ILR SET(M) Checklist of Documents

Hi everyone,

I have my PEO appointment tomorrow morning, bright and early, at the PEO in Croydon. I am applying for ILR (SET (M)) as I am under the old rules.  I applied for FLR (M) in mid-March 2012 (this was not issued until Nov 2012 due to the significant backlog and processing delays). My BRP expires in early November 2014. My sponsor is a British Citizen and we are married. 

For my own peace of mind, I would really appreciate it if you could have a look through my documents and give any feedback.

Basics:
-Online booking appointment
-Online Payment Sheet
-SET (M) application form (version June 2014)
-My new passport and old passport with previous UK visas
-BRP
-Sponsor's passport
-2 photos of me with name written on back
-1 photo of sponsor with name written on back
-Life in the UK pass certificate (I passed in September 2012, and I've read that this doesn't matter even though the test has changed... hopefully this is correct!)
-Marriage certificate

My Finances:
-Personal Bank statements April 2014 - present
-Weekly Pay slips from my recruitment agency April 2014 - present
-Weekly Pay Breakdowns from the Accountant April 2014 - present (I have a limited company and this shows my earnings after tax is deducted, which I then pay into my personal bank account from my business bank account)
-Business bank account statements April 2014 - present
-Monthly Pay slips from secondary job April 2014 - present

Sponsor's Finances:
-Bank statements April 2014- present (he receives online statements so he had them printed at the bank, he is getting a letter confirming the authenticity of these statements today)
-Monthly Pay slips April 2014 - present
-Savings Account statement from June 2014 (only one we've ever received)

Joint Finances:
-Joint bank statements April 2014 - present

Cohabitation Documents:
1. Water Bill in both our names - December 2012
2. Council Tax in both our names - April 2013
3. Joint Bank statement - August 2013
4. Sponsor Credit Card Bill from NatWest, My Personal Bank Account Statement - December 2013
5. Letters from HMRC - March 2014
6. Sponsor Credit Card Bill from NatWest, My Personal Bank Account Statement - August 2014

I am making copies of everything today. I just have a few questions:

1. Do I need to make copies of our passports? It says that the sponsor can send a copy of the entire passport if applying by post, I wasn't sure if this is something that they will do at the PEO appointment in which case I can do it in advance to save time.

2. Is the credit card bills sufficient for the cohabitation documents? It doesn't list credit cards on the form but I figured since his credit card is through a bank, NatWest, that would be okay.

3. We moved to our current address on 7 November 2012, so I listed our previous address on the application form since we haven't been at our address exactly two years (I didn't want to seem like we were trying to be deceitful). Do I need to include something from our previous address in the cohabitation documents?

4. I have two jobs, which I was previously working part-time at both, paid weekly by one and monthly by the other. However, my hours were increased in September to full-time at the one job, and I am still working the other job on the weekends. In the application, I've filled out the financial section with the most current information, although my previous pay slips from the weekend job total more, as my pay from them runs in the middle of the month. Do you think I've filled out the form correctly with what I am making now? (Either way, we still make more than enough to maintain ourselves without public funds.)

4. Finally, any other suggestions or feedback? Everything is well-organised and labeled with post-it notes for originals/copies and I'm going to place it all in a nice folder tonight in the order that it is on the SET (M) form so when they ask me for things hopefully I can just pull it out and give it to the officer.

Thank you all so much for your wonderful help. The forum has been extremely helpful to me over the years, for keeping my sanity and also for practical advice as well.

Looks good to me! Good luck and apologies for not being if much help for your questions. I think you'll be just fine.
As to copies, each PEO seems to be different; I diligently copied everything (incl passport photo/info pages) only to be told that 'we don't need your copies, we'd have to double check them to make sure they matched the originals anyways, so we'll just copy the originals ourselves, here.'
As to the financials, I remember hemming and hawing over how to calculate it all but they didn't seem to care much. They spent the most time on bank statements and payslips and the proof of cohabitation stuff.
Again, good luck - you're probably there right now but I thought I'd post anyways. Congrat in advance - what a big day for you!

Looks good to me! Good luck and apologies for not being if much help for your questions. I think you'll be just fine.
As to copies, each PEO seems to be different; I diligently copied everything (incl passport photo/info pages) only to be told that 'we don't need your copies, we'd have to double check them to make sure they matched the originals anyways, so we'll just copy the originals ourselves, here.'
As to the financials, I remember hemming and hawing over how to calculate it all but they didn't seem to care much. They spent the most time on bank statements and payslips and the proof of cohabitation stuff.
Again, good luck - you're probably there right now but I thought I'd post anyways. Congrat in advance - what a big day for you!

Thanks for your well wishes! My appointment is actually tomorrow (Saturday) morning. I've been really anxious about the appointment, and lately I've been waking up in the early hours of the morning, hence my post at 6:20 this morning!

Thanks for sharing about the copies and your experience. It is good to hear that you had a positive experience at the PEO, and from what I've read on this forum, others have too. 

I totes understand!
I was thinking back wondering if I had any more tidbits. One thing that flummoxed me at the beginning of the appointment is that I had to pay for everything first, and so had to go through my application/documents for the sheets of paper to do with visa payment. So my advice would be to have those docs up front, so they'll be close at hand. Then you can sit down and get ready for the proper bit where you hand over all your docs.
Also, for peace of mind, I was there at there same time as another lady who was applying for ILR. She didn't have ANY of her document ready, just a carrier bag full of old post (I kid you not). She was missing a 'chunk' of cohabitation docs, as in she had some early ones and some late ones but was missing a chunk in the centre. The guy told her he couldn't process her visa today, but that she had 14 days to send in the missing documents and that if she did her visa could be processed as normal. They let her take her biometrics and everything, so she wouldn't have to come back in. SO, basically I saw the worst case scenario and it still turned out fine.
I brought along two folding files full of my other important docs, which comforted me no end. I liked the thought of being able to quickly grab more info if needed.
One longer thing. I did the 6 months statements of everything, but they only wanted three. I found it slightly stressful to go through my VERY CAREFULLY ORGANISED documents to pull out three months of statements. My advice would be to divide them by month (just by post-it or something) so you can easily decide what to hand over.
I think that's it! Good luck and early congratulations!
 

good luck 

I had my appointment today. When I got the paperwork back, it seemed as if they only looked at the marriage cert, passports and co-hab docs. The payslips and bank statement didnt even look as if they were touched. All the clips and post-its were in the same place. I made copies of everything and they kept that.

We took loads of extra docs if case they needed anything else, but they didnt ask for anything else.

you will be fine 

Thank you both so much for your kind wishes and congratulations! Hearing your experiences helped my nerves so much.

I was granted Indefinite Leave to Remain at my appointment yesterday!  Everything went very smoothly, I was not asked for any extra documents or information (although I had an entire file folder with me of extra documents just in case). My appointment was at 8:20am and we were out the door by 10:45am, which would have been sooner but we left the building during processing to go shopping and they didn't ring my mobile to let me know it had been processed. Around 10:30 my hubby and I wandered back from the shopping centre and asked about my application. The lady then informed me that I had been approved and asked me to check my details on the approval letter. Then we were free to go! But not before taking a picture of me grinning in front of Lunar House (my mom loved the photo)!

Good luck to everyone else out there with their applications. I know that I'm not the first person to say this, but the extra £400 for the appointment is worth every penny (in my opinion). My FLR(M) took nearly eight months to process, so my husband and I decided to opt for the PEO appointment for ILR.

Now onto citizenship...

Congrats OldHarpy!

congrats  will you be applying for naturalisation soon?

Thanks, TravellingFrog and teezees!

congrats  will you be applying for naturalisation soon?

Yes, I will be applying very soon. I'm going to make an appointment with a NCS as soon as I get my BRP. I'm ready to be able to go through the EU queue at the airport! 

apparently you can apply with the ILR letter. my BRP came today. It took only two working days!! i have made my NCS appointment for 7th November 

apparently you can apply with the ILR letter. my BRP came today. It took only two working days!! i have made my NCS appointment for 7th November 

I didn't know that you could apply with the ILR letter. Considering that it never actually says anywhere 'Congratulations, you now have Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK!'. All it says is basically 'here are your documents back' and 'this is what ILR means'. Hopefully my BRP will come soon and then I'm going to make an NCS appointment!

We have to renew my husband's passport soon so now we've decided to wait until early December when I get back from Thanksgiving in the States. That way I'm 'physically present' in the UK on the day that the payment is taken (or whatever that silly rule is...).