FLR(M) Questions

Hello Forum
I continue to learn from your wise advice to others, and as our FLR(M) application looms, I have a few specific questions myself. Thanks for taking a look:

1. Application Date: I will hit 30 months’ residency on April 23, 2020. My BRP is valid until July 23, 2020. I need to travel on July 20, 2020. We thought we would apply around April 15, to give us lots of time to get everything together before I travel. Is that acceptable? Is it too early - i.e. do I risk creating a tiny window for ILR?

2. Mail: I’ve organized our mail - would you mind checking and commenting?
March 2018: Joint Council Tax
July 2018: Him - EDF Bill (simply dated ‘July’); Me - Royal Borough Electoral Services (Aug 30) This is the closest I can get two pieces of mail in terms of dates. Hope that’s okay?
Nov 2018: Joint Bank Letter
March 2019: Joint Council Tax
July 2019: Joint Bank Statement
Nov 2019: Him - TV License UK (Nov 7); Me - NHS (Nov 22) OR Joint Bank Letter
March 2020: We will have another Joint Council Tax

3. Financial: We meet the financial requirement through my husband’s pension. I believe the most recently available UK document outlining specified evidence for a pension (FM-SE, Section 10 (e)) says you need official documentation from the pension company confirming entitlement and amount (we have a P60) and “At least one personal bank statement in the 12-month period prior to the date of application showing payment of the pension into the person’s account.”
That sounds to me like we simply need two pieces for financial proof - the P60 and one bank statement showing the P60 amount being deposited. It seems less onerous than the proof required from employment. Does that sound right to you?

4. Cover Letter: I thought we would provide a cover letter summarizing how we meet the main requirements and such. Is this a good idea or is it too much?

I am confident we have all the other requirements covered such as Accommodation (land registry, council tax, no mortgage); marriage certificate; passports etc. But I might be back to double-check in a month or two!

Many thanks for your wise advice. The forum is an invaluable resource.

Hello Forum
I continue to learn from your wise advice to others, and as our FLR(M) application looms, I have a few specific questions myself. Thanks for taking a look:

1. Application Date: I will hit 30 months’ residency on April 23, 2020. My BRP is valid until July 23, 2020. I need to travel on July 20, 2020. We thought we would apply around April 15, to give us lots of time to get everything together before I travel. Is that acceptable? Is it too early - i.e. do I risk creating a tiny window for ILR?

2. Mail: I’ve organized our mail - would you mind checking and commenting?
March 2018: Joint Council Tax
July 2018: Him - EDF Bill (simply dated ‘July’); Me - Royal Borough Electoral Services (Aug 30) This is the closest I can get two pieces of mail in terms of dates. Hope that’s okay?
Nov 2018: Joint Bank Letter
March 2019: Joint Council Tax
July 2019: Joint Bank Statement
Nov 2019: Him - TV License UK (Nov 7); Me - NHS (Nov 22) OR Joint Bank Letter
March 2020: We will have another Joint Council Tax

3. Financial: We meet the financial requirement through my husband’s pension. I believe the most recently available UK document outlining specified evidence for a pension (FM-SE, Section 10 (e)) says you need official documentation from the pension company confirming entitlement and amount (we have a P60) and “At least one personal bank statement in the 12-month period prior to the date of application showing payment of the pension into the person’s account.”
That sounds to me like we simply need two pieces for financial proof - the P60 and one bank statement showing the P60 amount being deposited. It seems less onerous than the proof required from employment. Does that sound right to you?

4. Cover Letter: I thought we would provide a cover letter summarizing how we meet the main requirements and such. Is this a good idea or is it too much?

I am confident we have all the other requirements covered such as Accommodation (land registry, council tax, no mortgage); marriage certificate; passports etc. But I might be back to double-check in a month or two!

Many thanks for your wise advice. The forum is an invaluable resource.

1- Are you planning to use the priority processing? If not, although it seems like you have enough time before you need to travel, just be aware that you just never know how long it's going to take. Very occasionally an application can take double the time it's supposed to take (don't ask me how I know!  ) You would have plenty of time for the ILR application in that case though.

2-That looks good. For next time it will make things easier if you change your bank statements so you have  a joint statement, or one each coming in every month. Then you'll never be stuck with a different month each like you are this time.

3- This is the way the guidance reads.

(e) To evidence a pension:
(i) Official documentation from:
(1) The Department for Work and Pensions (in respect of the Basic State Pension and the Additional or Second State Pension) or other government department or agency, including the Veterans Agency;
(2) An overseas pension authority; or
(3) A pension company,
confirming pension entitlement and amount (and, where applicable, reflecting any funds withdrawn from the pension account or fund).
(ii) At least one personal bank statement in the 12-month period prior to the date of application showing payment of the pension into the person’s account.
(iii) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (i), War Disablement Pension, War Widow’s/Widower’s Pension and any other pension or equivalent payment for life made under the War Pensions Scheme, the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the Armed Forces Attributable Benefits Scheme may be treated as a pension, unless excluded under paragraph 21 of this Appendix.

The one bank statement is correct but I am not sure that the P60 would be enough for the other component. What kind of pension are you relying on?

4- If you have something which needs elaboration then I would enclose a separate letter but if everything is as simple as you imply then there is really no need.

The one bank statement is correct but I am not sure that the P60 would be enough for the other component. What kind of pension are you relying on?

It's my understanding that you need actual official documentation from the company providing your pension confirming the amount of pension you are entitled to receive each month and when those payments will be disbursed.

So this would be something like a letter from the pension company with the details of your pension amount and monthly payments, or your annual pension statement confirming all of your pension details.

It's my understanding that you need actual official documentation from the company providing your pension confirming the amount of pension you are entitled to receive each month and when those payments will be disbursed.

So this would be something like a letter from the pension company with the details of your pension amount and monthly payments, or your annual pension statement confirming all of your pension details.

Yes, that's what it looks like to me.

Thank you so much for your input.
1. Re the application date - thanks for letting us know it could go longer than expected. It's amazing to think that 12 weeks might not be enough, but we don't want to risk it. If we go for Priority, what date do you recommend, given the July 20 travel date and given that we don't want to shorten the ILR window? BTW if we apply later than April 15, do we have to change our official mail dates from the March - July - November set that we have put together?
2. Re the pension, it's a UK Civil Service pension. You're right - in addition to the P60 which shows the civil service pension total for the year, we do have an "Advice of Payment" for 2020 from Civil Service Pensions. It shows the monthly anticipated gross and net for the upcoming year. So am I right in thinking we could include the P60, the Advice of Payment, and one monthly bank statement showing the monthly amount going in?
Thanks again! 

Thank you so much for your input.
1. Re the application date - thanks for letting us know it could go longer than expected. It's amazing to think that 12 weeks might not be enough, but we don't want to risk it. If we go for Priority, what date do you recommend, given the July 20 travel date and given that we don't want to shorten the ILR window? BTW if we apply later than April 15, do we have to change our official mail dates from the March - July - November set that we have put together?

The service standards processing time for FLR(M) is 8 weeks, which means they are supposed to process all applications within 8 weeks. They have been pretty good at this over the last few years and I don't remember the last time it took longer than 8 weeks. I think we even had some people get their visas within 4 weeks recently.

If you use the Super Priority service, you get a decision within 24 hours and then it can take up to 10 working days to receive the new BRP in the mail. Having said that, you may have to wait a few weeks to get an appointment (depending on what's available and whether you want to pay a bit extra for a quicker appointment), so I would apply sooner rather than later.

I'd probably recommend applying sometime in May or early June.

Yes, in regards to your mail, you need to cover the last 2 years ending with the date you apply, so if you apply in May, you'll want mail from April, August and December each year, and if you apply in June, you'll want mail from May, September and January each year,

2. Re the pension, it's a UK Civil Service pension. You're right - in addition to the P60 which shows the civil service pension total for the year, we do have an "Advice of Payment" for 2020 from Civil Service Pensions. It shows the monthly anticipated gross and net for the upcoming year. So am I right in thinking we could include the P60, the Advice of Payment, and one monthly bank statement showing the monthly amount going in?
Thanks again!

Yeah, you'll need the official documentation from Civil Service Pensions. I've never heard anyone mention sending a P60 for pension income before.

So, I would send:
- 1 or more bank statements
- Civil Service Pensions statement for 2020

Thanks - so helpful.
I'm tempted to back up our application to April 2 which would give us 15 weeks leeway before the travel date of July 20 - that should be safe, don't you think?
(Then I won't have to redo the mail) 
And thanks for the advice on pension evidence. We had the wrong idea but now will use the right docs for sure.
Thanks!