FLR(M) Mail

I’m a year away from applying for FLR(M) and thought I would check to see if my mail is in order. I’d love any advice you might offer.

I arrived in the UK on Oct 23, 2017, and my 30-month residency date is April 23, 2020. I plan to make my application around April 1-15, 2020. (Unless you would advise a different date.)

The backbone of our mail is the Joint Council Tax statement which comes Nov and March. That means July is the other date we need to fill in. The mail below is the closest we have to July 2018, because I only have official mail dated either May 2, 2018 (NINo) or August 30, 2018 (Electoral Register) so we thought we should go with August 30 and then find one close to the same date from my husband’s files.)

Nov 2017: Joint Council Tax
March 2018: Joint Council Tax
August 21, 2018: Husband’s Bank Statement
August 30, 2018: My letter from the Electoral Services Dept of our borough
Oct 30, 2018: Jointly addressed letter from Bank
March 2019: Joint Council Tax
(Upcoming) July 2019: We have requested paper statements from the bank for our joint account, so we should be able to use that this summer.
Nov 2019: Plan to use Joint Council Tax and/or joint bank statement
March 2020: Plan to use Joint Council Tax and/or joint bank statement

Does this mail look good to you? Should we change up the sources even more (i.e., request an EE paper bill?) or do we have enough variety? And, what dates should we choose as the starting and finishing date for the 6 periods of mail if we apply for FLR(M) on or around April 1-15, 2020?

Many thanks in advance to the brilliant forum team!
E 

You will have at least three sources, so that part looks good.  Your spacing is a bit erratic, though.  Ideally, the items would be even intervals from one to the next.

One other thing: we requested paper bank statements, but our bank (Lloyds) only posted them quarterly, or randomly (I never figured out the pattern).  If you find that your bank isn't sending out monthly statements, you may want to make a request for a statement in July, or for whatever month you plan to use, to insure you get post for the right time.

Thanks jfkimberly!
I see what you mean about the bank so I will specifically ask for July 2019, and I think we might kick EE into gear for joint statements as well.
I wish I had better spacing too. The problem is my mail from last summer 2018 - official mail in early May or late August, when ideally it would be July... I will keep digging but I'm not sure I can get anything better. Given my mail is the limiting factor, I figured we should use something from my husband's mail to match my date. Is that the right way to go? Or we could use a July 2018 piece for him...
Many thanks, E

You will have at least three sources, so that part looks good.  Your spacing is a bit erratic, though.  Ideally, the items would be even intervals from one to the next.

One other thing: we requested paper bank statements, but our bank (Lloyds) only posted them quarterly, or randomly (I never figured out the pattern).  If you find that your bank isn't sending out monthly statements, you may want to make a request for a statement in July, or for whatever month you plan to use, to insure you get post for the right time.

Most of the banks allow you to choose the frequency of the paper statements (annually, quarterly, monthly etc) so it's best just to make sure you have specified monthly statements, that way you are covered. 

Weighing in on this given that I had my FLR(M) first extension granted about 30 minutes ago, after paying for super-priority and attending my appointment this morning at 8am.

I was EXTREMELY nervous because I didn't have the proper items of mail - I hadn't been saving my husband's as I thought I only needed mine!! Luckily a few of his somehow survived the bin over the last 2 years and I was able to cobble together a submission that was apparently sufficient. Here's what I submitted:

March 2017
1. Me - NHS letter
1. Husband - council tax bill

July 2017
2. Me - bank statement
2. Husband - Thames Water bill, printed from online account as I didn't have any post for him

September 2017
3. Me and husband - joint council tax bill

January 2018
4. Me - NHS letter
4. Husband - bank statement - he went to TSB and had them print this out and stamp it to verify

April 2018
5. Me and husband - joint council tax bill

July 2018
6. Me - bank statement
6. Husband - bank statement, again printed and stamped by TSB

October 2018
7. Me and husband - joint Thames Water bill

April 2019
8. Me and husband - joint council tax bill

I also wrote a letter explaining that I had been under the mistaken impression that I didn't need to save my husband's mail, which is why there were some items for him that had had to be printed from online accounts.

All this to say - if you are nervous that you don't exactly meet the requirements, it appears to be okay to print off a few things as long as you explain yourself. I think it's probably more important to have post for you and your partner from the same month rather than hit the exact 4-month interval requirement, but am only speaking from my own experience!

Dear smerc
Thanks for the great info and congrats on the extension!