Question regarding utility bills

Hiya.
Question for my sister-in-law. Now that most visa applications are online, does the evidence of cohabitation (utility bills, etc) still have to have been sent to them in the physical mail? That's how its always been, but I didn't know if the Home Office was still being super anal about this when most bills come paperless these days and trying to get paper bills sent out is worse than pulling teeth.

My water company was fine, but I remember the stress I went through every month fighting with my energy company to get them to send it out. They kept saying its exactly the same as if I printed it out myself. Honestly, fighting with them was one of the worst parts of my immigration journey so I wanted to get an update on the situation with that before I tell my sister in law that she has to start doing this.

Also, they are going to be living with my in-laws for probably years. Meaning no bills are gonna be in their names. Is there an updated list somewhere of what mail is acceptable??? Thanks all :-)

Hiya.
Question for my sister-in-law. Now that most visa applications are online, does the evidence of cohabitation (utility bills, etc) still have to have been sent to them in the physical mail? That's how its always been, but I didn't know if the Home Office was still being super anal about this when most bills come paperless these days and trying to get paper bills sent out is worse than pulling teeth.

My water company was fine, but I remember the stress I went through every month fighting with my energy company to get them to send it out. They kept saying its exactly the same as if I printed it out myself. Honestly, fighting with them was one of the worst parts of my immigration journey so I wanted to get an update on the situation with that before I tell my sister in law that she has to start doing this.

Also, they are going to be living with my in-laws for probably years. Meaning no bills are gonna be in their names. Is there an updated list somewhere of what mail is acceptable??? Thanks all :-)

Yes. The correspondence needs to have come through the post.

It will be harder work but they should be able to get enough using bank and credit card statements, letters from HMRC, NHS etc. Some people in this situation take over one of the bills in their names.

How does this work when UKVCAS requests PDFs to be uploaded to their site? Are they going to check for physical letters at the Biometrics exam?

We're doing super priority ILR with biometrics in 2 weeks. Asides from Gov website and payment, and UKVCAS uploads of PDFs I have not sent any physical forms to anyone.

How does this work when UKVCAS requests PDFs to be uploaded to their site? Are they going to check for physical letters at the Biometrics exam?

We're doing super priority ILR with biometrics in 2 weeks. Asides from Gov website and payment, and UKVCAS uploads of PDFs I have not sent any physical forms to anyone.

Yea, this is why I was asking. By the time I did my ILR, I had to scan and upload everything before my appointment. I brought it all with me to the appointment in case something was missing, but it wasnt and I was never asked to shoe anything  So it would only be logical to assume that they can't physically tell now that its all scanned in as pdf's and uploaded. But that's why I asked, to see if anyone knew of updates or had gotten through apps successfully with downloaded bills. Larrabee is one of the best on here though, so I'm gonna go with what she says for now.

Yea, this is why I was asking. By the time I did my ILR, I had to scan and upload everything before my appointment. I brought it all with me to the appointment in case something was missing, but it wasnt and I was never asked to shoe anything  So it would only be logical to assume that they can't physically tell now that its all scanned in as pdf's and uploaded. But that's why I asked, to see if anyone knew of updates or had gotten through apps successfully with downloaded bills. Larrabee is one of the best on here though, so I'm gonna go with what she says for now.

I rechecked the email for my wife. They say:

 You must bring the following to your UKVCAS appointment:

The attached confirmation notice containing the QR code for each group member. If you don’t bring this, we will not be able to process your application.

A passport/travel document for each applicant. This is a UKVI requirement. If your current travel document is with UKVI at the time of your appointment, you can continue with your appointment by bringing an alternative form of ID. You will need to show this for entry to the Service Point. (‘Offline Applicants’ must bring the letter from UKVI).

All your supporting documents. You do not need to bring these if you have already uploaded copies online. (‘Offline Applicants’ see information below).

So I guess it's best to play safe and bring supporting documents just in case.

Oh yea, its always advisable to bring all your docs with you. I brought mine and a list of what I uploaded and asked the guy to double check that every doc on my list was present in the system and had the docs with me in case one didn't make it.

But the question at hand is more - do they need to come in the mail or can you print it off from a pdf? My energy company would fight with me every month that I could just print my bill off at home cause that is just what they do. Which, I get what they are saying but our account with them was opened with a promise from the manager that we coule have monthly paper statements. I just hope that someday the Home Office joins the 21st century with this.

Oh yea, its always advisable to bring all your docs with you. I brought mine and a list of what I uploaded and asked the guy to double check that every doc on my list was present in the system and had the docs with me in case one didn't make it.

But the question at hand is more - do they need to come in the mail or can you print it off from a pdf? My energy company would fight with me every month that I could just print my bill off at home cause that is just what they do. Which, I get what they are saying but our account with them was opened with a promise from the manager that we coule have monthly paper statements. I just hope that someday the Home Office joins the 21st century with this.

It needs to come in the mail.

The reason is because you are not simply showing that you have been issued a utility bill, you are showing that you were physically living in the house at the time it was mailed and therefore were present in order to receive the paper copy in person.

A printed PDF of an online bill does not prove you were physically living at that address when it was issued, because you could theoretically have bills issued that are associated with a different address than the one you are actually living at.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh, I totally understand the reasoning why we need it sent physically. It's the utility companies that don't, epically now that they say that the pdf we get is the same exact thing they would print off and send to us. Ive literally had to make a written complaint that if my visa application was denied because I couldnt get my bills (as was promised to us by the account manager) - or get them properly (they kept messing up our names), that I would hold them responsible and sue them for the amount of the visa application. They were such jerks.
I can't imagine how hard it's going to be for people in the coming years to get enough physical mail

Thanks for the help everyone.