Hi, My wife is soon going to apply for her first 'Family of a Settled Person' visa and she is applying from outside of the UK (from the Philippines). It seems that I have to provide my original birth certificate in long form and short form. However, I only ever had the short form, then recently I acquired a certified copy of the long form from the UK authorities. I have already given my wife the long form certified copy, but my question is do I have to send my original birth certificate off to the Philippines so my wife can make her application with it? Sending my original birth certificate away seems dodgy, I trust my wife 1000% but aren't we supposed to always have our own birth certificate close to us?
Even your 'original' birth certificate is merely a certified copy of the entry in the register of births, deaths and marriages. Just obtain yourself a replacement birth certificate and use that, if sending your 'original' makes you uncomfortable. Also, I don't believe that you need to submit both long and short form birth certificates for a family of settled person visa application. Indeed the birth certificate is not strictly needed at all if you provide a certified copy of your passport - although I did include one in my own application to be safe. I'm curious why you have been told that you need to provide two?
I gave my wife my birth certificate to submit instead of a certified copy of my passport. I wasnt bothered as I knew I could get a replacement. I got it back after the visa was approved.
If you have to include the 'original' certificate, that means people who lost their certificate could not become sponsors! The sponsor's birth certificate only appears to be used to prove relationship to the visa applicant, nothing else.
Mine was submitted instead of a certified copy of my passport. I submitted it on the advice of the Immigration agent.
I believe that Appendix FM-SE specifies a certified copy of the sponsor's passport but they will accept a birth certificate if the passport is not available. I'm not aware of a preference for a birth certificate over a passport and frankly I find that advice a bit strange because anyone can get a copy of anyone's birth certificate. A birth certificate doesn't prove identity. A certified copy of a passport, does. On a settlement visa application I would include a certified copy of my passport and a long-form birth certificate. It doesn't hurt to include both. I really find it odd that anyone would be advised that the visa application required two birth certificates both long and short form. Where is that information coming from? I do not see that specified under appendix FM-SE?
In our case it was to avoid a certification fee and the (at the time) unknown quantity of getting the passport certified. So original birth certificate it was. And it worked. My wife has been here for 4 years now. I only had one form of birth certificate. So I had no choice. It looked quite long to me.
well I'm glad it worked for you. However, in the interests of being impartial, I have to say that the risk of having a nine hundred pound visa application turned down for the sake of a small economy possibly outweighs the small cost and minor inconvenience of sending certified copy of a passport, birth certificate or indeed anything at all. I would have included a copy of Milton's 'Paradise lost' had they requested it. ..
I invested £700 in using an advisor who specialises in visa applications. They know what works and what doesnt. No cutting financial corners there.
I wasn't suggesting that you did cut corners However, since you made your application 4 years ago, that must have been before the immigration rules changed in July 2012. So I would hesitate to use that experience as a procedural beacon at this point. As we already discussed, A birth certificate would be accepted if a certified copy of the sponsor's passport wasn't available. I am reluctant to agree with you that only the birth certificate is required just because it happened to work for you, four years ago. It seems to me to be sensible to advise the readership that a certified copy of a passport, if available, is a prudent thing to include. I am sure that you would agree that this is sensible advice?
What is bad about it? I followed the advice of an expert. Not the opinion of a recent sponsor who may or may not be following a procedural beacon themselves. You are awfully sure of yourself. Perhaps you might be more sure when your other halves visa is approved.
Frankly John I'm struggling to see what your point is. Seems to me that you just want to be right. You know nothing about me, or about the legal advice that I utilised whilst assembling and submitting my application. If you feel that advice you were given four years ago is still relevant today, then that's just the opinion of a recent sponsor too. isn't it?
I dont know what your point is. You are one of a great many people who end up on forums like this. There are many approaches that people adopt, often with success, sometimes without. Your approach is just one. Did you get it right? It remains to be seen. Sleep easy. According to you it is far better to use a certified copy of a passport than the original birth certificate. Where do you get that information from? Who told you that? I put it to you that you want to be right. So lets see the outcome of your other halves visa application. I await with interest.
You need a birth certificate to obtain a passport if you dont already have one. I think you are wrong in your assertion. Sorry.
Not following you. Which assertion in particular do you think is wrong? If you are trying to say that a birth certificate is somehow 'better' than a passport, it is not. If the birth certificate was a more secure document, then it would be accepted more widely than it is. You can't even use a birth certificate to open a bank account. Although a birth certificate is indeed submitted with a passport, it is purely as initial evidence of eligibility via citizenship. The application is then subject to a number of checks including signed statements by witnesses who have known you and who have countersigned the application. The passport is a more secure document than a birth certificate is, because a passport acts to verify your identity. A birth certificate does not. I could apply to somerset house and get a copy of anyone's birth certificate I wanted. They are public record. That means that any application submitted with a birth certificate will be subject to additional checks to ensure that the sponsor is genuine. It therefore doesn't make any sense at all to just submit a birth certificate unless you have a real and pressing need not to submit a certified copy of your passport So. I think you're wrong in your assertions. Sorry back.
I have not said a birth certificate is better than a certified copy of a passport. But you have said that a certified copy of a passport is better than a birth certificate. What I am saying is that the birth certificate is acceptable, which it is. Come back and tell us all how it is done once your partner has gained her visa. You havent got it yet.
Guys, break it up, you're just as bad as each other. Thank you for the answers, they were both useful and fully understandable.
I am so happy not to be involved with the HO,s gravy train it can clearly create differences of opinion here to long live European Free Movement
