settlement visa extension

My two years on my settlement visa are up in July and I don't have enough documents to prove I've lived here for the whole two years.  So is there any way around filing an extension and paying the 335 pounds?  I wasn't told to start up a paper trail right away so that I could prove residence for the whole two years -- can only show for about one year (they want 10 documents).  Does anyone have experience with this?   How long is the extension for?  What is the "Home Office Reference" they want on the FLR (M) form?  Help!

I'm struggling to come up with enough paper myself (though I can't claim ignorance - I knew I'd need it all, I just wasn't thinking at all and being a complusive shredder!), but I'm determined to get everything together somehow. Have you thought about ringing utility companies, banks, etc. and asking them for copies of statements and bills from the first year?

I struggled to come up with items myself so I included things like my prescription (it has your address on it) also got a letter from the doctor's office saying how long I have been a patient there and my daughter's birth certificate, you name it and I might have sent it in! I think I even threw in some junk mail as well!

 Either way it was no problem and they approved me! 

You don't currently have a 'settlement visa', you have a spousal visa, and it is settlement you are going for.

As your visa was issued by an entry clearance office (if it was issued out of the UK) you won't have a Home Office reference. If you switched from a fiancee visa, then it will be the number on the approval letter, usually a letter then seven numbers.

Think about your first year here, very carefully, and think about what you did.  Did you register with a doctor, open a bank account, get a credit card, register for council tax, did any of your family write to you and have you kept the envelopes?  Did you register with the US Embassy, or get your name on any of the bills?  Did you apply for jobs or get an NI number?

There is no way around this...if you really can't get any documents for the first year, then they will just grant you another extension instead of giving you indefinite leave.  But I am sure if you think you will find something.  There is more leeway on this than people realise.

Vicky

Hi AnneR:  Thanks for responding.  I didn't think to put my name jointly on the utility bills, etc.  so I'm out of luck even though I was either here or flying back and forth.  Darn! 

Thanx Vicky:  I don't think I got any correspondence of any sort going back the whole two years.  It was so chaotic then as I was flying back and forth trying to settle affairs in California and then we moved twice.  Thanx for clarification on terms.  It's all rather confusing.  My first year I couldn't get a bank account or credit cards.  No one wanted me for ever so long even tho I had money to spend.  jeez.  Is extension for another 2 years?

Little Evo:  Lucky you.  I was in throwing out mode, not collecting papers so am sorry for it now.  I think I even threw out my US driver's license when it expired -- it would have been useful now for applying for a UK one I've found out.

Any extension will probably be for another two years, yes.  But if you have all the docs then it will be for Indefinite Leave to Remain.

If you were flying back and forth, didn't you have to put your UK address when booking the lfights?

Vicky