Following a month of phone calls and emails to various people, we still haven’t managed to get a straight answer…

We have tried to phone the Home Office several times, and have just been greeted with recorded message after recorded message giving you different options, however excluding the option to talk to a human being.

As for emails, first of all we received an automated email informing us that they had a two week back-log of emails so would not be able to respond right away. When we did get a response this is what we were told: “I regret that we are unable to respond to your enquiry, because it is not an immigration matter.”

On responding to this, explaining that it was actually an immigration matter, we were referred back to the UK Border Agency Website: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/studyingintheuk/adult-students/documents-and-proof/type-of-documents-to-provide/

When we responded for a second time, asking for more information regarding the electronic signatures, we were sent a reply with information copied directly from the website. Very helpful!

We have since been in touch with many of our existing clients such as solicitors and immigration advisors. They have tried to access more information on our behalf, but have also been unsuccessful in receiving anything but a link to the UK Border Agency site.

We are still waiting for a definitive answer, however in the meantime we are issuing two declarations, the second with an electronic signature from the translator. No problems have been reported so far, but we would still like to know if the translator's signature is really necessary.