FLM (R) Application/Documentation Questions

Hello all,

I hope you have remained safe and well over the past couple years. I have been keeping my eyes on the forum for all of the different questions and updates, and I am so thankful UK Yankee exits to help us through the process. Thank you, experts!

I entered the UK on 31st October 2018, and my Spouse visa expires 31st July 2021. I plan to submit my application and documentation soon.

One on my main concerns is documentation and my surname. Since moving here, I have correspondence in my maiden name and correspondence in my married name; however, I have not legally changed my name yet. (I originally thought it would be simpler to have accounts, NHS, Bills, Council Tax, etc., in my married name, but that is not true if your passport and other documentation is in your maiden name.) Also many of the bills and statements are in my husbands name as we used his bank account primarily - including depositing my paychecks. We have only just made it a joint account. I plan to provide a detailed cover letter explaining anything and everything.

The result is that I am struggling to provide co-habitation documentation for the months we need in my maiden name. We have some joint documents in my married name, but not enough. So, here is my first set of questions:

1. Will a covering letter stating that I used my married name for these accounts suffice?
2. What documents are accepted as proof of co-habitation?
-Joint bank statements
-ID Mobile bills
-Water, energy, gas bills
-Utility warehouse (energy and water) bills
-I have a Monzo account i can provide statements for
-I have a pet insurance letter
-I have letters from the NHS / my GP
-I have Aviva (insurance) letters
-A mortgage acceptance letter
-Sky account set-up letter
-Pension update letter
(Will these be accepted?)

3. Do each of us need to show 3 separate types of documentation or just 3 types in total?

4. Does the document need to state my full name or will Mrs. [Married name] and Ms. C. [Maiden name] be accepted?

5. If I am really struggling for documentation, any advice on what I could do?

We were originally going to supply documents from July 2019-July 2021, but we may supply documents from June 2019 - June 2021 for ease. Please see and advise on the below:

June 2019
Joint water bill addressed to Mrs. (Married Name)

October 2019
Energy Bill - husband's name
Monzo bank statement - my maiden name

February 2020
Energy bill - husband's name
Monzo bank statement  - my maiden name

June 2020
Energy bill - husband's name
Monzo bank statement - my maiden name

October 2020
Joint council tax bill addressed to Mrs. (Married name)

February 2021
Joint bank statement address to maiden name

June 2021
Joint bank statement addressed to maiden name

Thank you for reading this and all your help!

Best wishes 

Hello all,

I hope you have remained safe and well over the past couple years. I have been keeping my eyes on the forum for all of the different questions and updates, and I am so thankful UK Yankee exits to help us through the process. Thank you, experts!

I entered the UK on 31st October 2018, and my Spouse visa expires 31st July 2021. I plan to submit my application and documentation soon.

One on my main concerns is documentation and my surname. Since moving here, I have correspondence in my maiden name and correspondence in my married name; however, I have not legally changed my name yet. (I originally thought it would be simpler to have accounts, NHS, Bills, Council Tax, etc., in my married name, but that is not true if your passport and other documentation is in your maiden name.) Also many of the bills and statements are in my husbands name as we used his bank account primarily - including depositing my paychecks. We have only just made it a joint account. I plan to provide a detailed cover letter explaining anything and everything.

The result is that I am struggling to provide co-habitation documentation for the months we need in my maiden name. We have some joint documents in my married name, but not enough. So, here is my first set of questions:

1. Will a covering letter stating that I used my married name for these accounts suffice?
2. What documents are accepted as proof of co-habitation?
-Joint bank statements
-ID Mobile bills
-Water, energy, gas bills
-Utility warehouse (energy and water) bills
-I have a Monzo account i can provide statements for
-I have a pet insurance letter
-I have letters from the NHS / my GP
-I have Aviva (insurance) letters
-A mortgage acceptance letter
-Sky account set-up letter
-Pension update letter
(Will these be accepted?)

3. Do each of us need to show 3 separate types of documentation or just 3 types in total?

4. Does the document need to state my full name or will Mrs. [Married name] and Ms. C. [Maiden name] be accepted?

5. If I am really struggling for documentation, any advice on what I could do?

We were originally going to supply documents from July 2019-July 2021, but we may supply documents from June 2019 - June 2021 for ease. Please see and advise on the below:

June 2019
Joint water bill addressed to Mrs. (Married Name)

October 2019
Energy Bill - husband's name
Monzo bank statement - my maiden name

February 2020
Energy bill - husband's name
Monzo bank statement  - my maiden name

June 2020
Energy bill - husband's name
Monzo bank statement - my maiden name

October 2020
Joint council tax bill addressed to Mrs. (Married name)

February 2021
Joint bank statement address to maiden name

June 2021
Joint bank statement addressed to maiden name

Thank you for reading this and all your help!

Best wishes 

1-You can provide a mix of married and maiden name, it's not an issue. You don't even really need to explain it because your marriage certificate will do that for you, but you can if you feel more comfortable.

2-They're all fine.

3-3 different sources total so you can have all bank statements, one council tax bill and one electricity bill, for example.

4- It can be any permutation of your name. Full name, just initials, title and surname etc.

5-You have more than enough but if you hadn't, you would explain in a letter

Your docs look good.

Thank you @larrabee for your quick response. It was really helpful.

As is expected, I do have a few more questions now that I am further along in the application.

Application Questions about living together:
Do you and your partner currently live together? Yes
When did you start living together in a relationship? October 2018
Where have you lived together? Is this asking for our current address or the address we lived at when we moved in together here? We lived in a flat until we bought our house.
Have you lived anywhere other than your current address during the past 2 years that you have not already entered on this application?
(Required) Yes

Please give details of any previous addresses (including country if outside the UK), how long you lived there and whether you lived at this address with your partner. This goes hand in hand with my previous question in blue. It feels like I should put our current address above and list our flat address we previously lived in here. Is that right? Will I need to provide the tenancy documents for the flat?

Question about finances:
It took me 6 months to secure a job when I first got to the UK as I took a couple months to settle in without looking and then it was harder than I thought. We were a bit lax on sorting out a bank account as we found it difficult to supply the correct documents to make it joint at first, so my paychecks have always gone into my husbands bank account. Later, I started a Monzo account that he transfers money into when needed. I am planning to use my salary as proof of financial security, but will it be a red flag that my salary has always gone into my husbands account? Should we fill out the financial section with my husband as the sponsor instead of me? I plan to explain that my income goes into his account for ease in the cover letter, but if listing him as the sponsor is the safest way to get the application approved, then we can do that. We are still working on making the account joint - this should be done soon; however, it won't show my name on bank statements earlier than July 2021.

Question about timings:
The last day on my BRP card is 31st July 2021, so I know that is the last day I can submit the online application.
I am trying to submit the online application (fingers crossed) by 16th July.
How long will I have to send in the paper documents?
Do I need to send off my passport and BRP card, or will scans suffice?
What documents will my husband have to supply? Will scans be sufficient for his documents?
Am I allowed to stay here while my application is processing even if the 31st July passes? I'm sure I can, but a little voice of doubt is starting to creep in now that I'm waist deep in this application, and the end of July is approaching.

Any and all advice on the above questions / concerns is greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time.