FLRM(2) Documents and process questions

Hi there,

My spouse and I are going to apply for my FLRM(2) in April. Here is our document list so far:

Identity Documents:

-My Current Passport
-My Old Passport
-My BRP
-Ross's Passport
(do I need 2 passport-sized photos this time?)

Documents pertaining to my 2010 (Expunged) misdemeanour:

-Court Notes from initial 2010 case/conviction
-Notification of successful expungement in 2016
-FBI record from 2017 (just before my fiancee visa was granted), verifying this was
 the only criminal charge on my record
-Enhanced DBS checks from December 2017 and January 2020 verifying my record
 is clear
-Original letter from my solicitor pertaining to the case in relation to my FLRM and explaining why said past misdemeanour was, even back in 2017, no reason to keep me out of the UK

Proof of Relationship:

-Introduction letter from Ross
-Introduction letter form myself
-Marriage Licence/Certificate
-Intertwined Facebook History
-Monthly examples of Messenger/SMS exchanges
-Photos of us together between late 2017 and the present
-Documents proving our travels together
-Water Bills from late 2017 through the present (4 bills, addressed to us both)
-Council Tax Bills from early 2019 and 2020, addressed to us both
-Bank statement from 2020, addressed to us both
*Note: We moved house in early 2019, and unfortunately a lot of post was lost during our move. The only sufficiently "official" correspondence we have been able to find from that period is a few water bills. We have a few official documents addressed only to me from late 2017, but none addressed only to him from that period. Should I explain this in my introduction letter? Is there anything else we can do?

Proof of finances:

-Past 6 months of bank statements; September 2019 to March 2020
-Last 6 months of Ross's payslips
-Letter from Ross's employer verifying position, salary, starting date, and status as a permanent employee, signed in ink and on official paper
-Ross's employment contract
-A P60 form for Ross

Proof of Accommodation:

-Old contract verifying our former residence before moving house in 2019
- House purchase documents and associated papers, including evidence of my right to reside with my husband (as our house is in his name)
-A mortgage statement


That's about it.

a) Is there anything else we need? Will this suffice?

b) How does the document scanning system work? What rules exist about format, etc. of documents? Would it be better/more certain/easier just to use the document-scanning service at our biometrics appointment?

Thank you so much for any help you might offer.

For FLR(M), you don't need the Facebook/SMS messages.  To prove your relationship is genuine and subsisting for FLR(M), you show your marriage certificate and the six (up to 12, if individually-addressed) items of official post sent to you both over the time since your previous visa was granted.  That's it.  No letters, no text history, no photos...  Just the post addressed to the two of you at the same address over the time, and your marriage certificate.  As for the post, it would help if you list what you have, with dates and whether it's just one name or both names on it.  If you have 4 water bills and a council tax bill, and can get just one other source, depending on the dates of your documents, you should be close.

Finance section looks good.  What is the earliest date shown on the first payslip and the date on the most recent payslip?  Does that span six FULL months?  And do the bank statements cover the same period and show all the payslip wages depositing in?

For Accommodation, you don't need anything from the prior residence.  Just proof of where you are living now.  Since you now own your home, you will need two documents:
1. the Land Registry document showing home ownership
2. the most recent mortgage statement.

So, that's it.  Plus, the passports, miscellaneous application documents, receipts, etc. and you probably don't need all that you've included for your expunged misdemeanor.  You probably just need to answer the relevant questions truthfully and include a document confirming the disposition of the case.  But if you feel better including more, it wouldn't hurt.

Hiya, thank you for your answers.

First off, we have:

--A Water bill from August 2017 addressed to both of us
--A Water Bill from March 2018 addressed to both of us
--A Water Bill from March 2019 addressed to both of us
--A Water Bill from March 2020 addressed to both of us
--A Council Tax Bill from March 2019 addressed to both of us
--A Council Tax Bill from March 2020 addressed to both of us (on its way)
--A Bank Statement for March 2020 addressed to both of us (On its way)

I heard that Bank Statements counted as a proper postal correspondence source.

Ross will include 7 payslips to make sure six full months are included.

Beyond that, I am confused about how the whole application process is going to work. I've heard everything is scanned in now, but do you still need to print up the application sheet and receipts, and then scan them back in to apply? People are also talking about sending their passports in. I thought you just scanned in your passport? How does the current process work?

How does the scanning service work if you opt to scan at an official centre? Is it available without buying a priority service? Is it done at the same time as biometrics? If you scan documents from your home, what format must said documents be in? PDFs only or are JPGs alright too? Are there any other formatting requirements?

Thanks!


-

First off, we have:

--A Water bill from August 2017 addressed to both of us
--A Water Bill from March 2018 addressed to both of us
--A Water Bill from March 2019 addressed to both of us
--A Water Bill from March 2020 addressed to both of us
--A Council Tax Bill from March 2019 addressed to both of us
--A Council Tax Bill from March 2020 addressed to both of us (on its way)
--A Bank Statement for March 2020 addressed to both of us (On its way)

Okay you need 1 document in each name for each of the following months:
March 2018
July 2018
November 2018
March 2019
July 2019
November 2019

You need at least 3 different official sources, and monthly bank statements can be used as long as they were received in the post and not issued online.

At the moment, you have:
March 2018
Joint: --Water Bill (Source 1)

July 2018
You: ?
Spouse: ?

November 2018
You: ?
Spouse: ?

March 2019
Joint: Council Tax Bill (source 2)

July 2019
You: ?
Spouse: ?

November 2019
You: ?
Spouse: ?

Optional extra: March 2020
Joint: Bank statement (Source 3)

So, you are missing documents from July and November 2018 and July and November 2019. If you have bank statements for those months, that were delivered by post to your house, you can use them.

Beyond that, I am confused about how the whole application process is going to work. I've heard everything is scanned in now, but do you still need to print up the application sheet and receipts, and then scan them back in to apply? People are also talking about sending their passports in. I thought you just scanned in your passport? How does the current process work?

- The stuff about sending your passport is how the old system worked and it does not apply anymore because the process has all changed now.

- With the new system, everything is scanned and uploaded, you DO NOT send anything anywhere and you KEEP your passport.

- The application is all done online and is not printed anymore, or scanned, it is simply submitted online and that's it, done.

How does the scanning service work if you opt to scan at an official centre? Is it available without buying a priority service? Is it done at the same time as biometrics? If you scan documents from your home, what format must said documents be in? PDFs only or are JPGs alright too? Are there any other formatting requirements?

- If you scan at an official centre, you take your documents with you to your biometrics appointment, hand them over and then they will scan them and hand them back to you.

- If you want to use the scanning service, you can add it as an extra service to your appointment - it's £49.99, I believe.

- Or there are appointments that include document checking and scanning anyway, which I think are £69.99.

- Not sure of the format of the scanned documents when doing it at home - I believe there are scanning instructions for you to follow on the UKVCAS website, which specify file name formats, which documents should go in which scanning section, and the allowed file sizes. If I remember correctly, you are limited to 6MB per file for uploading..

Thank you so much.

Unfortunately, due to our move, the water bills for the months mentioned are all we have. We don't have any other "official" documents from our old home. Unfortunately, we also lack a lot of "in between" documents at this address. This is due in large part to my husband's insistence on paperless transactions (until I intervened in order to acquire the bank statement by switching back to paper yesterday.

Is there anything we can do about this? Should we hire a last-minute solicitor? Should we explain? Should we collect letters from our family and employers verifying our steady and ongoing habitation? Are there other documents which might do in a pinch?

I am frightened. My husband and I cannot afford to lose one another!!!

Okay, it seems we do have another joint water bill from October 2018. We also have a joint water bill from January 2020.

There’s nothing to worry about here.

You do not need a solicitor or any letters from other people.

Include the October 2018 bill for the November 2018 document.

If you cannot provide enough documents or the right spacing of documents, you just need to write an explanation with the application for why you have been unable to provide them.

Do you not have ANY other mail at all that you have received in the last 2 years? Either jointly addressed or separately addressed?

Anything like:
- TV licence
- phone bill
- TV bill
- broadband bill
- credit card bill
- letter from NHS
- letter from DVLA
- letter from HMRC
- letter from DWP
- any other letters from government departments or companies?


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Everything online, I'm afraid. I have a few pieces of post (DVLA, NHS) which could work in my own name, but Ross does not have any post I can find from the appropriate times windows. It's ironic that he does not seem to have any post fromt he NHS, as he is employed by the NHS.

Someone on another forum told me not everything needs to be posted now -- that you can print up copies of paperless bills, and use signed copies of printed bank statements as evidence of your relationship. If that is the case, printed and signed bank statements from the appropriate time windows, and gas printed electricity bills (in Ross's name) can be used.

Someone on another forum told me not everything needs to be posted now -- that you can print up copies of paperless bills, and use signed copies of printed bank statements as evidence of your relationship. If that is the case, printed and signed bank statements from the appropriate time windows, and gas printed electricity bills (in Ross's name) can be used.

There has been no change to the official guidance, so this is not the case.

The whole point of providing the official documents is that you are proving you received them in the mail on the dates they were issued... to show that you were both living in the house at that time. Online statements don’t prove that.


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Well alright; I suppose I'll just need to write an explanation of our imperfect document spacing. Hopefully that will suffice.
I've worked steadily since attaining my first FLRM, and just started a new full-time position. I took driving lessons and tested four times in order to finally acquire my UK driving licence. I have a side job performing at care homes, and participate in many amdram and semi-pro theatre societies. My husband and I would like to start a family. My life in here now. My friends and family, as well as of course myself, would be devastated if I were forced to leave.

Well alright; I suppose I'll just need to write an explanation of our imperfect document spacing. Hopefully that will suffice.
I've worked steadily since attaining my first FLRM, and just started a new full-time position. I took driving lessons and tested four times in order to finally acquire my UK driving licence. I have a side job performing at care homes, and participate in many amdram and semi-pro theatre societies. My husband and I would like to start a family. My life in here now. My friends and family, as well as of course myself, would be devastated if I were forced to leave.

Try not to worry. As long as you meet the requirements, you will be approved. And part of that would be to include the letter of explanation if you can't provide the correct amount or spacing of the correspondence.

ksand24 - can you point me to the part of the guidance that states all correspondence must be from posted mail? thanks.

There has been no change to the official guidance, so this is not the case.

The whole point of providing the official documents is that you are proving you received them in the mail on the dates they were issued... to show that you were both living in the house at that time. Online statements don’t prove that.


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ksand24 - can you point me to the part of the guidance that states all correspondence must be from posted mail? thanks.

This is the requirement as per the last paper FLR(M) form published in July 2018.

It has since moved online and they have deleted any paper guidance, but they have not announced any change to these requirements, and I don't think the online form gives anywhere near the level of detail regarding the document requirements that the paper form gave:

Six items of correspondence addressed to you and your partner at the same address as evidence that you have been living together since your last grant of leave in this category, or from the date you first started living together up to a maximum of two years. See Note 11.

Note 11
The items of correspondence should be addressed to you jointly or in both your names. Examples of acceptable items are listed below. The documents provided must be originals. Photocopies are not acceptable.

The dates of the items of correspondence should be spread evenly over the whole period you are relying on. They should be from at least 3 different sources. If you do not have enough items in your joint names, you may also provide items addressed to each of you individually if they show the same address for both of you. For example - Four items of correspondence in joint names to the same address and two items addressed to each partner at the address. In total eight items would need to be submitted.

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

If you and your partner lived with relatives or friends for some or all of the period you are relying on, please provide a letter from the relative(s) and/or friend(s) confirming this.

If you did not live together for any part of the period you are relying on, tell us the reasons for this and whether you stayed in contact with each other during this time, and provide any relevant supporting evidence.

Please give an explanation on a separate sheet if you cannot provide six items; if the items are not addressed to both of you; or if they do not cover the period you are relying on.

Examples of acceptable items of correspondence
• Letters or other documents from government departments or agencies, for example HM Revenue and Customs, Department for Work and Pensions, DVLA, TV Licensing.
• Letters or other documents from your GP, a hospital or other local health service about medical treatments, appointments, home visits or other medical matters
• Bank statements/letters
• Building society savings books/letters
• Council tax bills or statements
• Electricity and/or gas bills or statements
• Water rates bills or statements
• Mortgage statements/agreement
• Tenancy agreement(s)
• Telephone bills or statements

Note here that online statements are not considered 'original' documents by UKVI