Spouse visa - renewal

Hello!

I'm now coming up for renewal on my spouse visa after the initial 2.5 year period, and I would really appreciate some help in getting it all organized. I went through the paper FLR(M) application form and had the following questions....

1) Section 2.2 - Is this considered a first time application? Given I already have the spouse visa, I would have said "no" but not sure....

2) Section 2.3 - Similar to the above, is it the first or the second period of leave to remain?...It'll be for the 2nd half of my 5 year spouse visa...

3) Section 3 - Photo - does it have to be the UK passport size photos?

4) Section 4.4 - My kids have 3 passports... Do I need to put details of all the non-English passports other than mention that my kids have other passports?

5) Section 4.4(q) - Do I need to list all the countries even if they're English already?

6) Section 7.3 - If I work but my husband's income is sufficient to sponsor me, do I just include my husband's income information or mine, too?

7) Section 8 - English language requirement - I have a bachelor's diploma from a US university. Is the original (and a copy) of my diploma sufficient or do I need something else like a sealed official transcript?

Section 9 - I assume I have to submit my biometric card and along with the fact I have to submit my passport with the visa renewal application, I wouldn't be able to travel while I wait for the visa extension to come through - is that right?...

9) Timing of the application - my current visa expires in early September but I have to travel for work through the end of July and latest again by the beginning of October. With that, I think I need to submit for renewal at the very end of July / very beg. of August to have enough time to get the visa renewed by beginning October. Does this make sense and is this feasible? I'm thinking some documents may be outdated and outside of the 28 days if I submit on 30/31 July (e.g., June payslip, June bank statement...). Does this mean I technically have to wait until mid-August when July statements are available to submit?....

Thank you so much!!!

Hi - can someone please help me with the below questions?

Thank you!!!

Sorry, didn't realise no one had replied to this.

For your questions (my answers in blue):

1) Section 2.2 - Is this considered a first time application? Given I already have the spouse visa, I would have said "no" but not sure....
The correct answer is NO - it's your second settlement visa (the first being the spousal visa)

2) Section 2.3 - Similar to the above, is it the first or the second period of leave to remain?...It'll be for the 2nd half of my 5 year spouse visa...
It's the first application for leave to remain (FLR(M))... your spousal visa was leave to ENTER the UK.

3) Section 3 - Photo - does it have to be the UK passport size photos?
Yes, it does. Considering it should have been taken recently, and you live in the UK, it should be pretty easy to sort out .

4) Section 4.4 - My kids have 3 passports... Do I need to put details of all the non-English passports other than mention that my kids have other passports?
Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you put the details of ALL their passports, and I also think you have to include all their passports with the application as well, along with the required letters showing where they live

5) Section 4.4(q) - Do I need to list all the countries even if they're English already?
Yes, you have to put all the countries.

6) Section 7.3 - If I work but my husband's income is sufficient to sponsor me, do I just include my husband's income information or mine, too?
If your husband's income meets the requirement, you do not need to include any of your employment income. So, just include your husband's income and financial documents, and leave all of your employment details blank.

7) Section 8 - English language requirement - I have a bachelor's diploma from a US university. Is the original (and a copy) of my diploma sufficient or do I need something else like a sealed official transcript?
What did you provide for the English Language requirement for your spousal visa? Whatever was sufficient for that one should be sufficient for this application too.

Section 9 - I assume I have to submit my biometric card and along with the fact I have to submit my passport with the visa renewal application, I wouldn't be able to travel while I wait for the visa extension to come through - is that right?...
That's correct - you must send your passport and BRP with the application and you won't be able to travel while the visa is processing. If you need your visa back quickly to travel, you should pay the extra £610 for an in-person appointment to get a same-day decision (and your BRP within a few days).

9) Timing of the application - my current visa expires in early September but I have to travel for work through the end of July and latest again by the beginning of October. With that, I think I need to submit for renewal at the very end of July / very beg. of August to have enough time to get the visa renewed by beginning October.
Applications are currently taking about 5-8 weeks by post, so I would mail the documents on the earliest possible date you can in July/Aug. Alternatively, you could apply by in-person for a same-day decision.

 Does this make sense and is this feasible? I'm thinking some documents may be outdated and outside of the 28 days if I submit on 30/31 July (e.g., June payslip, June bank statement...). Does this mean I technically have to wait until mid-August when July statements are available to submit?....
The most recent bank statement and payslip must be dated within 28 days of the postmark date on your package...so it depends what date is on the June payslip and bank statement, and when you will get the July ones.

What you could do is wait for the July payslip and then ask the bank to print a partial statement covering up to the end of July (the payslip deposit), so that you can submit the application as soon as the July payslip is through, instead of waiting for the normal bank statement issue date in August.

Thank you so much, ksand!!!

A few follow-up questions in red....

7) Section 8 - English language requirement - Last time, I was back in the US and got the official transcript and also had my diploma stamped with an apostle or something like that. Wondering if the dimploma with the apostle stamp from the original submission is good enough or if that's considered outdated... I can probably request a sealed official transcript again if needed but would rather avoid if I can...[/color]

9) Timing of the application - If I submitted the application on 28 July with the latest statements from June, is that within 28 days or if the June statement is as of 30 June, 28 July submission is already outdated? Not sure if the 28 days is calendar days or business days and if the 28th July is too late to use the 30 June statements...

10) Correspondence proof - 6 original letters - can they be bank statements for a joint account (it'll be a different bank account from the one where my husband's payslip goes into - so at least a different source)? Also, do all 6 need to be from a different source or can they be all from the same source (like the joint bank statement every 4 months over the last 2 years or have to be a mixture of utility and other sources)?

Thank you so much!

7) This is what the official guidance on the UKVI website says you need to send:

If your degree was taught or researched in English
You can prove your knowledge of English by having a degree that was taught or researched in English.

If you have a degree from a UK university, you only need your original degree certificate.

If your degree isn’t from a UK university, you’ll need your original degree certificate and one of the following:
- an original letter or certificate from UK NARIC confirming the equivalent level of your degree, plus an official letter from your university with your name and degree confirming that your degree was taught in English
OR
- an original and official certificate from your university confirming the degree was taught or researched in a majority English-speaking country (except Canada)

9) It's 28 calendar days.. What date is on the June payslip? If it's before June 30th, then you have to take that date as the start of the 28 days.
So, if both the June payslip and June bank statement  are dated 30th June, the package must be postmarked NO LATER than 28th July... which means actually mailing the application on the 26th or 27th July to make sure the postmark is in date (since it may take 1-2 days for it to be postmarked after mailing it).
However, if say, the payslip was dated June 28th, but the bank statement was June 30th, then the 28 days starts on June 28th, so you would have to get it in the mail on maybe July 24th or 25th.

10) The requirements for the 6 documents of correspondence are clearly laid out in the application form.
They must be:
- 6 documents in each name
- from AT LEAST 3 different official sources
- evenly spread over the last 2 years... so one document in each name every 4 months since July 2016

So, you MUST have at least 3 sources. If the documents are not all jointly addressed, then you'll need 1 in each name for each 4-month period... i.e. 6 joint in total, or 12 separate documents in total (1 each every 4 months), or a combination of both.

For example, you could use something like:
July 2016
- Joint bank statement (source 1)
November 2016
- Joint electricity bill (source 2)
March 2017
- joint council tax statement (source 3)
July 2017
- Joint bank statement
November 2017
- Joint electricity bill
March 2018
- joint council tax statement

Or maybe:
July 2016
- Joint bank statement (source 1)
November 2016
- Applicant NHS letter (source 2)
- Sponsor water bill (source 3)
March 2017
- Joint bank statement
July 2017
- Joint bank statement
November 2017
- Joint bank statement
March 2018
- Joint bank statement

Thank you so much! I'll have to check if the original diploma with the apostle from when I submitted the original spouse request is good enough or if I need to do something to update it for this filing. If anyone not from English-speaking countries has any experience with the US university diploma to prove their English proficiency, please share your experiences!

We're going through all sorts of paperworks to see what we can find for the correspondence requirements as most of our statements are now online (should not have chosen the paper-less options...>!?!?!? Who knew being kind to environment can actually hurt us in our visa process?!?!?).

Thank you!

Sorry - one more thing - on the correspondences, shouldn't the last of the 6 documents be as of June or July 2018 (depending on whether I file the extension request at the end of this month or early August) instead of March 2018?

Well, you can include a 7th one from June or July if you like. but since you’ll be providing payslips and bank statements and accommodation documents dated in the last few weeks, they will still show that you live there.

You should turn OFF paperless for EVERYTHING ASAP and make sure you save all the mail you receive over the next 2.5 years as you’ll need to provide the correspondence documents again for ILR as well.

One of the first things we recommend everyone does as soon as they arrive in the U.K. is to turn off paperless statements and make sure everything is sent by mail, purely in preparation for their FLR(M) application.

You can go back to paperless bills once you have ILR (and U.K. citizenship if you decide to apply for it).


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We'll turn off the paperless for sure going forward....!

How strict are they on the every 4 months requirements? We have gone through all our paper files and I can't find the appropriate documents at the 4 months intervals...If I use your very helpful example, I might have something for June instead of July, May instead of March, etc....

Also, if the correspondence is addressed to Mr. and Mrs. (e.g., Mr. and Mrs. Adam Smith) and doesn't specifically state my name, would that still be acceptable?

If the statement has a bill date of June 28, 2016 but the payment due date is noted to be 12 July 2016, can we count it as a July 2017 correspondence?

I feel silly asking these very specific questions but I get a sense that these requirements are super strict....!?!?!

Thank you!

Hello,

My husband and I have combed through any paper documents we have but we just don't have enough in my name that meet the every 4 months interval... In that case, what have others done? Should we ask for the paper statements to be re-printed like the bank statements and utility bills?

Do you know if the school tuition statements or any correspondence from our children's school would be deemed an appropriate form of correspondence?

How strict are they on the every 4 months requirements? We have gone through all our paper files and I can't find the appropriate documents at the 4 months intervals...If I use your very helpful example, I might have something for June instead of July, May instead of March, etc....

Also, I would still love to hear others' thoughts / experiences on the below questions...

If the correspondence is addressed to Mr. and Mrs. (e.g., Mr. and Mrs. Adam Smith) and doesn't specifically state my name, would that still be acceptable?

If the statement has a bill date of June 28, 2016 but the payment due date is noted to be 12 July 2016, can we count it as a July 2017 correspondence?

I feel silly asking these very specific questions but I get a sense that these requirements are super strict....!?!?!

THANK YOU!

Hello,

My husband and I have combed through any paper documents we have but we just don't have enough in my name that meet the every 4 months interval... In that case, what have others done? Should we ask for the paper statements to be re-printed like the bank statements and utility bills?

It's worth a try if you are completely struggling.

Do you know if the school tuition statements or any correspondence from our children's school would be deemed an appropriate form of correspondence?

Again, if you have nothing else, I would include that rather than not sending anything for that time period.

How strict are they on the every 4 months requirements? We have gone through all our paper files and I can't find the appropriate documents at the 4 months intervals...If I use your very helpful example, I might have something for June instead of July, May instead of March, etc....

You should do your very best to spread them out evenly, (how does it look if you use letters from the school?) but you can't use what you don't have. 

Also, I would still love to hear others' thoughts / experiences on the below questions...

If the correspondence is addressed to Mr. and Mrs. (e.g., Mr. and Mrs. Adam Smith) and doesn't specifically state my name, would that still be acceptable?

This is not ideal, I would only use this if you had no other option.

If the statement has a bill date of June 28, 2016 but the payment due date is noted to be 12 July 2016, can we count it as a July 2017 correspondence?

Then it would be for June.

I feel silly asking these very specific questions but I get a sense that these requirements are super strict....!?!?!

It's fine! There are no silly questions.  

THANK YOU!

Hello,

So I've now gone through and the best I can do with correspondence supports are as follow...

November 2016          My employment offer letter
March 2017                 Council tax
July 2017                     Nothing but instead August 2017 HMR letter
November 2017          HMR letter
March 2018                 Nothing but April 2018 Bank statement
July 2018                     HMR letter

I have documents from 3 different sources but 2 of the 6 correspondences are not exactly 4 months apart but rather a month afterwards.

3 questions:

1) Would this be an issue and should I continue to see if I can get some statements re-printed for the missing months?

2) Should I include more statements in between the 4 months intervals to provide documents with other sources and to further support my continuous residency together with my husband over the last 2.5 years?

3) I'm not planning to put my employment information down for the financial support section as my husband's income is sufficient. With that, do you think providing my employment offer letter as one of the correspondences is confusing?...

Thank you so much!
Rena

Hello - if anyone can share thoughts on whether not meeting the exact 4 months interval would be an issue, I would really appreciate your thoughts... I'm planning to apply for the premium service but I'm not sure if I should wait a bit longer (my visa expires in mid-September) to see if I can obtain further statements or if I should go ahead with what I have...

Thank you so much!

I'm working on completing the application form (hardcopy) - where do I find the following numbers?

1.11 - IHS (immigration health surcharge) reference number
1.13 - Home office reference number

Thank you!!

I'm working on completing the application form (hardcopy) - where do I find the following numbers?

1.11 - IHS (immigration health surcharge) reference number
1.13 - Home office reference number

Thank you!!

You will get your IHS number once you have paid the healthcare surcharge. https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application/pay

The reference number, some people use any reference no. that they have received in previous correspondence from UKVI but I always just left that blank. It's just another identifier and you have already provided plenty of those, they know who you are.