck]

Ok slightly panicked now after reading how many documents of proof of relationship people have included.
Do I now need to be worried? I saw people including binders of evidence.

I would not worry at all. we were worried so did all that and of course we are outland so wanted to provide enough info for everyone to understand our committment to Canada and moving there. I think if Dom had already had a chance to live in Canada as a PR our application would have been different. We were married in Canada but settled here. Although our entire marriage and kids etc have been in the UK our dating relationship was all over the interent with visits to eachother so wanted to make sure we should the dedication and committment

 

[scooper81]

Thanks everyone, slightly neurotic pregnancy brain going into overdrive. Really do not want to be called for an interview as I am heading back to Vancouver in august (we are waiting out PR there).

 

[dancanman]

Hi guys.

Anyone have any idea how long it usually takes between passport request, and visa issue ?
I'm running on almost 7 weeks now, and still haven't heard anything.
Is this normal ?

Thanks

 

[sway_in_de_wind]

There doesn't appear to be much happening this week. No body has anounced any progression. Does any one have any idea why this may be? Is there a bank holiday there or are they having a training week? Im feeling so impatient, it's been 93 days since our stuff arrived with them. Also their web site says processing time is 82 days but also says Working on applications received on February 29, 2012. This is not 82 days!

 

[LGR]

yes

 

[Woffles]

This is going to sound trivial, but I have written an explanation on a post-it note and stuck it to the relevant document, for example, "Christmas 2011 present from x to y", stuck to the invoice. Am I better off writing the explanation directly onto the document? Thanks

Also had my medical yesterday (Thursday), stoked that another piece of the application is done. Just waiting on info from my Mum and the police check certificate (my friend finally received the paperwork yesterday so hopefully it's in the post to the police now). Feels good to be making progress.

 

[scooper81]

Has anyone who applied since January heard from the VO? Passport Request or Interviews? Anything?

 

[Sweden]

Has anyone who applied since January heard from the VO? Passport Request or Interviews? Anything?

Hey again Scooper81 ( I just replied to you on the other thread),

Some people from January already got their visa indeed. 2 persons are done with the process, everybody else is waiting. If you click on the 2011 sheet,you can also see how the cases from last year are going, who is where, etc... it will give you a better sense of how long you might have to wait, keeping in mind that London VO processes a lot of different applicants from different backgrounds, and some are more straightforward than others - see also the distinction between visa-exempt and non-visa-exempt passport holders.

You can check the spreadsheet here :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AovjfA1KvIIIdDR3NnZvd3JKZlZ0aURxWWZzUUNub0E&authkey=CJyi-IYE&hl=en&authkey=CJyi-IYE#gid=0

usually it is Pinklady who updates it.I think the last update was done last week.
Good luck,
Sweden

 

[FK22]

Hellooo Pinklady, Could you please add me to the spread sheet. Thanks

 

[pinklady]

Hellooo Pinklady, Could you please add me to the spread sheet. Thanks

Added

 

[SchnookoLoly]

Hi PinkLady!

PPR came through yesterday!! SOOOOO excited to finally have this done now - such a huge relief!

Not landing until December, but at least the hard part is now out of the way!

 

[CanadianCanuck]

SchnookoLoly,

YAY! and congrats. This is giving us more hope. We have sold the house, hubby has finished work and are looking to book a sailing to New York in September so would be great to get ours before we go and thought it might be tight-ish as were basing it on the average of 88 days.