Family Reunion VISA D - MY EXPERIENCE

Hello fellow members of this amazing forum,

I have applied for my Visa D, family reunion and had it approved recently. I have lived the bitters of it and wish to share the experience with others as i know how it is to be in those shoes!

STORY
I am a Sri lankan who married a Belgian. Our relationship was about 1.5 years and we decided to get married according to the Sri lankan law in Sri Lanka when she had visited me once. Our marriage was less than a year old when applying for the visa.

TYPE OF VISA
Family reunion visa (VISA D) 40ter, reunion with a Belgian Spouse

STEP 1
Sri Lanka does not have an Embassy of Belgium, but we do have a Belgium Consulate who doesn't handle visas anymore. So i had to go to VFS in New Delhi, India to apply for this.

STEP 2 (documentation I had submitted)

On my side:
▪ Full copy of my passport (copy of all pages)
( because I am an applicant coming to apply from Sri Lanka, they will take the full copy of passport and return my original passport so that I can travel back to my country)
▪ Copy of my national ID card
▪ Birth certificate Original
▪ Birth certificate translation (legally translated in French because it was not in English Dutch Or French and apostled by the Belgian Consulate of Sri Lanka)
▪ Certificate of crime clearance  (police certificate) a period covering for the last 30 years
▪ A medical certificate obtained from a registered doctor of Dofi in Sri Lanka
▪ Divorce certificate of my previous marriage  (legally translated in French because it was not in English Dutch Or Frnech and apostled by the Belgian Consulate of Sri Lanka)

On her side:
▪ her passport copy
▪ Her Belgian ID copy
▪ Her composition de famille
▪ Bank statements for the last 6 months
▪ Copy of registered lease contract (under her name only)
▪ Letter from her Mutalite stating that she has insurance cover and their willingness to cover me upon my arrival
▪ Copy of her job contract stating that she had been working in the same company for last 9 years
▪ Her tax payment slips

COMMON AND ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS
▪ Marriage Certificate of Sri Lanka Original
▪ Marriage Certificate of Sri Lanka
(legally translated in French because it was not in English Dutch Or Frnech and apostled by the Belgian Consulate of Sri Lanka)
▪ Cover letter by her mentioning the brief situation with a short time line of our relationship
▪ Cover letter from me explaining need of Visa and brief time line of our relationship
▪ Copies of her visa stamps indicating that she had visited Sri Lanka 5 times in the last year
▪ couple of screen shots of our whatsapp, messenger, email conversation dating back to the start of the relationship
▪ Images of our wedding, with her family and her baby, images from our holidays together
▪ receipts of me sending flowers, gifts for her birthday, couriers from DHL we exchanged.
▪ receipts of money transfer between us
▪ A letter from her mother validating our relationship and that she signed as a witness for our marriage in Sri Lanka
(Note that these additional document are not compulsory, but i provided because our marriage was new)

TIMELINE AND DURATION
▪ application submitted in India VFS on 2nd August 2019
▪ correspondence since then :

2nd August 2019
Your Visa Application Ref no DELH/02***/000**/*** has been received at the NEW DELHI

2nd August 2019
Your Visa application Ref no. DELH/02***/000**/** has been Forwarded to Delhi Opertaion centre on 02/08/2019.

12 August 2019
Your Visa application Ref no. DELH/02***/00***/** has been Forwarded to the Embassy/Consulate on 05/08/2019

16th August 2019 (when I checked visa status on VFS)
Your visa application has been sent for further assessment by the Embassy/Consulate general of Belgium to the Belgian Immigration Office on 14thAugust 2019. YOUR FILE NUMBER IS ***. This number enables you to contact the Belgian Immigration Office, single point of contact for all questions related to the status of your visa application as of this moment (Antwerpsesteenweg 59B, Your visa application has been sent for further assessment by the Embassy/Consulate general of Belgium 1000 Brussels, T: +32.2.793.80.00, [email protected]). Furthermore, using this file number, you may check on the status of your visa application on the Immigration Office website. Should you need your passport back before the end of the procedure, please send your request by e-mail to the Embassy or Consulate.

It took about one month or so for the Dofi to show status of my file

The legal deadline to process a family reunification visa with a Belgian spouse is 6 months from the date of applying  (the processing time is different for other categories, please see link:  https://dofi.ibz.be/sites/dvzoe/EN/Appl … ation.aspx

IF the Belgian Immigration Office doesn't take a decision before the given legal deadline, they must allow the visa to be granted..

I submitted on 2nd August 2019, so legal deadline is 2nd February 2020..we almost lost hopes but made sure to check status everyday despite the disappointment when the status said "en traitment"

When i checked on 27th January 2020 (few days before the deadline was supposed to be over) it was approved, ACCORD. Bingo!

Numéro de la demande de visa:    BEL005100000000000000000000***
Numéro de réference:    VFSDEL0000****
Poste Diplomatique:    NewDelhi
Date de la demande de visa:    Aug 2 2019
Date de l'enregistrement de la demande de visa par l'Office des étrangers:    Sep 10 2019
Décision: ACCORD
Date de la décision:    Jan 27 2020
extra info1:   
extra info2:


PLEASE NOTE:
▪ We didn't any calls or questions or interviews
▪My wife moved houses during the visa process and we immediately informed Dofi and mailed the new lease agreement. Its vitally important to let them know of any change in detail provide during the process..

I wish all the applicants waiting news a good luck, one thing I can tell you is do not lose faith and have patience (don't worry even if you don't have patience because this process will forcefully teach you patience 😊)

A wisdom quote:
A COMPLETE AND WELLDONE FILE IS THE KEY

I'm happy to help with any question. CHEERS!