Just was wondering, have any of you that have applied for UK visa, when giving them supporting documentation, bank book, book for house etc, have you ever had them (vfs) take the originals as well as copies?

The UKVI require the original documents, if you want any documents returned then you should supply copies, the UKVI will then return the originals and keep the copies.

The VFS staff have no say in this requirement, though they may remind applicants that original documents need to be supplied.

Hello the old git. She supplied copies of everything but they took originals too. I am sure they didn't do this last time.

For a visit visa (Feb 2015 submission) we supplied only copies. They were returned.

For the spouse visa (Jan 2016 submission) we supplied originals and a set of copies. They actually returned both sets of documents - just kept one or two of the copied items (can't remember which particular documents).

Hello the old git. She supplied copies of everything but they took originals too. I am sure they didn't do this last time.

My partner has always supplied original documents, as per the UKVI requirements, together with copies of the documents she needed back.

On each occasion VFS have forwarded both the originals and the copies to the UKVI, which is what they're supposed to do, and on each occasion the originals have been returned, via VFS.

I'm not sure who the other poster is referring to when he says they were returned, I don't know if he means that they were handed straight back by VFS staff or returned by the UKVI after the decisions had been made.

Visitor: supporting documents guide says

All documents must be originals and not photocopies.

presumably because copies can easily be altered by unscrupulous applicants.

Although anecdotal evidence, such as that from HauptmannUK above, suggests this is not strictly adhered to.

I am sure that the guidance used to say that applicants should supply copies of any document they wished returned, but it doesn't say this any more. I suspect this is because they now use modern technology to scan any documents they wish to keep and store them electronically. But I, or rather my visitors, still provide copies as well, just to be sure.

When applying for British citizenship via the Nationality Checking Service, they check copies against originals and return the originals to the applicant there and then before forwarding the application and copies to the Home Office.

I can think of no reason why UK visa application centres cannot do the same; but they can't.