My FLR(M) Experience (Croydon), from Proposed Fiancee/Civil Partnership Visa

This board has been INVALUABLE in helping us see our dream of living together and joining our lives. We applied for a fiancee/civil partnership visa earlier in the year, and after the stress of all of that (and the ash cloud) we were approved.

We had a beautiful little ceremony in a registry (registrar?) office last month, and have begun our lives together, very happily joined. I made an online appointment 6 weeks ago-ish, and we had our FLR (M) appointment in Croydon recently.

Admittedly, I have been very nervous about this appointment, seeing as it is one of the last steps to recognizing our partnership and we wanted to be sure we had all of our application specifics thoroughly complete.

There are a number of very helpful FLR experience posts here so I won't bore you with the details of it all. Just a few bullets that stood out for us.

*The train to Croydon from Victoria was beautiful and easy to take!
*The guard at the door was turning away people for showing up early, so you'd best get a good reply if you want to get there way ahead of time
*The first holding room is INCREDIBLE confusing. When you enter, essentially the chairs around the room act as a queue. When you are let in, the queue and everyone sat, moves to the chair to their left, essentially going clockwise. We waited about 30 minutes in this line before going to security
*Everything else was pretty straightforward and well organized, biometrics was easy and took 2 minutes
*The actual interview process was not as complicated as I thought. We brought loads of paperwork. I made sure to bring my old passport with all my old stamps and sure enough they asked for it. They curiously didn't ask me for any financial documentation, though I did submit some UK bank stuffs to show we've been living in the same place. We brought wedding pics and all that sort of stuff including information we included in our PCP visa app, but it wasn't necessary. My UK partner supplied all the required information and was once we stuffed it under the glass window, we waited (sat in front of the officer) for about 20-25 minutes while she photocopied things and went through the documents one by one.

By the time she said something to us, she slid a little piece of paper under the glass and said we were approved(!!!). We didn't get any 2 minute ILR speech, instead just letting me know to expect my biometric residence card in the mail in the next few days, and that I was indeed eligible to work now!

We left feeling happy and silly for worrying about forgetting anything. All our documents were pretty well organized and we added sticky notes within the files to help the officer, which I think helped speed the process.

I want to thank everyone on this board that have helped us see our dream of being together come true. We are incredibly thankful!

Congratulations!!!

Did they say when you would be eligible for ILR?  If so, when?

Congrats!

Congratulations!  

ETA:  Would you mind posting a list of the documents you brought with to the appointment?  I have the required list, but I'd like to be prepared and would rather take too much with than be missing something once there, thanks!

Did they say when you would be eligible for ILR?  If so, when?

They provided me a sheet of paper that was next steps with regards to when I would be getting my biometrics residence card, a bunch of info, and a section on "when and how can I apply for indefinite leave to remain"

Basically says:

In order to qualify for ILR, you mus have completed a period of 2 years in the UK as the civil partner. Furthermore since April 2007, applicants must show knowledge of life and language. You can apply for ILR to remain in the UK once you have either passed Life in the UK test or have improved by one level by gaining an approved ESOL. You must apply before the end of your authorised stay in the UK.

It then goes into how to apply, a list of documents, etc.

I read somewhere that ILR might be going away in the future to be replaced with something else? Can someone clarify, I assume I keep my FLR for 2 years, gather this info, live our life, and at the end apply for ILR (or whatever else replaces it). From there, will I be eligible for citizenship or a British passport?

I'm not too worried about that far ahead, just happy that things have come together. I have begun looking for work, and my biometrics card already had an attempted delivery- they are pretty fast!

Congratulations!  

ETA:  Would you mind posting a list of the documents you brought with to the appointment?  I have the required list, but I'd like to be prepared and would rather take too much with than be missing something once there, thanks!

Sure. Here's the approximate list (the biggies).

Me (USC applying for FLR)

*Application (make sure you put a post it with your reference number/appointment number)
*US Passport (with financee visa stamped), Expired/Previous US passport
*Few generic bank documents that showed that we share an address in the UK
Bank statements from the US (brought them along, they didn't ask for them)
*2 passport sized pictures

My civil partner (UKC/my sponsor)

*UK Passport
*Bank documents that include 6 months (you only need 3 I think) of checking account/saving account statements
*Our UK house mortgage paperwork
*My partners employment verification (payslips for 6 months)
*1 passport size picture

Important to note, I know Croydon says to bring photocopies of everything, but we just brought the originals and they happily made the copies for us. Also, we didn't do any covering letter as some people suggested. I think it makes it a lot easier if both people are there. Surprisingly they didn't ask a lot of questions. Just be sure to have everything easily marked, I think they appreciate that.

We had a boatload of documentation from our proposed fiancee visa that we applied for earlier in the year, including letters from friends family, pictures over the course of our relationship, copies of over 1 dozen airplane tickets, emails, skype receipts, etc. All of that info we brought, but none of it was requested.

Hope this is helpful! The process is pretty stressful up front but to be honest, having just gone through it, its mostly boring/waiting around, and the immigration officers were genuinely friendly and nice. The whole process from entering the building to leaving was probably around 4 hours.

They provided me a sheet of paper that was next steps with regards to when I would be getting my biometrics residence card, a bunch of info, and a section on "when and how can I apply for indefinite leave to remain"

Basically says:

In order to qualify for ILR, you mus have completed a period of 2 years in the UK as the civil partner. Furthermore since April 2007, applicants must show knowledge of life and language. You can apply for ILR to remain in the UK once you have either passed Life in the UK test or have improved by one level by gaining an approved ESOL. You must apply before the end of your authorised stay in the UK.

Thanks very much for posting this. 

Hmmmmm...  Very interesting!

It becomes massively relevant and I EMPHATICALLY suggest keeping this letter in a safe place.

I hope Weby will be along with commentary also...

Yeah, I'm definitely keeping this paper safe. Glad I could share it! The paperwork they provided me was about 3 pages long, this section about half a page.

My appointment is tomorrow in Glasgow. Fingers crossed that it goes as well as yours did.

Congratulations!

Steph

They provided me a sheet of paper that was next steps with regards to when I would be getting my biometrics residence card, a bunch of info, and a section on "when and how can I apply for indefinite leave to remain"

Basically says:

In order to qualify for ILR, you mus have completed a period of 2 years in the UK as the civil partner. Furthermore since April 2007, applicants must show knowledge of life and language. You can apply for ILR to remain in the UK once you have either passed Life in the UK test or have improved by one level by gaining an approved ESOL. You must apply before the end of your authorised stay in the UK.

It then goes into how to apply, a list of documents, etc.

I read somewhere that ILR might be going away in the future to be replaced with something else? Can someone clarify, I assume I keep my FLR for 2 years, gather this info, live our life, and at the end apply for ILR (or whatever else replaces it). From there, will I be eligible for citizenship or a British passport?

I'm not too worried about that far ahead, just happy that things have come together. I have begun looking for work, and my biometrics card already had an attempted delivery- they are pretty fast!

Just now seeing this but congratulations!!!

I got this paper too and I said something to the guy about how I thought ILR is going away and he told me he HIGHLY doubted it. He said in his opinion it was at least 4 years away and to plan on getting ILR. Id be interested to know what this actually means. I sure hope Im eligible for ILR.

Just digging this thread up since my appt is on Friday, dandr and JennM:  how early did you arrive for you appt?  My e-mail said to show up 30 minutes early, but is this necessary?  Husband and I are trying to figure out what the best train to catch would be...TIA!

Just digging this thread up since my appt is on Friday, dandr and JennM:  how early did you arrive for you appt?  My e-mail said to show up 30 minutes early, but is this necessary?  Husband and I are trying to figure out what the best train to catch would be...TIA!

From my experience two weeks ago, the extra 30 minutes is to get through security checks. The security was stricter than the airports. They will hand search your bags and take away cell phones, cameras, and other electronic devices. The doors were locked from the inside and the guards had to open the door to let us in. They will only let you in after they have finished with the people in front of you.

They will only let in those who have appointments and need to be there. Don't bring any extra family members with you. A lot of people were waiting outside all day cause they came along and didn't need to.

There was only one person ahead of us and it took a solid 15 minutes to clear security.

In summary, yes... get there 30 minutes early.

ETA: Do not bother to get there more than 30 minutes early. They will not let you in. You need to have your appointment sheet with you as proof of your appointment time.

Steph

Thanks TxArtGal, that is good to know!

Just a friendly reminder that if you do have an old passport with your travel stamps and you've received a new one with your PCP stamp in it, you will want to bring your old passport in. Makes it a TON easier.