FLR Application - Autumn 2022 - Comprehensive Post

Hi all,

My wife and I practically lived on UKYankee in Summer/Autumn 2019, which ultimately resulted in my getting a Spousal Visa(!) It was a big deal because I was having serious anxiety about all manner of weird details about my life that I thought would impact - and our application itself hit some bad snags with the payslips. Thankfully it all worked out in the end, and I'm eternally grateful to everyone who assisted.

I hope I'm taking the right approach here if I just create one comprehensive post based off my questions at present, and then hopefully won't need to split across too many future posts. I'm cramming a few questions into each Question heading, and trying to group them thematically. If this is not the best way to do this, please let me know and I will try to reformat and re-post accordingly 

Application Date:
I entered the UK on 26 January 2020. My BRP says it was issued 17-01-2020 and it expires on 24-10-2022
Question 1: When should I apply? I've seen conflicting dates given for the earliest I can apply. Naturally I'll apply as early as possible and go from there.

Application Expenses and Procedure:
It sounds like I will need to pay for the Visa itself, and the IHS Surcharge. Last time around, I had to utilise VFS Global's dodgy website with the glitchy document uploads(!) This time, being in the UK, I think things must be different (and more convenient?) Presuming the process is again conducted through the relevant official ".gov" site to complete the application and make the relevant payments. Question theme 1.5: Will I again have to use that 3rd party provider for anything? Am I again mailing off supporting documents, or do I take them somewhere? Which if any supporting docs need to be physically instead of digitally provided, and which if any need to be originals, and when can I use photocopies? Documents like payslips, bank statements, tenancy agreements are all digital so will I need to set about making physical versions and having them officiated (and if so, how?)

Financial Evidence:
Since landing in the UK, I've grafted my way into a solid job and thankfully I have a couple of P60s to my name and my payslips won't give me grief. I can download them at leisure. I share an account wife my wife -- my name is not on the account -- but my salary is deposited there monthly, and I use it for all tax purposes with HMRC and the IRS and haven't had any issue.
Question Theme 2: Spouse visa had Categories A and B as options to me last time -- I used Cat A. I think I'll be doing the same, unless someone advises Cat B, based on my situation? I am thinking this will mean I am providing payslips for the month of application, plus 6 months prior (7 months total). I will provide bank statements corresponding for each month (bearing in mind my name is not on the account.. but will certainly show my corresponding pay amounts). I'm thinking providing my P60's is a good idea. Do bank statements and/or payslips need any officiating marks like front/back stamps, signatures, official letter heads, etc.? Do I need to get my work HR involved to back me up?

Financial Evidence Continued:
My payslips vary sometimes, usually just because I'm paid a little more for this or that. I will have a couple of salary increases shown on the payslips as well, so essentially over the 7 months prior to application, my total salary amount that is shown on the payslips will be changing (thankfully only going up). There may be the odd deduction though, I think as I have paid for private healthcare as a work benefit and I pay a bit on that. Is the financial requirement calculated from the gross amount monthly? Presumably it doesn't hurt that my payslip actually shows my annual salary as well? Essentially I'm just double-checking that on the basis that my salary is above the requirement, and neither my monthly gross nor monthly net go below the monthly required amount, I am ok to not worry about any little ups-and-downs on my payslips. I also file with both HMRC and IRS, and think I should probably include my filings as just a nail in the coffin of financial evidence? As said, I am providing account statements of my wife's account which I use, but I do also have an account in Germany and in the US. I won't be relying on money in either of these accounts to meet the visa requirements, although I do use the accounts for unrelated purposes which I have to report on with the IRS/HMRC. Am I ok to ignore statements from either of these accounts?

Proof of Cohabitation:
When I arrived, I lived with my wife at my MIL's house and was locked down there and lived there right through to November 2020, at which time we moved to a flat. We lived at the flat for 4 months and then moved to a rented house, where we've been ever since. We have correspondence to each of us individually, and also separately, for each address. As I'm sure it is for many, Covid hampered our ability to get substantial streams of correspondence for a while.
Question theme 3: What is the most concise way of stating what correspondence we need? I have seen conflicting accounts or interpretations of this. I understand 3 different sources, and it sounds like 6 different points in time? We have mix of joint and separate correspondence. For simplicity, assuming we only had it separate, should I think to have 2 pieces of post, per person, per year, with at least 3 sources per person? Does the post need to be perfectly spaced out or is it ok to just fit within the year?

Proof of Cohabitation Continued:
For our first year, I have payslips from employment I obtained shortly after arriving, I have correspondence from the IRS, and I later have documentation including paylips and a contract with the employer I am still with. In that first year we also moved into a flat and have utilities, mobile contract, TV docs, council tax, etc. For years 2 and 3, I have tax filings with HMRC and IRS, we have plenty of council tax/utilities/doctors letters etc. I think we have plenty of sources and can show it for each of us, but just depends on exactly which time periods need to be accounted for and how closely together the separate pieces need to be dates.

British Child:
I had a daughter born in 2021 to my British wife, so we now have a British kiddo.
Question 4: She doesn't have a passport (haven't done that one) but do have birth certificate, and dozens of different letters from NHS regarding the existence of my child. For purposes of this visa, to prove that I have a child and that she is British, should I panic and rush for a passport, or is the birth certificate and any of these letters going to suffice? I've read that the increase in financial requirement for children isn't relevant if the child is British -- since she was most definitely born in the UK, and to a British mother -- I think she is British citizen herself. Do I need to go out of my way to prove this fact, or is it implied by the mother's British passport and the birth certificate?

Relationship Evidence:
It was really fun gathering lots of relationship evidence for the Spouse Visa    Do I need to go through that again? It doesn't seem like I do have to based on what I've read. Sounds like the Marriage Certificate will do. Question 5: Am I sending the original Marriage Certificate off? I do have a PDF scan of it. Any other docs to provide regarding our relationship going to be needed?

Accommodation Evidence:
It sounds like we just need to worry about proving we live where we currently live (i.e., no need to prove we lived anywhere previously, although we will be providing proof of cohabitation from previous addresses we lived together) So if we don't need any letters or tenancy agreements for our previous accommodation, and just need to provide evidence for where we currently live, then I think we will provide the following: tenancy agreement(s) and a letter from letting agency/homeowner (which is better? letting agency perhaps easier?) Question 6: Tenancy agreements will need to be digital or physical? We just have a digital version, as they were e-signed. Letter is better from letting agent or homeowner? Presumably signed, dated (not older than 28 days before application?) and needs to state our names, we live together since so-and-so?

Thank you for help with the above. I do know I've put a lot out at once, but hopefully this was as efficient as I intended it to be. Undoubtedly I will think of more questions I should have written now, and when my questions are answered by some lovely helpful people, I am likely to have some more clarifying or confirming still, but I do feel like this application will be much less of a nightmare than the last one 

Cheers and good luck to anyone who uses this post as part of their own FLR application process!

Hi all,

My wife and I practically lived on UKYankee in Summer/Autumn 2019, which ultimately resulted in my getting a Spousal Visa(!) It was a big deal because I was having serious anxiety about all manner of weird details about my life that I thought would impact - and our application itself hit some bad snags with the payslips. Thankfully it all worked out in the end, and I'm eternally grateful to everyone who assisted.

I hope I'm taking the right approach here if I just create one comprehensive post based off my questions at present, and then hopefully won't need to split across too many future posts. I'm cramming a few questions into each Question heading, and trying to group them thematically. If this is not the best way to do this, please let me know and I will try to reformat and re-post accordingly 

Application Date:
I entered the UK on 26 January 2020. My BRP says it was issued 17-01-2020 and it expires on 24-10-2022
Question 1: When should I apply? I've seen conflicting dates given for the earliest I can apply. Naturally I'll apply as early as possible and go from there.

Application Expenses and Procedure:
It sounds like I will need to pay for the Visa itself, and the IHS Surcharge. Last time around, I had to utilise VFS Global's dodgy website with the glitchy document uploads(!) This time, being in the UK, I think things must be different (and more convenient?) Presuming the process is again conducted through the relevant official ".gov" site to complete the application and make the relevant payments. Question theme 1.5: Will I again have to use that 3rd party provider for anything? Am I again mailing off supporting documents, or do I take them somewhere? Which if any supporting docs need to be physically instead of digitally provided, and which if any need to be originals, and when can I use photocopies? Documents like payslips, bank statements, tenancy agreements are all digital so will I need to set about making physical versions and having them officiated (and if so, how?)

Financial Evidence:
Since landing in the UK, I've grafted my way into a solid job and thankfully I have a couple of P60s to my name and my payslips won't give me grief. I can download them at leisure. I share an account wife my wife -- my name is not on the account -- but my salary is deposited there monthly, and I use it for all tax purposes with HMRC and the IRS and haven't had any issue.
Question Theme 2: Spouse visa had Categories A and B as options to me last time -- I used Cat A. I think I'll be doing the same, unless someone advises Cat B, based on my situation? I am thinking this will mean I am providing payslips for the month of application, plus 6 months prior (7 months total). I will provide bank statements corresponding for each month (bearing in mind my name is not on the account.. but will certainly show my corresponding pay amounts). I'm thinking providing my P60's is a good idea. Do bank statements and/or payslips need any officiating marks like front/back stamps, signatures, official letter heads, etc.? Do I need to get my work HR involved to back me up?

Financial Evidence Continued:
My payslips vary sometimes, usually just because I'm paid a little more for this or that. I will have a couple of salary increases shown on the payslips as well, so essentially over the 7 months prior to application, my total salary amount that is shown on the payslips will be changing (thankfully only going up). There may be the odd deduction though, I think as I have paid for private healthcare as a work benefit and I pay a bit on that. Is the financial requirement calculated from the gross amount monthly? Presumably it doesn't hurt that my payslip actually shows my annual salary as well? Essentially I'm just double-checking that on the basis that my salary is above the requirement, and neither my monthly gross nor monthly net go below the monthly required amount, I am ok to not worry about any little ups-and-downs on my payslips. I also file with both HMRC and IRS, and think I should probably include my filings as just a nail in the coffin of financial evidence? As said, I am providing account statements of my wife's account which I use, but I do also have an account in Germany and in the US. I won't be relying on money in either of these accounts to meet the visa requirements, although I do use the accounts for unrelated purposes which I have to report on with the IRS/HMRC. Am I ok to ignore statements from either of these accounts?

Proof of Cohabitation:
When I arrived, I lived with my wife at my MIL's house and was locked down there and lived there right through to November 2020, at which time we moved to a flat. We lived at the flat for 4 months and then moved to a rented house, where we've been ever since. We have correspondence to each of us individually, and also separately, for each address. As I'm sure it is for many, Covid hampered our ability to get substantial streams of correspondence for a while.
Question theme 3: What is the most concise way of stating what correspondence we need? I have seen conflicting accounts or interpretations of this. I understand 3 different sources, and it sounds like 6 different points in time? We have mix of joint and separate correspondence. For simplicity, assuming we only had it separate, should I think to have 2 pieces of post, per person, per year, with at least 3 sources per person? Does the post need to be perfectly spaced out or is it ok to just fit within the year?

Proof of Cohabitation Continued:
For our first year, I have payslips from employment I obtained shortly after arriving, I have correspondence from the IRS, and I later have documentation including paylips and a contract with the employer I am still with. In that first year we also moved into a flat and have utilities, mobile contract, TV docs, council tax, etc. For years 2 and 3, I have tax filings with HMRC and IRS, we have plenty of council tax/utilities/doctors letters etc. I think we have plenty of sources and can show it for each of us, but just depends on exactly which time periods need to be accounted for and how closely together the separate pieces need to be dates.

British Child:
I had a daughter born in 2021 to my British wife, so we now have a British kiddo.
Question 4: She doesn't have a passport (haven't done that one) but do have birth certificate, and dozens of different letters from NHS regarding the existence of my child. For purposes of this visa, to prove that I have a child and that she is British, should I panic and rush for a passport, or is the birth certificate and any of these letters going to suffice? I've read that the increase in financial requirement for children isn't relevant if the child is British -- since she was most definitely born in the UK, and to a British mother -- I think she is British citizen herself. Do I need to go out of my way to prove this fact, or is it implied by the mother's British passport and the birth certificate?

Relationship Evidence:
It was really fun gathering lots of relationship evidence for the Spouse Visa    Do I need to go through that again? It doesn't seem like I do have to based on what I've read. Sounds like the Marriage Certificate will do. Question 5: Am I sending the original Marriage Certificate off? I do have a PDF scan of it. Any other docs to provide regarding our relationship going to be needed?

Accommodation Evidence:
It sounds like we just need to worry about proving we live where we currently live (i.e., no need to prove we lived anywhere previously, although we will be providing proof of cohabitation from previous addresses we lived together) So if we don't need any letters or tenancy agreements for our previous accommodation, and just need to provide evidence for where we currently live, then I think we will provide the following: tenancy agreement(s) and a letter from letting agency/homeowner (which is better? letting agency perhaps easier?) Question 6: Tenancy agreements will need to be digital or physical? We just have a digital version, as they were e-signed. Letter is better from letting agent or homeowner? Presumably signed, dated (not older than 28 days before application?) and needs to state our names, we live together since so-and-so?

Thank you for help with the above. I do know I've put a lot out at once, but hopefully this was as efficient as I intended it to be. Undoubtedly I will think of more questions I should have written now, and when my questions are answered by some lovely helpful people, I am likely to have some more clarifying or confirming still, but I do feel like this application will be much less of a nightmare than the last one 

Cheers and good luck to anyone who uses this post as part of their own FLR application process!

It's definitely a good idea to keep all of your questions in the same thread but you don't need to worry about the number of posts. Actually it's easier to answer you if the individual posts are a little shorter.  Just a bit for now!

The earliest you can apply is 28 days before the 2.5 year anniversary of entering the country. The latest is the expiration date of the BRP. Don't worry about applying as soon as you can, as long as it's done before the end date, it makes no difference to the 5 year qualifying period but obviously you don't want to be rushing at the last minute. Applying too early, can sometimes mean you give yourself a smaller window of application for ILR.

Everything is uploaded now, either you do it yourself or can pay to have it done at your biometric appointment. The same rules apply about originals as the last time. Bank statements if printed from online would need to be accompanied by a letter or stamped by the bank, payslips need to be verified in a letter from your employer, etc.

Financial Evidence:
Since landing in the UK, I've grafted my way into a solid job and thankfully I have a couple of P60s to my name and my payslips won't give me grief. I can download them at leisure. If they are downloaded, you'll need to provide a letter from your employer verifying that they are genuine. I share an account wife my wife -- my name is not on the account   We've seen this before and discussed it but for the life of me, I can't remember how much of a problem this is. I hope ksand or Kfdancer will pop in to confirm. It would be fine if you were relying on savings but may be an issue if you are using employment income. -- but my salary is deposited there monthly, and I use it for all tax purposes with HMRC and the IRS and haven't had any issue. Different departments, different rules.
Question Theme 2: Spouse visa had Categories A and B as options to me last time -- I used Cat A. I think I'll be doing the same, unless someone advises Cat B, based on my situation? I am thinking this will mean I am providing payslips for the month of application, plus 6 months prior (7 months total).  Yes. I will provide bank statements corresponding for each month (bearing in mind my name is not on the account..See point above  but will certainly show my corresponding pay amounts). I'm thinking providing my P60's is a good idea. P60's are optional and you only need the most recent one. Do bank statements and/or payslips need any officiating marks like front/back stamps, signatures, official letter heads, etc.? Do I need to get my work HR involved to back me up? [/color]  Bank statements need to be either original and sent through the post to you, if printed at home they need to be stamped on every page by the bank or accompanied by a letter verifying their authenticity, or they can be printed at the bank, I would still have them stamped. Pay slips need to be accompanied by a letter verifying their authenticity.

Financial Evidence Continued:
My payslips vary sometimes, usually just because I'm paid a little more for this or that. I will have a couple of salary increases shown on the payslips as well, so essentially over the 7 months prior to application, my total salary amount that is shown on the payslips will be changing (thankfully only going up). There may be the odd deduction though, I think as I have paid for private healthcare as a work benefit and I pay a bit on that. Is the financial requirement calculated from the gross amount monthly? Gross, yes. Presumably it doesn't hurt that my payslip actually shows my annual salary as well? Essentially I'm just double-checking that on the basis that my salary is above the requirement, and neither my monthly gross nor monthly net go below the monthly required amount, I am ok to not worry about any little ups-and-downs on my payslips. It depends how low they go
   https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1039148/1.7_-_Financial_requirement.pdf
I also file with both HMRC and IRS, and think I should probably include my filings as just a nail in the coffin of financial evidence? No As said, I am providing account statements of my wife's account which I use, but I do also have an account in Germany and in the US. I won't be relying on money in either of these accounts to meet the visa requirements, although I do use the accounts for unrelated purposes which I have to report on with the IRS/HMRC. Do you have enough money in these accounts to meet the savings requirement instead? That would take care of the worry regarding your name not being on the account that your pay is deposited into. Am I ok to ignore statements from either of these accounts? Yes unless you can use the savings instead.

Proof of Cohabitation:
When I arrived, I lived with my wife at my MIL's house and was locked down there and lived there right through to November 2020, at which time we moved to a flat. We lived at the flat for 4 months and then moved to a rented house, where we've been ever since. We have correspondence to each of us individually, and also separately, for each address. As I'm sure it is for many, Covid hampered our ability to get substantial streams of correspondence for a while.
Question theme 3: What is the most concise way of stating what correspondence we need? I have seen conflicting accounts or interpretations of this. I understand 3 different sources, and it sounds like 6 different points in time? Yes. We have mix of joint and separate correspondence. That's fine. For the separate pieces, they should be from the same month. For simplicity, assuming we only had it separate, should I think to have 2 pieces of post, per person, per year, with at least 3 sources per person?  No. By that way of thinking it would be two pieces every 4 months with 3 sources total (more sources are fine though) Does the post need to be perfectly spaced out or is it ok to just fit within the year? It's one piece each or one joint piece of mail every 4 months for 2.5 years. 6 joint equivalent pieces in total. If you add one point in time, going from the required 6, to 7 then it works out perfectly spaced. It's 3 sources in total, not 3 sources each.

Proof of Cohabitation Continued:
For our first year, I have payslips from employment I obtained shortly after arriving, I have correspondence from the IRS, and I later have documentation including paylips and a contract with the employer I am still with. In that first year we also moved into a flat and have utilities, mobile contract, TV docs, council tax, etc. For years 2 and 3, I have tax filings with HMRC and IRS, we have plenty of council tax/utilities/doctors letters etc. I think we have plenty of sources and can show it for each of us, but just depends on exactly which time periods need to be accounted for and how closely together the separate pieces need to be dates.

Going forward, the easiest thing to do is to have a bank statement for each of you coming in every month. That way you never have to worry about missing months and can work around when the other correspondence such as council tax which don't arrive so often.

Relationship Evidence:
It was really fun gathering lots of relationship evidence for the Spouse Visa    Do I need to go through that again? It doesn't seem like I do have to based on what I've read. Sounds like the Marriage Certificate will do. And any divorce certificates if applicable. That, your accommodation evidence and your correspondence evidence cover it for FLR and ILR Question 5: Am I sending the original Marriage Certificate off? I do have a PDF scan of it. Everything is uploaded now. You don't send anything off but you should have originals of everything to hand as well.  Any other docs to provide regarding our relationship going to be needed?

Accommodation Evidence:
It sounds like we just need to worry about proving we live where we currently live (i.e., no need to prove we lived anywhere previously, although we will be providing proof of cohabitation from previous addresses we lived together) That's right So if we don't need any letters or tenancy agreements for our previous accommodation, and just need to provide evidence for where we currently live, then I think we will provide the following: tenancy agreement(s) and a letter from letting agency/homeowner (which is better? letting agency perhaps easier?) Question 6: Tenancy agreements will need to be digital or physical? We just have a digital version, as they were e-signed. That's fine, almost all are. Letter is better from letting agent or homeowner? Presumably signed, dated (not older than 28 days before application?) and needs to state our names, we live together since so-and-so? If both your names are on the tenancy agreement then no additional letter is required. If your name is not on the tenancy agreement then you need a letter giving you permission to live there. It does not have to be dated within 28 days, that only applies to the financial requirement.

Thank you for help with the above. I do know I've put a lot out at once, but hopefully this was as efficient as I intended it to be. Undoubtedly I will think of more questions I should have written now, and when my questions are answered by some lovely helpful people, I am likely to have some more clarifying or confirming still, but I do feel like this application will be much less of a nightmare than the last one 
You should find it much easier this time around.
Cheers and good luck to anyone who uses this post as part of their own FLR application process!

British Child:
I had a daughter born in 2021 to my British wife, so we now have a British kiddo.
Question 4: She doesn't have a passport (haven't done that one) but do have birth certificate, and dozens of different letters from NHS regarding the existence of my child. For purposes of this visa, to prove that I have a child and that she is British, should I panic and rush for a passport, or is the birth certificate and any of these letters going to suffice? I've read that the increase in financial requirement for children isn't relevant if the child is British  Correct. -- since she was most definitely born in the UK, and to a British mother -- I think she is British citizen herself. Do I need to go out of my way to prove this fact, or is it implied by the mother's British passport and the birth certificate?


The birth certificate should be fine and the letter should be dated within the last 3 months.

Thank you Larrabee for all your thoughtful answers   

Questions/Salient points:
1-As to proof of cohabitation documents, of course we were affected by Covid as anyone would be. Have other people said as much in their applications, insofar as their documentation/requirements were impacted?

2-I think I can provide payslips, P45, and letters from the IRS from throughout the first lockdown. I think my wife has a P45 - not sure if anything else. Do we need to go out of our way to have old employers verify these documents...? Seems a stretch but worth asking. I am not even 100% that we will be able to match to the month at each point, though we do have an abundance of documentation that grows considerably after our first year. So hopefully we will be able to get over the line with what we have. I will post a list of exactly what we are providing for which dates, when I have it all laid out.

3-A strong positive result, regarding the fact of my name not being on the account into which my salary is paid (from the Appendix FM Sec 2.7 FE): "Income can be paid into, or cash savings held in, any bank/savings account in the name of the applicant, the applicant’s partner or both jointly..."

4-I have asked my HR nonetheless to furnish a letter confirming the amounts of the payslips I am providing along with the account info (I asked before reading the Appendix...but overkill won't hurt here I'm guessing?)

5-Unfortunately for someone with accounts in multiple countries, it doesn't mean much for my assets  Sadly no relevant savings, so I can at least leave any additional bank statements out of the picture

6-I am fairly adamant that my monthly gross never dips below 1550 (if it did I think I would've remembered! But I'll still end up double-checking as I'm not miles clear of it either)

7-We'll have to get our statements printed and stamped. A pain to be sure but entirely doable. As said, I'll have a letter from my employer verifying the itemised amounts of my payslips and confirming the account into which they are paid.

8-Ok, no sending off of anything, but anything that gets uploaded should be digitisation of the original

9-Anything originally digital that is conventionally digital these days can just stay that way

10-Our tenancy agreement does have our names, date, signature, but I suppose we might just ask for a letter from the letting agent just to add gravitas

11-I can't believe I could already be applying! I think since we have nearly everything to hand already, we'll just get the few relevant letters and get cracking on the application. Thinking in a month's time it will be sent off.

Questions/Salient points:
1-As to proof of cohabitation documents, of course we were affected by Covid as anyone would be. Have other people said as much in their applications, insofar as their documentation/requirements were impacted?

I don’t recall anyone needing to explain lack of documents specifically due to Covid, because most people still received all their normal paper documents during Covid.

If you are unable to provide the required cohabitation documents though, you just need to explain why not in a letter.

2-I think I can provide payslips, P45, and letters from the IRS from throughout the first lockdown. I think my wife has a P45 - not sure if anything else. Do we need to go out of our way to have old employers verify these documents...? Seems a stretch but worth asking. I am not even 100% that we will be able to match to the month at each point, though we do have an abundance of documentation that grows considerably after our first year. So hopefully we will be able to get over the line with what we have. I will post a list of exactly what we are providing for which dates, when I have it all laid out.

You don’t need anything verified. As long as the documents were received in the mail in the months they were issued, you just need to include them as they are.

If they weren’t received in the mail, you can’t use them anyway.

4-I have asked my HR nonetheless to furnish a letter confirming the amounts of the payslips I am providing along with the account info (I asked before reading the Appendix...but overkill won't hurt here I'm guessing?)

You only actually need to have them do this if the payslips were issued electronically and not physically.

6-I am fairly adamant that my monthly gross never dips below 1550 (if it did I think I would've remembered! But I'll still end up double-checking as I'm not miles clear of it either)

Are you salaried or non-salaried?

If salaried, then the lowest payslip needs to be at least £1550 before tax.

If non-salaried, they just add up all the payslips, divide by the number of months and multiply by 12 to get your average annual salary (which must be at least £18,600).

8-Ok, no sending off of anything, but anything that gets uploaded should be digitisation of the original

You just scan each document into your computer and upload it.

9-Anything originally digital that is conventionally digital these days can just stay that way

Yes.

10-Our tenancy agreement does have our names, date, signature, but I suppose we might just ask for a letter from the letting agent just to add gravitas

No need, and it won’t add anything but will just give UKVI more work to do because you will have included a letter that wasn’t required.

If both your names are on the tenancy, you do NOT need a letter.

The ONLY reason you would include a letter from the letting agency is if only one of you is listed on the tenancy agreement… the letter must then give permission from the landlord for the other person to live in the property as well.


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3-A strong positive result, regarding the fact of my name not being on the account into which my salary is paid (from the Appendix FM Sec 2.7 FE): "Income can be paid into, or cash savings held in, any bank/savings account in the name of the applicant, the applicant’s partner or both jointly..."

That's great, nothing to worry about there then.

5-Unfortunately for someone with accounts in multiple countries, it doesn't mean much for my assets  Sadly no relevant savings, so I can at least leave any additional bank statements out of the picture

Exactly, you should only provide statements for the account that you're actually using to prove that you meet the requirement, otherwise it just complicates the application.