Getting my ILR

Hi,

I have been married two years this month and my Spouse Visa expires on the 20th Jan. I need to get my ILR now. I have read a few threads. Some people say I need to go to Croydon, some say I can send in my passport. Some say they had to pay and some say they didn't.

If I can send my passport in how do I go about this? Do I need an application? Do I send it to Croydon where I went before?

Does it actually cost more money, because I was under the impression it didn't?

Who do I contact to send it or make an appointment? Does anyone have the number for Croydon or any idea of what I should do?


I am so tired of going through this. I can't wait to get my ILR done with and stop worrying about freakin Visas. Cos last year I had to get a replacement Spousal Visa because my passport was stolen that summer. I just want to stop having to get visas, blah.

So if anyone can help me I would be so grateful! So sorry for all the questions, there just doesn't seem to be any simple answers on the net. I seriously just need my ILR, if I can send it I will be happier.

Thanks!!

You can apply in person in Croydon, Liverpool, Birmingham, or Glasgow.  You call ahead for an appointment (I called about a month ahead) and can only apply if there are 4 weeks left on your FLR (so on or after 20 December for you, approx).  The cost is £500 or £335 if you apply by post.  You can download the form from the IND website (you're looking for the SET(M) form). 

Here's a summary of my ILR experience:

I have a shiny new sticker in my passport!   

Here's the story, for those of you who like to read such things.

Called Liverpool PEO in early August to make an appointment.  Took about half an hour to get through.  Asked for a 9 September (exactly 28 days before my FLR expires) appointment.  Was given a reference number.

Called again last week to confirm my appointment.

Got home yesterday to find a message confirming that they'd be seeing me today.

Took the train to Liverpool this morning.  Got a little lost.  Eventually found our way.  As it was still early (about 11:30 and the appointment wasn't until 1:20, we headed to Subway.  Sat there as long as possible, then headed to Starbucks.  Sat there as long as possible, then headed to the PEO. 

Our bags were searched, our phones were turned off, and my perfume was taken away (glass bottles not allowed, apparently).  Went through the metal detector, was given a number, and headed upstairs.

We were seen promptly at 1:20 by "reception".  A lady asked to see our passports and our supporting documents (listed below).  I'd typed up a cover letter itemising everying (item/date/addressee), so the lady just looked at that, said it looked fine, and sent us over to pay.  While we were at the payment window, the lady from reception came over and asked if we'd bought bank statments.  I said no, but that we each had our latest payslip (brought those just in case, even though the application doesn't ask for any financial statements).  In the end, we weren't asked for bank statements or payslips.   

We handed over the £500 and were given a receipt then were told to sit down again and wait to be called up.

Five minutes later we were called to another little window (though there was only one chair at that particular window -- all others had two...Richard had to stand up  ).  The girl took our passports and documentation.  She looked through the documentation (literally just looked through it), said I was approved, and told us it'd take about an hour.

We just waited around until they called our number again.  When called, we went up and the girl handed me my passport.  I thanked her and we were on our way.

All told, we were there for 1 hour and 20 minutes, about 5 of which was actually spent talking to someone.  It was a breeze!

In the office, there was a drink machine, a vending machine, and a coffee machine.  There were restrooms and a baby changing room.  There's nothing to read, so you might want to bring a book!

One thing did bother me a bit -- when Richard and I arrived, there were already 50-60 people there.  Of those people, we were the only Caucasians.  We were the only people to be processed completely in the time we were there.  It seemed that pretty much everyone else was called to various windows several times.  I'm sure people were there for different reasons and some probably had more complicated applications, but it felt very strange that we were processed so quickly and that our paperwork was basically just glanced at.  Just something to think about.   

Also, there was a film loop on the televisions....couldn't really get the meaning of it as it was silent, but I think it was warning people not to lie about anything as you saw a guy in a room with an official who is eventually made to stand and get handcuffed.  The film was subtitled in Arabic and what looked like Afrikaans....never in English, though!

Stuff we took with us:

my passport
Richard's passport
SET (M) application
2 photos of me
1 photo of Richard
our marriage certificate
my most recent payslip
Richard's most recent payslip

From year one: (8 documents addressed to me, 3 addressed to both of us, 6 addressed to Richard only)
my NHS card
four of my Bank of America bank statements
my NIN letter
one of my Barclays bank statements
one Simply Be account statement
our first rental agreement
our second rental agreement
two of Richard's bank statements
council tax bill
two water bills
two gas bills

From year two: (one addressed to both of us, seven addressed to me, six addressed to Richard)
our rental agreement
my NHS card
two Simply Be account statments
Bank of America statement
two Barclays statements
one Evans statement
two water bills
two electricity bills
two gas bills

I hate to break this to you, but you cannot apply for it more than 5 weeks in advance of your FLRs expiry date.  So no matter how 'seriously' you need it, the law is the law and you can't get it more than 5 weeks in advance.  

And yes, you have to pay.  It's cheaper if you post it in, but then there's no guarantee how long it will take them to process it.  If you make an appointment to go in person, you get it that same day - providing all is in order, of course - but the cost is steep.

Thank you so much! I am totally bummed that I have to pay again though. What a rip off. There is absolutely nothing we can do about it because they know we need the visa. Well I will print the form and pay the freakin fees and try to forget about

Thanks again!!!!

I figure £500 was a small price to pay for the right to live in the same country as my husband for the rest of my life.   

Well I know I can send off my passport until 4 or 5 weeks before, totally cool with that. As for the £500 WELL it is a price to pay because if we decide to move to the states or any other country for that matter for more than TWO years then i have to reapply for my visa again which is a tad annoying and who knows, by that time they may have raised the price yet again... if I had never lost the first passport it would have been free for me as I was within the date of getting the ILR without charge

I've been to Croydon and I know they are fast but I don't need my passport really until March so I am fine with waiting and paying the slightly less amount considering it is Christmas. 

I know I have to pay and I need the visa so no more complaints on the payment issue over here

Thanks for everyone's help. i will send my application off 4 weeks before it expires and then just sit and wait.

Postal times do vary based upon the time of year and the backload....I sent application off in mid May (expired mid June) got it back just short of four weeks.

Best of luck!

Well I know I can send off my passport until 4 or 5 weeks before, totally cool with that. As for the £500 WELL it is a price to pay because if we decide to move to the states or any other country for that matter for more than TWO years then i have to reapply for my visa again

You can apply for citizenship one year after receiving your ILR.  Another fee to pay, of course, but you'll never have to apply for any type of visa again.   

If you do post it,send it with a SASE special delivery

But don't you lose your American citizenship if you apply for another one in another country? I know they can be funny about that. It is one thing if you already have duel due to parents being English and American but to be American and get British citizenship I think i may lose out. BUT that would be the ideal thing to do as I don't want to move to another country and have to always renew my visa here.

Thanks again for the advice it is very much appreciated!!

If you do post it,send it with a SASE special delivery

I will most definitely do that. Thank you!

But don't you lose your American citizenship if you apply for another one in another country?

Nope. If you're an American citizen at birth and naturalize as British, you'll still be American.  The US government doesn't like the idea of dual nationality, but they recognize that it exists.  If I'm not mistaken, there's a sticky topic on the top of this forum- lots more info in there.  If we end up staying in the UK, I wish I could apply for BC to make life easier...but my situation's a little more sticky as I'm a naturalized citizen of the US so my citizenship is a little more precarious than someone who was born here.

Nope. If you're an American citizen at birth and naturalize as British, you'll still be American.  The US government doesn't like the idea of dual nationality, but they recognize that it exists.  If I'm not mistaken, there's a sticky topic on the top of this forum- lots more info in there.  If we end up staying in the UK, I wish I could apply for BC to make life easier...but my situation's a little more sticky as I'm a naturalized citizen of the US so my citizenship is a little more precarious than someone who was born here.

Just looked it up. That's brilliant! The reason I thought we couldn't is because they don't tell you, you can. Yay that is even better. Well when i can I shall apply for that as well.... hey it's one more fee but then hopefully after that I don't have to bother any longer. Thank you so much for pointing that out to me. That was very helpful!!

Only just to tack on to this thread that Parliament is debating now about changing the rules for dual citizenship. 

Like right now, so it doesn't affect anything for a while. 

But it's worth keeping in mind for those whose citizenship is still several years out, because Parliament has it in mind that something's not exactly right about dual citizenship - otherwise they wouldn't be debating about it, would they?

I remember back in 2000 - 2001 when they started debating about not allowing visitors switching to spousal status whilst in the UK, and everybody thought "HA!  They would never enact anything as crazy as that!".  And look what happened...

If somebody wants to read the debates (which I doubt), go to Parliament's web site, or read the links in the London Gazette.

But, Garry, wouldn't that only affect British Citizens at birth who subseqently wanted to naturalize in another country?  Here in the US, I had to swear to renounce my birth citizenship, but according to that country I'm still a citizen and there's really nothing the US can do about that.  So if an American naturalized as British, I can't see how that would affect their American citizenship even if Britain decided to 'outlaw' dual nationality.