Concern About Bad Timing

Hi all,

This is my first post here. I think I've made a mistake.

We got married in July (I'm the yankee, here on a fiance visa), and my visa expires Oct 24. Through one thing or another - including a terrible illness on my part (not COVID) - and waiting for mail/bills to come in on my name, it's now October 17 and I have not yet submitted my visa application for FLR(M). We have almost everything gathered, and I will submit my application before Oct 24. Will I need to leave the country, because I won't have my biometrics appointment done in time? I'm really freaking out.

We have:

Identification
- my passport
-my husband's passport (UK citizen)

Proof of Residence
- council tax bill in both names
- 2 separate gas bills in both names
- 2 separate electricity bills in both names
- water bill in both names
- letter from husband's stepfather indicating we rent the house we live in from him

Proof of Marriage
- marriage license

Proof of Financial Support
- letter from my husband's employer
- 6 months of payslips
- 7 months bank statements (NOT gotten yet, will get this week prior to submission)

Any answers/assurances are most welcome. I cannot believe I let it get this late.

No. You need to submit all of your paperwork by  October 24. If you don’t do that, you will need to leave the country. However, having an active visa application buys you time legally. You can remain here as long as you’re waiting the outcome of your visa.

No. You need to submit all of your paperwork by  October 24. If you don’t do that, you will need to leave the country. However, having an active visa application buys you time legally. You can remain here as long as you’re waiting the outcome of your visa.

Thank you for this clarification. We will get all paperwork submitted before the 24th. This is a great relief to me!

No. You need to submit all of your paperwork by  October 24. If you don’t do that, you will need to leave the country. However, having an active visa application buys you time legally. You can remain here as long as you’re waiting the outcome of your visa.

Technically, all you need to do by by October 24th is submit your online application. The paperwork itself is not actually submitted until your biometrics appointment, which can be after your visa has expired.

However, the documents (particularly the financial documents) must be dated ON OR BEFORE the date you apply online... so you will need to make sure you get the bank statements before you submit the online application.

As long as you submit the online application before your visa expires, the biometrics and visa processing can be done any time after that, and your immigration status as a fiance will automatically be extended under Section 3C Leave while you are waiting for your visa to be processed. You just need to make sure that you do not leave the UK before you get FLR(M) visa as that will invalidate both the 3C Leave and your visa application.
 

In regards to the documents you have, I'm just going to rearrange them into the correct sections for uploading them to the UKVCAS website. Missing documents are in red, my comments are in blue:

Application Documents
- your passport
- Sponsor's Declaration signed by your husband (part of the online application)
- Part 1 Consent to Checks form signed by you (part of the online application)
- Part 2 Consent to Checks form signed by your husband (part of the online application)

Proof of Identity/Travel History
- your husband's passport (UK citizen)

Finances
- letter from my husband's employer
- 6 months of payslips (you normally need to send 7 months of payslips to cover every single day of the 6 months, same as you send 7 months of bank statements - as they both need to cover the same date range)
- 7 months bank statements (NOT gotten yet, will get this week prior to submission)
Optional but recommended:
- husband's latest P60 (issued April/May 2021)
- husband's original job contract

Residence in the UK
Accommodation
- official tenancy agreement from stepfather OR stepfather's Land Registry document (this is the MOST important document for accommodation)
- letter from husband's stepfather indicating we rent the house we live in from him
- latest council tax bill (upload twice in the same section - once for accommodation, once for cohabitation)
Cohabitation
- council tax bill in both names
- 2 separate gas bills in both names
- 2 separate electricity bills in both names
- water bill in both names

Other
- marriage certificate (the marriage licence is the document you get BEFORE you get married which allows the ceremony to take place. The marriage certificate is what you get AFTER the ceremony which actually proves you got married.)

Technically, all you need to do by by October 24th is submit your online application. The paperwork itself is not actually submitted until your biometrics appointment, which can be after your visa has expired.

However, the documents (particularly the financial documents) must be dated ON OR BEFORE the date you apply online... so you will need to make sure you get the bank statements before you submit the online application.

As long as you submit the online application before your visa expires, the biometrics and visa processing can be done any time after that, and your immigration status as a fiance will automatically be extended under Section 3C Leave while you are waiting for your visa to be processed. You just need to make sure that you do not leave the UK before you get FLR(M) visa as that will invalidate both the 3C Leave and your visa application.

Wait...what? There was nothing during the application process that indicated the date we actually printed the bank statements needed to be on or before the application date, just that the statements themselves needed to be dated for the previous 6-7 months. We've just submitted our application because my hsuband was going to go to the bank tomorrow to get the print-outs verified. What do we do now?

In regards to the documents you have, I'm just going to rearrange them into the correct sections for uploading them to the UKVCAS website. Missing documents are in red, my comments are in blue:

Application Documents
- your passport
- Sponsor's Declaration signed by your husband (part of the online application)
- Part 1 Consent to Checks form signed by you (part of the online application)
- Part 2 Consent to Checks form signed by your husband (part of the online application)

Proof of Identity/Travel History
- your husband's passport (UK citizen)

Finances
- letter from my husband's employer
- 6 months of payslips (you normally need to send 7 months of payslips to cover every single day of the 6 months, same as you send 7 months of bank statements - as they both need to cover the same date range)
- 7 months bank statements (NOT gotten yet, will get this week prior to submission)
Optional but recommended:
- husband's latest P60 (issued April/May 2021)
- husband's original job contract

Residence in the UK
Accommodation
- official tenancy agreement from stepfather OR stepfather's Land Registry document (this is the MOST important document for accommodation)
- letter from husband's stepfather indicating we rent the house we live in from him
- latest council tax bill (upload twice in the same section - once for accommodation, once for cohabitation)
Cohabitation
- council tax bill in both names
- 2 separate gas bills in both names
- 2 separate electricity bills in both names
- water bill in both names

Other
- marriage certificate (the marriage licence is the document you get BEFORE you get married which allows the ceremony to take place. The marriage certificate is what you get AFTER the ceremony which actually proves you got married.)

Thanks for the bit about the Land Registry. We will be sure to get that. And also, apologies. I meant marriage certificate. It's the paper the registry office gave us after the wedding took place. Just mis-typed. Thank you!

Wait...what? There was nothing during the application process that indicated the date we actually printed the bank statements needed to be on or before the application date, just that the statements themselves needed to be dated for the previous 6-7 months. We've just submitted our application because my hsuband was going to go to the bank tomorrow to get the print-outs verified. What do we do now?

Don't worry, you're fine.

It's just the end of the 6-month period that you are using for the financial requirement that has to be BEFORE the date you submit the online application...  so as long as you don't need to use a payslip or bank statement deposit that is dated AFTER today (i.e. if your payday was tomorrow), then getting them stamped tomorrow is fine.

We usually recommend not submitting the online application until you have every single document in your hands and ready to upload, just to make sure that everything is in date and in order... but as long as your payslips and bank statements all meet the requirement today, that's fine. The actual stamping of the bank statements can be done tomorrow.

Thanks for the bit about the Land Registry. We will be sure to get that.

No problem - if you are staying in a house owned by friends or family, then as well as a letter from them, you also need proof that they own the house (Land Registry document). You can also include their latest mortgage statement (if they have a mortgage), though that is only optional - it's just to show they are making the payments.

And also, apologies. I meant marriage certificate. It's the paper the registry office gave us after the wedding took place. Just mis-typed. Thank you!

No worries - I see a lot of people here on the forum write marriage 'licence' when they actually mean marriage 'certificate' so I just wanted to clarify that.

Don't worry, you're fine.

It's just the end of the 6-month period that you are using for the financial requirement that has to be BEFORE the date you submit the online application...  so as long as you don't need to use a payslip or bank statement deposit that is dated AFTER today (i.e. if your payday was tomorrow), then getting them stamped tomorrow is fine.

We usually recommend not submitting the online application until you have every single document in your hands and ready to upload, just to make sure that everything is in date and in order... but as long as your payslips and bank statements all meet the requirement today, that's fine. The actual stamping of the bank statements can be done tomorrow.

Whew! the panic you shot through my little heart! Thank you so much for clarifying. I understand now.

I do understand we were a bit "reckless" in submitting today, but there's really no chance we won't have the documents or anything. I appreciate your advice and you looking out for us! All bank statements and payslips meet the requirements, as they go through to October 1, which is his last pay date before the application submission.

No problem - if you are staying in a house owned by friends or family, then as well as a letter from them, you also need proof that they own the house (Land Registry document). You can also include their latest mortgage statement (if they have a mortgage), though that is only optional - it's just to show they are making the payments.

No worries - I see a lot of people here on the forum write marriage 'licence' when they actually mean marriage 'certificate' so I just wanted to clarify that.

We are staying in this house, but we rent it from him informally....he isn't our landlord, essentially we are paying the mortgage for him until we can buy the house from him ourselves. We didn't get around to this in the 6 months on my fiance visa, but we will be doing it soon. I assume the above still applies: letter, land registry, potentially mortgage payment proof if applicable?

Thanks for taking the time to help us so much. I feel much much better.

Whew! the panic you shot through my little heart! Thank you so much for clarifying. I understand now.

I do understand we were a bit "reckless" in submitting today, but there's really no chance we won't have the documents or anything. I appreciate your advice and you looking out for us! All bank statements and payslips meet the requirements, as they go through to October 1, which is his last pay date before the application submission.

That's all fine . We've just seen people have issues in the past where they've submitted without having all the documents in hand (usually when they were applying from the US and waiting for documents to be mailed internationally from the UK), but then their documents didn't arrive by the deadline to submit them... so just to be on the safe side, we advise not applying until you know you have everything .

We are staying in this house, but we rent it from him informally....he isn't our landlord, essentially we are paying the mortgage for him until we can buy the house from him ourselves. We didn't get around to this in the 6 months on my fiance visa, but we will be doing it soon. I assume the above still applies: letter, land registry, potentially mortgage payment proof if applicable?

Yep, that's exactly what you need .

The requirements are:

If you rent officially:
- tenancy agreement in both names  OR ​tenancy agreement in one name plus a letter from the landlord giving the other person permission to live there too
- latest council tax bill

If you live with/in the property owned by a friend or family member and you have no official tenancy agreement:
- family member's Land Registry
- family member's latest mortgage statement
- letter from family member giving you both permission to live there and stating the property won't be overcrowded
- latest council tax bill