Hi,
I've just done the partnership visa thing through the London branch so hopefully I can help - I did residency not temporary work visa because although it was a little cheaper we figured as we'd have to pay for residency at some point if we wanted to stay, it would be cheaper in the long-run to do it now.
Originally Posted by
SJS
How do we prove we are not close relatives? Do we have to supply birth certificates? If we do do they need to be the original copies? How long does it take to get them back?
Do we have to send both of our passports in with the application or will copies of the info page do? How long do they keep them for if we do send the passports in? We need to have them back by September.
Do I need a police certificate from the UK or is it only my partner that needs one?
And finally how long on average does the visa take to come through? It does say approx 3+ months but I was wondering if it could come through quicker than that?
Right, so. We supplied both birth certificates. Neither of us have our originals, we only have certified copies issued by the registrars and that was fine. I got them, and all the rest of my documents, back when my stickered passport was returned.
We did not send our passports in as we needed them for a trip to Barcelona. We sent a certified copy of the information page on each one and that was absolutely fine. They didn't need to see my partners original passport at all, however you can't get your actual visa until you send your passport in, as they need to put the sticker in the passport. Therefore once I had approval in principle they asked me to submit my passport along with the migrants levy, stuck the visa in a sent it back to me. They had my actual passport for about 2 weeks, however if you send it in with the initial application it will take however long it takes to process the application and then the 2 weeks to get the visa stuck into it and returned.
You both need a police certificate. You need one to show that you are a suitable person to sponsor your partners application.
As you can see in my signature, it was really quite quick, and that's even with us not filling a section of the form out properly and having to resubmit a couple of pages! D'oh! I think it took about 3 weeks for my approval in principle and then another 2 weeks from when I sent it in for my passport to come back with the blue stickers. The delay for me was waiting until I got paid again and could afford the migrant levy!
If you want to send your passport in with the application it would cut down any time you may take posting it to them once you have approval in principle but even if it took 3 months you would have it back by September. However, as I said, certified copies are fine for the first stage. I had a barrister friend certify all my stuff.
I found the process really quite straight forward, if nerve wracking, and my CO was polite and prompt at responding to me. The only thing I struggled with was that because you submit by paper to London for partnership applications I found I wasn't set up on the electronic notification system but they set me up and didn't tell me my login details so when my status was updated on the system I got an email telling me something had happened but I couldn't work out how to login and see what! However my CO was able to tell me by email and I was able to contain my frustration!
Good luck.