Settlement visa, checking service

[\\\\ToNy////]

its question time again
my wife has been here on a spouse visa since the 29th October 2011, and the visa runs out on about the 20th December 2013,
we live with her sister and her sister husband, so we don't have many bills etc to submit as proof of address, wife has some doctors letters, phone contract, pay slips and bank statements and water bill that shares the name with her sister,
letters I have are car insurance, car log books, phone contract, bank statements, pay slips, doctors letters, but I don't have anything joint with my wife,
can my wife's sister be a third party sponsor the same as when my wife applyed for her spouse visa,
i've printed the application form (settlement set m) some questions on there that don't make much sense to me this is one of the questions (how long have you been living in a relationship?)
we have an appointment on the 23rd October which was a nightmare to get.
can we use all the documents ive mentioned, any advice will be great

[alanp]

Hi tony we just filled our ilr used the settlement checking service well worth it. They sorted out everything even photocopied all the docs and sent it on to the ukba. We understood the question (how long have you been living in a relationship?) as how long have you both lived together in the same house.
I would check they will not send your doc's to the ukba as if your wife visa ends on the 20th December ukba will not accept your application until 28 days before or you could lose your visa fee.

[stevewool]

the letters and bills with yours and your wifes name on are spread over the time period , so its not a case of lots of letters, just enough with the name and address on them concerning you both

[sars_notd_virus]

if there is no bills / letters addressed to both of you , you can provide separately as long as its the same address (cohabitation spread over 2years)

[Terpe]

.....I would check they will not send your doc's to the ukba as if your wife visa ends on the 20th December ukba will not accept your application until 28 days before or you could lose your visa fee.

Under the 'old-rules' ILR eligibility is 24 months living in UK as spouse.
Since your wife arrived into UK as a spouse on 29 October 2011 she may apply for ILR anytime after 1st October 2013
(28 days before the 2 year anniversary of UK entry)



In terms of those addressed documents....she'll need to provide evidence of living at the same address with you throughout the 2 year period. Just about all of those you mentioned will be OK
Take as many as you can to the checking service appointment and they will sort out the ones they need.

[ynwa]

hi pals can i send a letter from our previous address since we move in to our own house May this year. or should i stick to our current address? We have lived 3 addresses since I came here 8 months at my mother in law,14months at a rented house and moved in to our house last May. When we moved in into a rented house we still have our letters sent to my mother in law address as we didn't plan to rent long term just an ample time to be independent from her while looking for our own place.

[Terpe]

hi pals can i send a letter from our previous address since we move in to our own house May this year. or should i stick to our current address? We have lived 3 addresses since I came here 8 months at my mother in law,14months at a rented house and moved in to our house last May. When we moved in into a rented house we still have our letters sent to my mother in law address as we didn't plan to rent long term just an ample time to be independent from her while looking for our own place.

In terms of minimising all risks you should include all the addresses you lived at.
The objective is proof of co-habitation over the previous 24 month qualifying period as spouse.

[ynwa]

In terms of minimising all risks you should include all the addresses you lived at.
The objective is proof of co-habitation over the previous 24 month qualifying period as spouse.

thank you terpe

[\\\\ToNy////]

thanks guys, would it be any help if with get things from her sister as its her house, bank statements, bills, sponsorship letter, and will it help if I make a sponsorship letter and what should I put in it

[Terpe]

thanks guys, would it be any help if with get things from her sister as its her house, bank statements, bills, sponsorship letter, and will it help if I make a sponsorship letter and what should I put in it

You really do need to try and put together a series of documents that show you both living at same address over the 24 month period.

If you're seriously having major problems doing that, then UKBA do allow exceptions:-

If you and your partner have no bills or correspondence in joint names you will need to submit 12 items (6 each) of correspondence, evidencing that you reside together at the same address.

If you're still unable to manage that then you'll need some other form of evidence in line with UKBA advice here:-

Please give an explanation on a separate sheet if you cannot provide 6 items; if the documents are not addressed to both of you; or if they do not cover the 2-year period. If you and your partner lived with relatives or friends for some or all of the 2-year
period, please provide a letter from the relative(s) and/or friend(s) confirming this.

[\\\\ToNy////]

thanks we just about have everything ready, just need to double check everything and see if we have anymore letters

[sars_notd_virus]

thanks guys, would it be any help if with get things from her sister as its her house, bank statements, bills, sponsorship letter, and will it help if I make a sponsorship letter and what should I put in it

Dont worry too much u said u got an appointment for checking service 23oct...they will check all your documents for you..
That is what they are being paid for.

[ybba]

Hi, alanp
If we use the settlement checking service aside from the £80 service fee how much is the total visa fee for SET M? is it the same amount as the postal application or the premium?

cheers!

[\\\\ToNy////]

we had the checking service in dudley near the old castle, we had to show documents with dates on every 4 months, bank statements, driving licence because i had just recieved a new card licence, doctors letters, car insurance, car log book for the car i got in january, log book for my other car i got 7 years ago wasnt any good, phone contract wasnt any good also and waterbill wasnt any good,
sponsorship letter from me and my sister inlaw,
the lady said we were doing well considering that we dont pay any bills at the house.
cost was about £1050 by post. in person would of been over £1400.

we had the confirmation letter from the ukba but they spelled the wifes name wrong, only one of the letters was wrong, nothing was wrong in the application form so i dont think theres anything to worry about.

just sitting and waiting now for the good news or the bad news

[Terpe]

Hi Tony, I believe that if the folks at the Checking Service were happy to submit your application after going through all you documents then it bodes well...

[\\\\ToNy////]

had a letter from the home office asking for the wife to go and get a biometric, not sure if this is good news or not yet, anyway we went to the willenhall postoffice because they have the biometric machine there, but it was out of order so we had to travel to my favourite place to drive to Birmingham, kingstanding, machine was ok there so all is done and just waiting now.

[Arthur Little]

... all the very BEST, Tony & Liz!

[Terpe]

had a letter from the home office asking for the wife to go and get a biometric, not sure if this is good news or not yet, anyway we went to the willenhall postoffice because they have the biometric machine there, but it was out of order so we had to travel to my favourite place to drive to Birmingham, kingstanding, machine was ok there so all is done and just waiting now.

Looking good

[tone]

Under the 'old-rules' ILR eligibility is 24 months living in UK as spouse.
Since your wife arrived into UK as a spouse on 29 October 2011 she may apply for ILR anytime after 1st October 2013
(28 days before the 2 year anniversary of UK entry)

Hi Peter
We applied for ILR for my Wife last week and was refused because I thought is was 2 years after entering the UK but the .......s told us She had to be under FLR for 2 years and the initial visa didnt count.
I am obviously very peeeed off because we lost our £1426 fee in this refusal and we have been told to reapply in Jan and repay the fee..
I have written to my MP about this because even though we complained to a supervisor we were misled and our complaint fell on deaf ears.

As you can imagine we are still pretty sore about this - so it may be worth clarifying that the 2 years.

Cheers
Tone

[Michael Parnham]

Sorry to hear of your result Tone, I will be very interested what the initial outcome will be, because my wife's application will be next May under the old rules also. To be honest apart from creating a worrying prospect for us I am stunned and shocked at your result, I sincerely hope that it can be rectified as quickly as possible so that you and your wife can move forward with peace of mind, good luck!

[tone]

Thanks Michael, my head is still throbbing from this but the MP's assistant came back to us asking for application/case reference numbers as they are going to write to the UKBA requesting a refund on our behalf.

fingers crossed - we did everything - we followed the law and compared to the people we hear about in the news we are good citizens but when we rely on the "system" we get toe punted because we are a soft touch.
As tax payers we should be allowed to be heard and treated with some dignity but as I said we are pushed around whilst criminals get all the help and funding by the government..

[Terpe]

Hi Peter
We applied for ILR for my Wife last week and was refused because I thought is was 2 years after entering the UK but the .......s told us She had to be under FLR for 2 years and the initial visa didnt count.
I am obviously very peeeed off because we lost our £1426 fee in this refusal and we have been told to reapply in Jan and repay the fee..
I have written to my MP about this because even though we complained to a supervisor we were misled and our complaint fell on deaf ears.

As you can imagine we are still pretty sore about this - so it may be worth clarifying that the 2 years.

Cheers
Tone

Hi Tone, firstly let me say I'm so very sorry to learn about this.

I do hope your MP will be able to find a way to secure a refund.
You made an 'honest' mistake and I personally feel you should get one.

I cannot stress enough the importance of following all the UKBA rules whenever dealing with them.

There are many postings here in the forum about ILR eligibility such as this one here posted just a couple of weeks ago.

In the quote you use in you post I have highlighted the key part:-

Under the 'old-rules' ILR eligibility is 24 months living in UK as spouse...........

Here's what UKBA state about applying for ILR under form SET(M):-

Can I apply using this form?

You should use application form SET(M) if you:

currently have temporary permission to remain in the UK as the husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried/same-sex partner of a British citizen or a person settled here;
have lived here for 2 years in this category; and
are still planning to live together .................

If we gave you permission to remain in the UK as an unmarried or same-sex partner and are now applying to settle here as the husband, wife or civil partner of the same person, your 2-year qualifying period started on whichever is the later of these two dates:

the date when we gave you permission to remain as an unmarried or same-sex partner; or
the date when you arrived in the UK.

Please do not send us your application more than 28 days before the end of your 2-year qualifying period. If you do, we may refuse your application and we will not refund the fee. However, you must apply before your current permission to remain in the UK ends.

Michael, as I understand it your wife entered UK as a spouse? In which case the eligibility for ILR is 24 months living in UK as spouse. Application can be made 28 days before the 24 month anniversary.
As long as you comply with the rules you'll have no issues.

[tone]

Hi Peter - Thanks - yes I've kicked myself a number of times now - just thought we should make the distinction between the old/new rules/marrying here or there etc.
I do wish I had just gone to the Phils and got married - but hindsight is a wonderful thing...

[Trefor]

Tone - sorry to hear this. All these UKBA rules are very confusing. Hopefully you can get a refund and then re-apply when it is the right time.

Rose came here in June '12 and we got married in October '12 and the resultant FLR/M (Spouse visa) just after this. It is quite clear that ILR is 24 months on from Spouse Visa (apply -28 days). We will be applying in October '14. It wasn't so easy for us to marry in the Philippines as Rose was living in Dubai and I wasn't a Dubai resident.

[Michael Parnham]

Hi Tone, firstly let me say I'm so very sorry to learn about this.

I do hope your MP will be able to find a way to secure a refund.
You made an 'honest' mistake and I personally feel you should get one.

I cannot stress enough the importance of following all the UKBA rules whenever dealing with them.

There are many postings here in the forum about ILR eligibility such as this one here posted just a couple of weeks ago.

In the quote you use in you post I have highlighted the key part:-



Here's what UKBA state about applying for ILR under form SET(M):-



Michael, as I understand it your wife entered UK as a spouse? In which case the eligibility for ILR is 24 months living in UK as spouse. Application can be made 28 days before the 24 month anniversary.
As long as you comply with the rules you'll have no issues.

We will do our level best to get it all correct, if were not sure about the slightest thing, we will ask. Thank you Peter and I hope Tony and his wife are successful!

[ConfusedMe]

its question time again
my wife has been here on a spouse visa since the 29th October 2011, and the visa runs out on about the 20th December 2013,
we live with her sister and her sister husband, so we don't have many bills etc to submit as proof of address, wife has some doctors letters, phone contract, pay slips and bank statements and water bill that shares the name with her sister,
letters I have are car insurance, car log books, phone contract, bank statements, pay slips, doctors letters, but I don't have anything joint with my wife,
can my wife's sister be a third party sponsor the same as when my wife applyed for her spouse visa,

Me and hubby lived with my in-laws when I applied for my Spouse visa. We submitted letters addressed to us individually (gp letter, bank statement, pay slips, etc.). But we also added a letter from my in-laws confirming that we lived with them since I arrived in the UK. I also attached their mortgage and utility bills just in case they might look for additional documents.

Wishing you a quick and smooth visa application.

[\\\\ToNy////]

Thankyou all.
It now the 19 dec and we are still waiting for a reply from the ukba or homeoffice? My wifes visa end on the 23rd. What should we do if no letter by the time her visa ends. Will she have to leave the uk asap

[Arthur Little]

Thankyou all.
It now the 19 dec and we are still waiting for a reply from the ukba or homeoffice? My wifes visa end on the 23rd. What should we do if no letter by the time her visa ends. Will she have to leave the uk asap

Relax, Tony ... your wife's application was lodged well ahead of her spousal visa's expiry, so there's absolutely NO question whatsoever of her being asked to leave the UK while it's still under process. ... I can well-understand the pressure you're under, because two months is a God awful time to wait for an outcome - albeit by NO means unusual when dealing with the Home Office - especially at this time of year. I'm confident, however, that you'll soon have a positive result!

[Terpe]

Relax, Tony ... your wife's application was lodged well ahead of her spousal visa's expiry, so there's absolutely NO question whatsoever of her being asked to leave the UK while it's still under process.

Spot on Arthur.....

No worries at all Tony

[Arthur Little]

I'm confident, however, that you'll soon have a positive result!

Spot on Arthur.....

No worries at all Tony

... NOTHING to worry about in the slightest!

Here's some rep to lift your spirits - and "tide you over" - pending that positive result.