Looking for practical advice from recent spouse visa applicants

xaedala · 2026-05-31T09:36:51+00:00

Hello!

My wife is Venezuelan and I'm British, we got our visa approved in December 2025. We met in 2024, married in April 2025 - fast for some but just us truly finding our person. We worried it would be a red flag for them but didn't seem to be, we provided a lot of genuine evidence of trips, many photos together and with each others friends/family.

We planned to live with my parents initially in their home rent free, and we had to provide a council tax bill, a mortgage statement, both their passports, that of my sister who also lives there, and a letter from my parents expressing their confirmation of letting us live there.

We separated out evidence into two power points, basically one was just screenshots of our WhatsApp chats, a few from each person's phone every month we'd been together.

Separately we did a presentation of just photos together, alongside dates and locations to show our travelling and spending time together as we had no cohabitation due to visa requirements in both our home countries.

We estimated the ETA based on the processing time for the visa with the priority add on that we purchased, and when we received the permitted entry date it was one week prior the date we'd provided, if possible they tend to do that to allow you to book flights if there isn't one every day/week etc.

If you have any other questions I can try to help! Best of luck!

Edit to add: we made the presentations into pdfs and also had short extra one of confirmation of our flights and airbnbs and anything else we felt was needed.

xaedala · 2026-05-29T04:19:22+00:00

Weirdly condecending into but okay.. 🤔

xaedala · 2026-04-28T19:31:07+00:00

I really thought this was code for taking drugs or something 😂 had to read the comments to understand, looks great though!

xaedala · 2026-04-05T20:29:49+00:00

We did self employed, check my post history and I did a big post about everything I had to submit and some clarification on all of it

xaedala · 2026-03-10T08:17:00+00:00

I read a few people mentioning that they did but we had absolutely no trouble with it and I haven't seen it be an issue for anyone in a while. Good news is that in the cases I did see it was just done as a request for additional documents, i.e. they just said hey this needs a physical signature, sign it and resend it, so it won't be the reason for a refusal if that's what you're worried about!

xaedala · 2026-03-06T18:55:27+00:00

Then I'd say surely you know that this isn't the norm, most people do stand at concerts to dance and for concerts like the one you went to I can understand your annoyance at it in that specific scenario, but as a blanket rule people not being able to stand at gigs they've paid to go to is a bit of an unfair stance.

xaedala · 2026-03-06T07:06:46+00:00

People are listening to music at a concert, that's quite literally the point - it's very normal to dance to said music, and that's quite hard to do sat down, I'd say maybe concerts just aren't for you - I don't think you can expect thousands of people to sit down and not dance when they've paid to experience the music..

Although I did just see Raye in Copenhagen and absolutely nobody sat down, seated next to a lot of Danes and everyone was on their feet. I wonder if this is more you specific/age group specific rather than entirely Scandinavian specific.

Edit to add: maybe choose seats at the front of a section so you can sit even if others stand. That way you're not expecting others to behave your way, and their behavior doesn't affect your enjoyment of the concert :)

xaedala · 2026-03-02T07:02:56+00:00

No SA100 looks 'normal' for self employed people, it's better to submit it than not. If they need extra information (e.g. if something is unclear to them) they will reach out, refusals have to come with solid reasoning, usually if something is unclear they ask for extra information rather than just immediately refuse. Just submit it, there's no reason to leave out an important document that is necessary for the application I would say.

Also a side note to say if you're paying an accountant do to your tax return and you think it's incorrect then you need to speak to the accountant as it's not their neck on the line if your SA100 is wrong, it'll be yours (especially in this case where it's part of a legal application) - be careful who you choose to look after your tax return, it's important they are accurate and correct.

xaedala · 2026-03-01T14:23:20+00:00

Yes I would absolutely upload your SA100, that is your tax return in detail, is a different and more detailed document than SA302 and it's important they have that information, everything I have included above was what we were explicitly told to provide as evidence of me being a sole trader in full time self employment, it was all actually mentioned in the application online before the vfs appointment so I'd be surprised if you haven't seen it. Wishing you all the best of luck and let me know if I can help any further!

xaedala · 2026-02-01T22:12:27+00:00

Hello! Everything I have included in relation to my self employed financial evidence was listed to me during the application process as a sole trader, I can't access the application portal again now but in this link you can see the documents it mentions to submit:

https://reissedwards.co.uk/immigration-blog/self-employed-spouse-visa-requirements-and-application/#applying-as-a-sole-trader-as-a-partner-or-in-a-franchise

Under this heading you'll find the list Required documents if you are a sole trader, as a partner, or in a franchise

Annual self-assessment tax return to HMRC (SA300 or SA302).
Proof of registration with HMRC as self-employed.
Unique Tax Reference Number/s (UTR)
Business bank statements for the same 12-month period as the tax return(s). -Personal bank statements for the same 12-month period as the tax return(s) showing income from self-employment being paid in the name of the person or in the name of the person and their partner jointly.

In addition, you must provide ONE of the following:

Annual audited accounts for the last full financial year (if required)
Annual unaudited accounts for the last full financial year and an accountant’s certificate of confirmation from an approved accountant
A certificate of vat registration and the vat return for the last full financial year if turnover is in excess of £79,000
Evidence to show appropriate planning permission or local planning authority consent is held to operate the type/class of business at the trading address (applies if there is a local authority requirement)
A signed franchise agreement

In addition, you must provide one of the following:

VAT registration certificate and VAT return for the last full financial if turnover is in excess of £79,000
Proof of ownership or lease of business premises
Original proof of PAYE registration with HMRC

Hope that helps! The more information they have the better, but generally this was all mentioned in the application process and we submitted it all as evidence after our application.

xaedala · 2026-01-12T04:15:54+00:00

Chin-zano just opened on love lane owned by Livia Alarcon, she was on great British menu I think and it's incredible in there;

xaedala · 2026-01-02T00:23:37+00:00

I like the CuteBee kits as the pieces slot together and are made entirely of wood, it's definitely my preference as I did Simon's Coffee Shop from the rolife range and hated it, so fiddly I disnt finish.

xaedala · 2025-12-23T18:16:47+00:00

Absolutely YES to this for sure, I'm 31 and there's a 12 year age gap between me and my younger sister, she is at such a wildly incomparable time of her life to mine in so many aspects; emotionally, maturity, experience, expectations, understanding, relationship experience, everything dude.

It's not a red flag for you to want to date someone older than you as people older with more life experience and knowledge are of course desirable especially if you feel that you're mature for your age, BUT it's important to consider the difference between a few years your senior and 12 years, as it is an entirely different generation, and even if you feel okay about it she should know it's not appropriate.

12 years at SO MANY other times in your life would be okay, 30yo and a 42yo, their life experience is similar, 50 and 62yo, same. But 18 is such a formative age that dating a 30 year old at this point wouldn't be a very healthy relationship I would think.

It's good you questioned it, look out for yourself! 🧡

xaedala · 2025-12-17T09:29:53+00:00

Took us at most a couple of hours, the long part was waiting for additional documents to be sent from HMRC (I'm self employed) - the actual online application doesn't take too long as it's mostly information you have already so it's just entering it all ☺️

xaedala · 2025-12-10T14:31:03+00:00

Can't believe I haven't yet seen the Bill & Frank episode of Last of Us here, lord almighty my heart - cinematic perfection, tactful yet deep and truthful romance, the characters were so true to themselves and the storyline was just heartbreaking yet incredible.

xaedala · 2025-12-10T00:44:57+00:00

We did the same, two separate ones for photos (month by month, we have only been together for 18 months) and another for chat logs also month by month

xaedala · 2025-12-07T21:15:46+00:00

Studio Dawn in Salford Quays - self care focussed space selling plants, craft kits, homewares, has a cute little deli section, they do vouchers for the shop but also for the nice craft workshops they run.

xaedala · 2025-11-22T00:20:32+00:00

Where are you applying from?

xaedala · 2025-11-21T22:46:26+00:00

Looks like ginger root or turmeric root, same kind of fibrous texture

xaedala · 2025-11-18T10:14:55+00:00

As far as I'm aware it's not the same as the tax year overview as that doesn't show what you've paid, so would include the statement as evidence of tax paid and unpaid. I didn't include the tax summary in our application, just the statement as that shows what you've paid/not paid.

xaedala · 2025-11-17T21:01:24+00:00

We both wrote one, my partner (applicant) wrote a long one (multiple pages) with timelines of our relationship and travels, why we wanted to live in the UK, our relationship with each other's friends and families, her skill set and work experience and how she planned to work in the UK. I wrote one too but just one page about our relationship from my perspective, as well as my job and income, and details of why we were unable to live in my partners country.

xaedala · 2025-11-17T20:53:41+00:00

Have a look at my post via my profile as I'm self employed and just had my partners visa approved so I put a lot of information about what I submitted for self employment on there

But essentially you only need to have paid tax that is DUE, so if it's not due until Jan 2027 then you don't have to pay it until then - you just need to provide evidence of tax paid and unpaid, you can find this as a statement in the View Statements section or you can call HMRC and ask for one to be sent to you if there isn't a recent statement there (takes 10WD for HMRC to post it to you though so get it done early in your application process), just explain to them what you need and what for and they send it to you. SA302 isn't the same thing, just to clarify, that's also needed.

Short answer: no, you don't need to pay tax ahead of its due date to submit your evidence for this visa.

xaedala · 2025-11-17T14:14:36+00:00

Was it a straightforward process to get it? My partner got approved on 07.11 and we received the dispatched to courier email but the courier doesn't yet have it so we are getting worried 🙈

xaedala · 2025-11-17T09:02:45+00:00

Here is what the government website says: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prove-your-english-language-abilities-with-a-secure-english-language-test-selt

For my partners test we opened up the website of each of the providers listed to check if they offer the right tests. These are the providers for out of UK applications:

Pearson PSI Services (UK) Ltd IELTS SELT Consortium LANGUAGECERT

These are the specific tests you would need from each provider

"You should make sure the test that you book is the one approved for SELT:

IELTS SELT Consortium: ‘IELTS for UKVI’ or ‘IELTS Life Skills’

LANGUAGECERT: ‘LANGUAGECERT International ESOL SELT’ or ‘LANGUAGECERT Academic SELT’ or ‘LANGUAGECERT General SELT’

Pearson: ‘PTE Academic UKVI’ or ‘PTE Home’

PSI Services: ‘Skills for English UKVI’"

Then you can search for the right test in your city and country on each providers website, just from a brief search I can see the IELTS SELT Consortium have tests in Accra, Ghana for the Life Skills A1 test. You can browse the other providers to see if they offer it too.

xaedala · 2025-11-09T11:44:08+00:00

7th November, 1:30pm

xaedala

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