Applying for my ILR (Quick Question)

Hey again everyone!

I hope christmas and the new year has been as awesome for everyone as it has been for me. It was my first in Scotland while living here with my wife -- so it's kind of nice!

However, with the new year comes a set of new questions that I need answered. I checked around the forums but can't find any one go to post about applying for my ILR, when it needs to be done, etc.

From what I can remember -- when I got my Spousal Visa, the lady at the office in NYC told me to apply for my ILR 3 months after being in the UK which brings me to January of '08.

As it's January now I need to start getting my butt in gear. So here we go!

1.) Is there any specific date that I should plan on applying for the ILR?
(is it really supposed to be 3 months after being in the UK? My spousal visa is good for 2 years if I remember correctly).

2.) I'm currently about 30 minutes from Edinburgh in a town called Kinross in Scotland -- what would be the closest office that I could go to, to apply for my ILR?

3.) Do I need to have a NIN (National Insurance Number) before I apply for an ILR?
(I started looking for a job when I got here (as I do web development) but the market was really slow at the end of the year and I didn't manage to find anything, I'll be starting again at the beginning of next week so wish me luck!)

4.) When you apply for an ILR, what's the usual amount of time before they schedule you to take the test -- or is it up to your personal preference?

Any help you guys could provide for me would be more than appreciated. As I did before with my visa application (If any of you remember it, haha), I'll be posting a huge guide as to how this whole ILR business goes to help out everyone in my current situation.

you can't apply for ILR until 28 days before the 2 year anniversary of the day you arrived in the UK on your spousal visa.  So whoever told you you should apply 3 months after you got here was completely, utterly wrong.

i thought the ILR was to be applied for approximately 28 days before your 2 years is up on your spousal visa, i could be wrong, but someone will be along here shortly with the correct info.

You shoudl be collecting evidence of your on going relationship here in the UK, you need to start collecting evidence preferable in joint names of bills bank statements, council tax bills etc etc, as evidence for when you do apply.

Someone will clarify this, but i am sure there is s sticky thread on this in visa's and citizenship forum

1.) Is there any specific date that I should plan on applying for the ILR?

As Springhaze said, you can't apply for ILR until 28 days before your FLR expires.  Dunno what that ECO was talking about!  


2.) I'm currently about 30 minutes from Edinburgh in a town called Kinross in Scotland -- what would be the closest office that I could go to, to apply for my ILR?

If you choose to apply in person, it'll cost more (who knows what the fees will be in two years!), but you'll get it sorted in one day if all is straightforward.  I think your closest PEO is Glasgow.


3.) Do I need to have a NIN (National Insurance Number) before I apply for an ILR?

No.

4.) When you apply for an ILR, what's the usual amount of time before they schedule you to take the test -- or is it up to your personal preference?

You need to take the Life in the UK test before applying for ILR.  Currently, there's no expiration on the test (though that may change in the next two years), so you could theoretically take it tomorrow if you wanted to.  

Here's a link to my ILR experience (did this in 2005, so some specifics have changed, but the general process is the same):  http://www.freewebs.com/lola_us_uk/ukilrinfo.htm

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=36355.0 here is the link to the thread Vicky has done on applying for ILR, it is really important you starts collecting evidence as soon as possible.

This doesn't sound right at all. Can you be more specific about your circumtances? Are you newly married or have you lived with your spouse in the U.S.? I don't know of a  visa that requires an ILR application three months after arrival.

This doesn't sound right at all. Can you be more specific about your circumtances? Are you newly married or have you lived with your spouse in the U.S.? I don't know of a  visa that requires an ILR application three months after arrival.

I'm actually just recently married.

Robyn and I got married on September 23rd and I moved over here the 18th of October. I'm almost 100% positive the lady in the NYC office (where I applied for my spousal visa) told me to start looking in to applying for the ILR 3 months after living here, her justification was the sooner the better.

To be fair, she was one of the seasonal people just over from the UK for the duration of the summer and she was going back to school shortly thereafter so maybe she wasn't fully versed on her information.

Hope this helps.

I'm actually just recently married.

Robyn and I got married on September 23rd and I moved over here the 18th of October. I'm almost 100% positive the lady in the NYC office (where I applied for my spousal visa) told me to start looking in to applying for the ILR 3 months after living here, her justification was the sooner the better.

To be fair, she was one of the seasonal people just over from the UK for the duration of the summer and she was going back to school shortly thereafter so maybe she wasn't fully versed on her information.

Hope this helps.

Umm..it does. She was an idiot. Just read the advice in this thread and browse the forum to find out what to do, but in short you're not due to apply for your ILR until 28 days before October 18th, 2009 at the earliest. Start collecting the supporting documentation now though.

Thanks for the input -- Now off to collect information!

She may have said that you should enter within three months of the issue of the visa....


Vicky