More visa info

Wow.  Well, our visa applications have been submitted, mailed overnight last night and should arrive at 10:30 this morning.  However...  

When you fill out your application online (which is how you do it if you live in the US), be sure to READ everything on the screen as you're filling it out.  My husband applied for a Tier 2 visa, and on the very first page of the application, it gave us some really important information about things that needed to be included as supporting documents. 

DO NOT trust the list of required documents that comes in the email once you've completed the application.  That makes it look like you hardly need to send anything at all.  If I had gone by that, we'd be sorely wounded when we got rejected or severely delayed.  I encourage you to go to the following website.  It was the most thorough about listing all required information.  All other places I looked only gave pieces of info.  How To Apply For A UK Visa  Select the visa you are applying for and it will give you the info you need.  Keep in mind that this is specific to the UK, since that's where we're going, but I'm sure there is a page similar for your destination.

The worst part, I found, about submitting our application was the lack of guidance.  The website mentioned above is the best one I found, but unfortunately I didn't find it until we had already sent our applications.  Once I know whether we've been granted visas, I'll post a list of tips; things I included with our applications.

Either way, the process is not easy.  A lot of what you do is repetitive, but necessary.  And it was very hard to part with all original documents to send in the applications, including our passports.  But yes, you MUST send original documents. 

Stay tuned for an update on our application status.