FLR(M) & step children

Hello All,

Hope everyone's well. I'm prepping for my FLR(M) which I should be applying for in mid-late December 2019.

After reading some posts, I got the impression that the children section of FLR(M) has gotten more specific to include ALL children. Is that right? If so, I have a question about my step-kids in relation to my application. This is our situation: My husband has two daughters (9 & 12) from his first marriage. The girls and their mum ("Sally") are all British. Sally lives very nearby and the kids sleep at our house every 2 days (exactly half/half with each parent). Their registered address for school/NHS is their mum's residence. My husband's name is still on the joint mortgage document for Sally's residence, but he has not contributed to payments since they separated and he moved out in 2015. My husband and I rent our house and are both on the tenancy agreement.

On my initial spouse visa application I remember stating that the girls lived with my husband half the time and gave a rough figure of how much money per month was needed for their care. I also believe that I clarified their permanent address as their mum's in my cover letter. I did not need to provide their passports or birth certifications (just their dates of birth, nationalities, UK passport numbers). I also did not include ANYTHING about the fact that my husband's name is still on another mortgage because it honestly just didn't occur to me at the time. However, now I'm not sure if this is relevant info since the kids officially live there? Am I being crazy paranoid?

In terms of the "new" FLR(M), what documents will I need to provide for the kids given our situation? Also, I'm now unsure when answering questions like:

• Do the children live with you? Half the time? Every 2 days? 6 months per year?
• Who is financially responsible for these children? Husband, Sally & Myself?
• Is your sponsor financially responsible for anyone else? Is the answer to this "No" since the kids are covered earlier in this section?

Sorry! Now that I've begun prepping for FLR(M), I'm a complete nutcase  Thanks for the help!

*edit: I should also clarify that there are no official child support or custody arrangements as my husband and Sally's split was very amicable.

Apologies for bumping, but can anyone help?

Hi new-yorkshire,

First of all, don't fret! Just fill out as appropriately as you can. If the childrens' letters are going to the other address, they live with you half the time, and you're all financially responsible, you can clarify all this in a supplemental letter.

As far as I'm aware, their situation is only going to be an influencing factor in the decision if you didn't meet the general requirements for FLR(M) and they have to consider it under one of the other routes - so try not to worry about it

Hopefully someone else will be along soon with some more help for you.

Hi new-yorkshire. I am in a similar situation with two step-children, but I have just applied for and received my ILR/ SET(M). When I was applying for FLR(M) in 2017 I struggled to find any info/ anyone in a similar situation online so I will add my 2 cents even though it does not match your situation entirely. So forgive me, there might be a bit of rambling here!

The paper form that was previously used for FLR(M) did require information about the sponsor's children even if they were British Citizens so it sounds that in the online form that is still the case (I have not seen it though). When I filled the paper FLR(M) form I did have to include proof of their citizenship - copies of the kid's birth certificates, their passport pages but no proof of where they resided like NHS letter etc.

The kids live primarily with their mum and stay with us 1 night a week and every other weekend. So would consider her address their primary residence. I wrote this out in the additional info/cover letter (can't remember exactly but it was written out clearly). As far as I am aware the Home Office is only concerned that your partner/ you make the £18,600 to cover YOU and they don't take into consideration the sponsor's previous relationships and British Citizen children even if they pay child maintenance (as my husband does pay this). There is no official maintenance arrangement in place for my step-children either as the split was amicable and my husband pays monthly more than what was recommended by the official calculator for this.

You might be pleased to know that the new online ILR / SET (M) form asked for more limited info than the FLR(M) form did. I read that this online form is based on algorithms that might tailor the questions depending on whatever info it is linking to in background (previous info they collected from me from FLR (M)? who knows!) it asked:

1. Do you and your partner have any children together?
2. Do you have any children whose parent is not your partner?
3. Does your partner have any children living in the UK from a previous relationship?
4. Provide details of where the children live, who they live with and their relationship with that person. Include the reason they do not live with your partner.
5. Are any of these children subject to immigration control?

I did again provide copies of their birth certificates even though not asked for and I wrote in the form for no. 4- that the kids live primarily with their mum and that they live with us 1 weekday and every other weekend, wrote their names out and dates of birth and stated that they were British Citizens. That was it.

For your FLR(M) q's-

In terms of the "new" FLR(M), what documents will I need to provide for the kids given our situation? Also, I'm now unsure when answering questions like:
Do the children live with you? Half the time? Every 2 days? 6 months per year?
Who is financially responsible for these children? Husband, Sally & Myself?
Is your sponsor financially responsible for anyone else? Is the answer to this "No" since the kids are covered earlier in this section?

Again, I am not sure of your entire situation but if it were me doing this app again, I would state exactly how many days they stay with you a week. And I would also state that the parents are financially responsible for them as that is the case- if you were not in the picture it is down to them frankly. I would also answer NO to the sponsor being financially responsible for anyone else unless there is some kind of mandate in place for alimony?

I am sure someone else will come along with more info but I did fret over the same questions when I filled this out in 2017 and even just last week when I was double checking my ILR form!

best 

Thanks, biscuits & beans 

Man, I thought I'd be more ready to face FLR(M), but it's just as chaotic as the first time around! You'll be seeing a lot of me around here these next couple months

Regarding this bit of evidence: "Evidence of where Miss Step-Daughter's other parent lives - such as utility bills."

In addition to the birth certificates of each step-child, the online application indicates that I need to provide a utility bill or equivalent with their mum's (Sally's) name and address. Does anyone have experience with how strictly necessary this is? Can it be something mentioned in your cover letter if you are not able to obtain it? Also, does it need to be dated within a certain time frame?

While my husband and Sally's split is amicable, I really feel that asking Sally for personal bills is a bit invasive and I would like to avoid it if I can. It's also another person to rely on for evidence and I would hate for this to end up causing a delay if I am waiting on documents from another source.

There's also this: "Evidence of Mrs new-yorkshire's access to Step-Daughter, such as a written agreement between both parents or a child arrangement order"

  UGH! Does anyone know where I can find a template for such an agreement?

I just went through all of this for my first FLR(M). I had to list my British son, despite not being on the birth certificate, nor ever being married to his mother. Our arrangements have also been informal verbal agreements, so there was nothing whatsoever to show "officially". The online form did ask for his Birth Certificate, a copy of his passport, list of all of his foreign travel, proof of his mother's address, proof of interest in his welfare (child maintenance), amongst other things.

In the end, his mother wrote an informal letter stating how often I see my son. She provided travel of month / year, but the online form asked for DD/MM/YY and would throw an error if I left the DD blank. I made up a week period for each and explained in the cover letter the info was unknown.

I referred to my bank statements for proof of financial contributions. I used an NHS letter addressed to his mother as proof of their address. I scanned my son's passport for a copy.

Overall, it was a very uncomfortable situation. My ex and I fell out over 10 years ago and I was essentially pestering her for documents so I could apply for a spouse visa for another woman. It took nearly 3 months to get the little information / documents I could out of her.