After 20 Calendar Days

Covering Letter...

This is an application for my client to be granted entry clearance as the spouse of a person currently present and settled in the Isle of Man. My client meets the relevant requirements as set out in paragraph 281 of the Immigration Rules in that she is married to a British Citizen who is currently settled in the I of Man, the parties to the marriage have met and each of the parties intends to to live permanently with each other as his and her spouse and the marriage is subsisting. The applicant has passed the English language test certificate in speaking and listening from an approved test provider and their is sufficient maintenance and accommodation available.

In support of this application the following documents are enclosed:

Thanks so much for that, John. What was your 'statement of support'?

It was basically a signed statement to say that I would be responsible for my wifes financial needs, once she was here in the UK. Statement of financial support. Quite short.

Ah ok - so you didn't write a story of your relationship? We've been told to do that and call it a letter of support.

That was the "Joint Statement" in the above list of ours. It was our timeline story...

I did a joint letter signed by the both of us and then a letter of support from myself stating that I would look after the financial side of things.

In the joint letter which was one page long I explained where we met, how we keep in contact, how many times we had met in person and our plans for the future, it wasn't presented as a list is was like a little story, love story

Hmm, weird how they've called our story the letter of support :/

I'm sure they have their reasons.

My letter of support was very concise and to the point.

Do they ask for a joint letter or is it something I've picked up here I wonder.

I mean, in the application they ask how often you have met, how do you keep in touch and so on, maybe the joint letter is something that was made up here at BF and everyone now thinks its the norm, clarification required

Well John did a 'joint statement' and he used an agency, so maybe they do ask for it. I just don't know - there's so much conflicting stuff all over the place Maybe it's all a ploy to keep us on our toes

I didn't make a cover letter

I think I stated that my wife submitted one. Thats maybe where you picked it up from? However, many people have done so, historically.

It makes sense as it sews the relationship related evidence together. I made sure that ours tied in with supporting evidence. It also presents an opportunity to make ones application persuasive. Yes, it can be fabricated but so can a CV or the like. And so can evidence of intent for marriage in the UK in the case of a Fiance visa. But its better than ye olde interview at the embassy, that had Filipinas quaking in their boots.

In our case the agency advised us to do one. So we did.

Thats it. LOL. And we all got the visas.

Like you, I found it hard to go with what the agent was advising when forum advice was almost conflicting at times. But to a greater degree I stuck with the agent. It would be daft not to (as long as they were good at what they do ).

What I tended to do was cross check the agent when forum advise was conflicting.

If the agent had said stick the kitchen sink in, then I would.

Like I said before, there is more than one way to skin a cat and I think it applies to visa applications. However there is some core content that has to be common to all applications, without which any application would not be successful.

I believe one of the best ways of working out what is needed to succeed is to read the story of and reasons for the failed applications.

That's the thing - if we've paid the fee we need to trust what they're saying; otherwise what was the point?! It is hard though when you read the opposite online. I've been asking them about things that conflict, but that's hard too because then they might think we don't trust them They are professionals I guess. Anyway hopefully between them and here we'll get a decent application together

Yes. Not forgetting two main reasons for using them are:

To plug any gaps the forum might miss.
To deal with complexities that an individual's circumstances might include that are outside a run of the mill application or any weak areas of the application.

Which tells us all that it is not a UKBA requirement, we have our clarification at last, thanks Anne

I think people will continue to submit a joint letter though as it does give you a sense of confidence when you are writing it, its basically an open letter where you state where you have been and where you are going in your relationship.

We both did seperate letters about our relationship. Hers was originally about 12 pages long and I managed to get it down to about 4!!

She originally mentioned that I was handsome 3 times in the letter. I reluctantly edited it down to one!

Thats better! No need to over do it.

Surprised she got the visa Graham, after the UKBA saw your pictures they would have known that your wife is prone to telling lies

Nonsense. I'm sure it helped to prove that she was an honest and reliable person.