FLR(M) renewal

Hi guys - another post on a quite common topic.

Can't believe it but I'm nearly due to renew my partner/spouse visa.. My last visa was granted 30/10/2017 and expires 27/05/2020; I'm planning to be organised this time and have my application ready to go by the second week of May.

Just looking to get a head start on getting my documents organised for proof of mine and my partner's relationship. As I understand it I have to submit 6 documents to cover from November 2017 to May 2020 (basically the period of my previous visa and not just two years like it was last time)?

Could anyone suggest if this timeline/spread of documents looks okay or if me and my partner should be trying to get some different bits together? So far we have:

2nd November 2017 - energy bill in my name & a bank statement for my partner
26th July 2018 - joint energy bill in both our names
16th December 2018 - bank letter in my name (still need to get something for my partner for this date)
14th June 2019 - notice to quit on our tenancy (there's one in each of our names...not sure if this is really an acceptable piece of evidence to provide or if it's going to raise questions? Basically we had to leave our flat because our landlord was selling the property. Alternatively, I could provide our new tenancy agreement which is dated 17th July but felt that was maybe too big a gap?)
1st October 2019 - joint council tax bill
Then for end of April/start of May 2020 I'll get a bank statement from our joint account

Also a side note - if I ended up using our tenancy agreement as proof of us cohabiting, do I submit a duplicate as evidence of housing costs or is the one sufficient? Same question regarding council tax proof - can I just submit it once and they'll know it's to meet the evidence requirement for both things?

Thanks in advance

Just to confirm: you are currently on an FLR(M) visa (not a spousal visa) after switching from a Tier 2 visa?

I’m checking because a spousal visa and an FLR(M) visa are valid for different lengths of time and which one you have will determine what date you can apply for your FLR(M) renewal.

As you have an FLR(M) visa, the earliest you can apply is 28 days before May 27th 2020.

Just looking to get a head start on getting my documents organised for proof of mine and my partner's relationship. As I understand it I have to submit 6 documents to cover from November 2017 to May 2020 (basically the period of my previous visa and not just two years like it was last time)?

No, you only need to cover the last 2 years, from May 2018 to May 2020.

So your documents should be spaced every 4 months, and you want to use the following months:
May 2018
Sept 2018
Jan 2019
May 2019
Sept 2019
Jan 2020
Optional extra: May 2020

So, because of this, you will need to rethink your document spacing and gather up different documents instead.

Also a side note - if I ended up using our tenancy agreement as proof of us cohabiting, do I submit a duplicate as evidence of housing costs or is the one sufficient? Same question regarding council tax proof - can I just submit it once and they'll know it's to meet the evidence requirement for both things?

Everything is scanned and uploaded to the Sopra Steria website now, so I would just upload the document twice - once for the accommodation and once the relationship evidence.


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Yes I was previously Tier2 and switched to FLR(M) - 2.5 years and then this will be my renewal and at the end of the 5 years I'll apply for ILR.

The wording of evidence you have to provide was a bit funny, but that's fine if it's the same 2 year period needed to be covered..we have lots of extra documents we can choose from to fit a timeline like that.

Thanks! Also good to know everything just gets scanned; it's all different from the last time I applied.

Updated list for new timeline...all okay?

May 2018 - bank statement applicant, bank statement sponsor
September 2018 - bank letter applicant, utility bill sponsor
February 2019 - HMRC letter applicant, utility bill sponsor
May 2019 - bank statement applicant, bank letter sponsor
October 2019 - joint council tax bill
January 2020 - joint bank account statement

Thanks!