Our tips for preparing for a UK settlement visa application.

If you are in the early stages of applying or preparing to apply for your visa to the UK we have some tips for preparing your application. 

Try and stay in the same employment in the run-up to your application. Changing jobs just before you apply will make your application more difficult. If you are moving to the UK with your job, great news. If you need to find a job in the UK, start your search early, and stay employed in the US. You want to show a consistent employment record to the UKVI.

If your move to the UK is based on a relationship with someone who has the right to remain in the UK, a citizen, a visa holder or someone else, then start thinking about how you can show consistency in your relationship. A flurry of pictures within the same week looks suspicious, but pictures from trips, family occasions and life with a few different haircuts shows consistency. 

We often find the biggest issue for people are the financial requirements. So we can let you know the amount you will need to have, and you’ll need to show you’ve had it for six months, and haven’t dipped below that amount in that six months.

You can have someone else help you with the financial requirement, but that comes with some conditions that we can help explain. 

Another step people don’t think about, is that you need a blank visa page in the passport to hold the UK Visa, which is still paper-based at the moment. The visa endorsement is a fairly big piece of paper that will be stuck into your passport, they will only use a blank page, and if you are a frequent traveler that can be an issue. 

Getting a replacement passport adds delays and the new passport will have a different number which means the original application will have to change. We can help avoid these issues by asking at the beginning if you have a blank page in your passport. 

Next, we always advise our clients to disclose everything in your application. As well as jeopardizing your visa application if anything is uncovered in the future, your visa could be revoked. 

So even if it’s as trivial as a parking ticket, tell us, there is always a way to explain the issue, but it’s harder to say why you didn’t include something in the first place.  

Bank statements in the mail are becoming a rare sight these days, but they are still essential to almost every UK visa application. If you don’t have a printed statement any bank branch can add an authenticating stamp to a print out of an online statement that will increase the likelihood the UKVI will accept the statement as authentic. 

If you would like a free consultation call about your UK visa situation, please contact us.