SET(M) and 08/08 Form Questions

I may have been a bit out of touch the past few months, but in prepping for my SET(M) I noticed a few differences from before and just wanted to make sure I had the right end of the stick:

• There only a requirement for 6 items of co-residence evidence spread over the 2 years from 3 different sources.  That used to be a huge amount more, right?
• There is no requirement anymore to provide previous passports or to account for time you spent out of country.  Basically I only need to provide my latest passport that shows my most recent entry into the UK.  Since I am applying in person I will bring all 3 of my former passports (Expired Full Term, Emergency, Current Full Term), but it was a bit of a surprise.
• It appears that mobile phone bills are no longer expressly "forbidden".  Not that I intend to use them, just a strange thing since they seemed not acceptable before.

Overall, it seems more logical and easy (but of course more expensive) then before.  Am I missing something?

Yep--the 6 rather than 20 pieces of mail is definitely a nice change.

I think I remember Vicky having a problem with one of her clients going in person for ILR, and being denied for not having a previous passport with them, so you are definitely right to bring it with you.

Am I missing something?

No I don't think you are. The SET(M) process has got much much simpler.

However, as you are going to the PEO to apply in person, strongly suggest that you take as much supporting evidence as you can gather. They might say that they only want 6 items, but if they are not spread out in time there could be a problem.

When my own wife applied for her ILR back in 2002, at the Birmingham PEO, we had lots of "reserve documents" with us. However they turned out not to be needed, but far better to have such documents with you, just in case, than stuck at home where they cannot be produced.

I was just going to add--definitely bring some back up documents

I just applied at Birmingham PEO a couple of weeks ago. I had put my application together before they made the changes in August (and even then had way more than 20 docs) so I just brought them all with me. I handed them 6 docs from 3 sources, and  told them I had many more should they need to see them. The woman did ask to see something recent. I had given her something from August, but had one from September in reserve, and that was fine.

Just to add, phone bills have never been 'forbidden'.

Vicky

3 different sources - I assume that means the minimum number of sources? 

Who knows if things will have changed by the time I'm eligible to apply in May - seven whole months from now...but my six items will be from six different sources - we married in June of '07, and I'll have two from '07, two from '08 and two from '09.  I was also thinking of throwing in a couple of extra from each of us spread around through the time period, but when it came right down to it, I was surprised to find that I COULD actually come up with six joint items, since it doesn't seem like we do much of anything jointly - but, we do enough for this purpose...

Yes, three different sources.  And I think it is a good idea to send a bit more than needed.  So, 5 bank statements from each of you from each year, a couple of phone bills, and your P60's should do the trick.


Vicky

That sounds do-able - forgot about P60's - good idea!