Applicant v sponsor - financial evidence required for UK visit visa

[billybatson]

My situation is a common one, in that I will be sponsoring my GF's visit to the UK. She cannot fund the trip herself and I am choosing to pay for everything - flights, accomodation, and everyday expenses for the short time she is in the UK.

Now, according to official guidelines, they suggest that both the applicant and the sponsor provide financial evidence - payslips, bank statements.

My question is should my GF really have to supply the same amount of information as me (her sponsor)?

For me, since I am paying for everything, I should obviously prove that I have the financial means to do this

- payslips or evidence of employment, going back 6 months

- bank statements showing incomings and outgoings, and over a 6 month period

- mortgage agreements/tenancy agreements

- etc, etc

But for her, the requirement to provide financial info (given that she has a sponsor for the trip), is to help establish a reason to return (correct me if I'm wrong here).

So what do they want to know? - where she is employed, what she does, how long she's been employed, how much she is paid, and that she has permission to take a holiday and will continue in employment when she returns to Thailand.

Now, a letter from her employer can provide all of the above. But they suggest she should also include payslips and bank statements. This seems a bit unnecessary since it doesn't add anything to the evidence. Are they worried about possible forgery of an employer's letter? or maybe they just don't have the resources to check up on it (simple phone call to employer) so that they just want that extra level of proof. Ok lets say that's the case, but should she also have to provide 6 months of this extra evidence ? I don't see why she should go that far.

So what I'm suggesting is that in my case (and many others in my position) the burden of financial evidence should lie mainly (and heavily) with the sponsor and not the applicant.

What do you think?

[wooloomooloo]

Provide as much evidence as possible. It's not for you to concern yourself as to why you should, just provide the necessary documentation.

My wife and I never failed a hurdle. We resisted the urge to question why, merely provided the requisite documentation.

Play the game.