What Marriage Certificate requirements for Settlement Visa?

[nicsunshine]

My wife-to-be and I are getting married in New Brunswick in July. In August we will apply for a settlement visa for my partner to enter the UK from Canada (she's Canadian).

We are confused about what sort of marriage certificate is required for the settlement visa. There are:
1. The piece of paper we will both sign on the day.
2. A Registered Marriage Certificate which we will have to request from Vital Statistics and pay for which takes 4 weeks.
3. Is there another certificate as mentioned by other posters on this site? Appartenly a certified version of the piece of paper we sign on the day? Or is this the same as number 2? Lol

Thank you for any help or advice on the issue - we are rather worried!

[LinzLou]

hi nicsunshine:

I submitted the "record of solemnization"which, yes, is the piece of paper signed on the day of the wedding and has the witness' signatures as well. My settlement (spouse) visa was approved within 36 hours.which was amazing.

anymore questions.please ask away.

[Ruud]

Hi LinzLou,

That's an amazing turnaround time. My fiance and I will be doing the same thing next month. Could you offer any advice on how you got your spouse visa so quickly? Was there anything extra you submitted (e.g. pieces of evidence) or anything you think made your case more approvable?

Any lessons learnt would be really valuable.

Congratulations on getting the visa LinzLou, and good luck to everybody else reading this who's in the same position.

[LinzLou]

Hi Ruud:

No extra tidbits to offer really.
But here is a list of what I had in my application package:
1. birth certificate (standard, not long form)
2. Canadian passport
3. notarized copy of my husbands British passport
4. husbands letter of employment from the university of Edinburgh (with salary).
5. hand-written letter from my husband supporting my application.
6. letter from our landlord in Edinburgh confirming our place of residency in Edinburgh.
7. a notarized copy of our mortgage, verifying the legitimacy of our relationship and co-habitation since wedding
8. Copy of my CV (demonstrating my intent to work)
9. Notarized copy of my degrees (also demonstrating my intent to work)
10. financial records from joint account and each of our individual accounts for the last three months
11. copy of financial statements re: our investments/ pension in Canada.

Because I was in such a pickle in terms of time (I had already booked my ticket, then realized that it could take up to 15 weeks for my visa to be processed and I was scheduled to go in less than three) I enclosed a letter pleading for my application to be expedited on compassionate grounds (i.e. my ignorance and my oversight for not realizing it took so long). Whether this letter worked or not is questionable, as many individuals seem to report a quick turnaround.

Make sure the photograph is the right size (different from Canadian, and doesn't have to be signed by a guarantor).

Hope this helps-- good luck!