I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to start working on your UK visa for PLAB as early as possible and start gathering the important documents. Why? No matter how many instructions and guidelines you follow-your case will be unique. It won’t match with anybody else’s, and if you maintain your cool, you can do it all by yourself.
Table of Contents
An overview
What are the documents that I need for UK visa for PLAB 2?
Now, regarding supporting documents – it varies from person to person a LOT. Your case can be entirely different from the next person’s. So an idea about what basic things are almost mandatory to provide to prove your case is crucial.
Two documents are absolutely necessary!
- Your valid Passport.
- The email confirmation of your PLAB 2.
And the following if that applies in your case.
- Your Cover letter
- Letter of Support (from your financial guarantor)
- Affidavit affirming the declaration of the financial sponsorship
- Bank Statements (Yours and/or sponsors)
- Solvency Certificate
- Income/Salary Certificate (Yours and/or Sponsors)
- Evidence of Home Address
- Accommodation in the UK
- Evidence of family members in your home country whilst you travel
Your Cover Letter
Officially, this can be termed as “Information about your visit”. You already must have put a lot of information regarding your visit in the online part of the application. And, that is YOUR MAIN application. Your cover letter is an addition to support your application and elaborate on a few things you seem necessary. Not an essay competition! But bear in mind if you had a visa rejection before, spare no expense to explain all the points in your rejection letter in your cover letter.
Following few documents and discussed in detail in the UK Visa Financial Sponsorship Fiasco
Letter of Support (from your financial guarantor)
Please go to the above UK Visa Financial Sponsorship Fiasco article to find out more. If you yourself finance your trip, in that case you will only need your:
- Salary certificate,
- Bank Statements (Minimum 6 months)
Affidavit affirming the declaration of the financial sponsorship
(This is done before a notary public) Most of the translation centres will be able to provide you the version/pattern of the affidavit used in your country for this purpose. It is not mandatory to have an affidavit done.
Bank Statements (Yours and/or sponsors)
If you are employed but being sponsored for the visit, still you will have to show your bank statement to prove YOUR financial circumstances.
Solvency Certificate
Banks issue that against a bank account. (This is where your major liquid assets should be). Most of the banks will issue this along with the bank statements. But it is always useful to ask the bank about this specifically and add some wording that applies to your purpose. Have a look at the sample here.
Income/Salary Certificate (Yours and/or Sponsors)
See this sample to have an idea how it should look like.
Any other papers to prove financial sponsorship like deeds of the fixed assets, retirement papers and all are also necessary. (All NON-ENGLISH documents, even with a name seal in any other language, have to be translated and notarized)
Evidence of Home Address
Deeds or Nationality Certificate or Home utility bill where the address is written. If the document is not in English, it has to be translated and notarized.
Accommodation in the UK
Please read this article Finding your accommodation in the UK
Confirmation or invitation letter & Council tax and utility bill of the accommodation address is necessary to prove the plan of your stay. If it’s a family that you’re staying with, you don’t need to worry about proving sponsorship and all. If s/he’s just providing accommodation (and your other family e.g. father/mother is your financial guarantor), a simple invitation letter stating your name, your passport no, duration, and purpose of your stay is enough along with his/her contact details. The council tax and utility bill are just to prove that the address exists by their name. Here is a sample of a tenancy confirmation letter.
Evidence of family members in your home country whilst you travel
Passport copies or National ID copies of your family members. (if NIDs then translated and notarized)
The above-mentioned documents are very necessary for a UK visa for PLAB and are titled in the documents checklist.
Where do I find this “documents checklist”?
After you finish and submit your online application, choosing a date and visa application centre, you’ll have two documents to download.
So you won’t see this till you have all your papers ready. Because, in my opinion, it’s unwise to choose an appointment date before getting everything ready.
You can check out this post, what to do after PLAB 1, to get an overview on everything that’s ahead of you. And also, how to plan for PLAB 2 & course to get the whole planning after your PLAB 1 to go as smooth as possible.
The other documents for UK Visa for PLAB you are going to provide is to prove your cause which you are presenting in your cover letter.
My Cover Letter
This bears a lot of importance. This is actually you presenting your case to the entry clearance officer. I am putting my cover letter here, I will highly recommend reading through it which will tell you in detail how I presented my case what other documents I added.
Download My Cover letter from here.
This was my approach. Here you can see all the other documents that I attached. Adding an IELTS is not mandatory here, but if you have a valid one you should add it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Must I apply for UK Visa for PLAB 2 from my country of origin?
No. If you are in another country with a work or student visa, that is if you’re legally there, then you can apply from there. But not if you are a visitor there.
The name spelling of my parents/my address is different from my other documents- what should I do?
Many passports in the world do not have the person’s address/their parents’ names in their passports. So having slightly different parents’ names or addresses or spelling mistakes on your passport should not worry you. ALWAYS use whatever is in their official document, which you will be providing as proof. Your visa is NOT dependent on the spelling of your parents’ names.
What papers should I add from my financial sponsor?
As the scope of this discussion is huge and variable, the article Financial Sponsorship Fiasco contains further discussions and also what I have attached with my visa application.
Should I mention my PLAB 2 course in my PLAB 2 Visa application?
The argument has been discussed and weighed in the post, The Academy Uncertainty.
Shouldn’t I be employed to prove my ties back home?
Not necessarily. Your family members, home address prove enough ties back home per se. It’s not mandatory to be employed while you are applying for a UK visitor visa. It all boils down to how transparent is your reason to visit (you have your PLAB 2 booking confirmation), and how well your finances are (you have your financial guarantor that s/he will provide you with the resources you may need). Even if you were unemployed and do not have a penny in your name-you can still apply for the visitor visa, which was what I did.
Wrapping up
So, after you have everything gathered, go to the completed online application page from the link from your email. Choose a date and time for the appointment at the visa application centre.
And, yes, you’ve successfully finished all you could do. Now check out your final preparation regarding what happens at the visa application centre here, UK Visa Guidance for PLAB 2: Final Preparation (Part 3).
Good Luck!
