FLR(M) checklist

Hi all,


Happy new year! I thought I would post here sooner rather than later because everyone will soon be busy with their celebrations soon. I’m sending in the application to switch from my Spousal Visa to my FLR(M) in the next couple weeks as it’ll be 30 months (minus the 28 days) since I first arrived in the UK (July 2017). I squirrelled away enough money that I can afford the in-person service, and I’ve digitised all of this so it’s just a matter of uploading it all when I actually apply.

So I just wanted to run my checklist through you all so I can make sure I’m not missing anything.

Applicant

• Copy of current passport (I have no other passports)
  

Sponsor
Copy of my husband’s current UK passport (has no other passport)

Finances

• 6 months certified payslips (June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec 2019), dated within 28 days
• 6 months certified bank statements showing the deposit of every single payslip (June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec 2019), dated within 28 days, all pages are stamped by my bank
• Letter from my employer (dated within 28 days) stating ALL of the following: current employment and salary, length of employment, length of time earning current salary, type of employment and confirming that my payslips are accurate

Accommodation

• Tenancy agreement for current residence
• Optional: The Section 21 No Fault eviction letter from my previous landlord which has my first UK address on it, dates, etc
• Optional: The letter I got with my last visa rejection

Relationship

• Marriage certificate
• 6 correspondence documents in both our names, the dates are a bit wonky as our bills normally are paid every three months so there was no good way to divide it evenly

Water bill, joint - Sept 2017
Council tax, joint - March 2018
Electric bill, joint - June 2018
Electric bill, joint - Dec 2018
Council tax, joint - March 2019
Water bill, joint - Sept 2019


Questions/confirm :
 
The visa application asked for both mine and my husband’s national insurance numbers. I’ve put both of them on the application. Do I need to scan both cards in as evidence for my visa?

Do you have a valid national identity card? I put ‘No’, but does this count my BRP?

What is the start date of your current visa or leave to remain? I put ‘30 July 2017’ as that is the date stamped on my visa vignette when I entered the UK on my current spousal visa, but should it be the start date on my BRP?

What type of visa, leave to enter or remain or other permission do you have to be in the UK? I put ‘Settlement’ – but is it a family visa?

Have you previously lived in a country outside the UK including your country of birth? I said ‘yes’ because the including your country of birth makes me think that I should say yes. For reference, I’ve only ever lived in the UK and the US.

What family or friends do you have in the country where you were born and/or any other country whose nationality you hold? I only listed my immediate family (mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, sister) as I am not close to anyone else in my family. I also only put their city/state of residence. Is that okay? Do I need to put the whole address?

Your immigration history - previous visa refusal I was refused a visa in January 2017 (actually why I joined this forum for advice  ). The application said I needed to put the reason for refusal, and I put: the type of visa refused, the date listed on the refusal letter from UKVI, the reference number and case ID on said letter. I put the reason as “did not meet/have enough evidence of financial requirement of a gross annual income of £18,600”, as I hadn’t included payslips to cover a six month time period.

Have you ever been deported, removed or otherwise required to leave any country, including the UK? I put ‘yes’ because I was required to leave the UK after my visa refusal (listed in question above). In the section, it said provide details, and I wrote: “Previous visa rejection in 19 January 2017 and was required to leave the UK. Voluntarily left the UK in January 2017.”

Is this the first time you have applied for a partner route, or an extension, with your current partner (including as a fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner)? I put ‘yes’. I currently have a spousal visa, and this is my first time applying for an FLR(M) extension.

When did you start living together in a relationship? I put down the date that I returned to the UK on my current visa. We have lived together previously – should I put that date? Where have you lived together? I put down my original address that I lived with my partner when I first entered the UK on this visa, but we have since moved. Should I have put down my current address?

To answer your questions about the application form:

The visa application asked for both mine and my husband’s national insurance numbers. I’ve put both of them on the application. Do I need to scan both cards in as evidence for my visa?

No, I don't think so. I've never heard of anyone doing that before.

Do you have a valid national identity card? I put ‘No’, but does this count my BRP?

You don't have one. I believe that if they meant BRP, they would have said BRP.

What is the start date of your current visa or leave to remain? I put ‘30 July 2017’ as that is the date stamped on my visa vignette when I entered the UK on my current spousal visa.

No, it should be the start date printed on your BRP.

What type of visa, leave to enter or remain or other permission do you have to be in the UK? I put ‘Settlement’ – but is it a family visa?

This is a really confusing question that catches everyone out, because a settlement visa IS a family visa - they are the same thing... so I'm not sure which answer they are looking for.

I think other people have put Family?

Have you previously lived in a country outside the UK including your country of birth? I said ‘yes’ because the including your country of birth makes me think that I should say yes. For reference, I’ve only ever lived in the UK and the US.

The answer is Yes - it's not a misleading question... it literally says 'including your country of birth', so it includes your country of birth. If you have ever lived in the US, then your answer must be yes.

What family or friends do you have in the country where you were born and/or any other country whose nationality you hold? I only listed my immediate family (mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, sister) as I am not close to anyone else in my family. I also only put their city/state of residence. Is that okay? Do I need to put the whole address?

I think city/state is okay.

Basically, this question is asked in order to find out whether, if your visa was refused, you have any connections at all to your home country that you could go back to. So, you want to list everyone that you know in the US... so that's all family members and any friends you still have back in the US... I'd list as many as you have and/or that you can fit on the form.

Your immigration history - previous visa refusal  I was refused a visa in January 2017 (actually why I joined this forum for advice XD ). The application said I needed to put the reason for refusal, and I put: the type of visa refused, the date listed on the refusal letter from UKVI, the reference number and case ID on said letter. I put the reason as “did not meet/have enough evidence of financial requirement of a gross annual income of £18,600”, as I hadn’t included payslips to cover a six month time period.

Do you have a question about this answer?

Have you ever been deported, removed or otherwise required to leave any country, including the UK? I put ‘yes’ because I was required to leave the UK after my visa refusal (listed in question above). In the section, it said provide details, and I wrote: “Previous visa rejection in 19 January 2017 and was required to leave the UK. Voluntarily left the UK in January 2017.”

Your answer to this question is NO. You have never been deported, removed or required to leave the UK.

They are asking if you have ever been caught and arrested while living illegally in the UK, been detained by UK immigration officers and then been deported or removed from the country. You have not, so you answer No.

Is this the first time you have applied for a partner route, or an extension, with your current partner (including as a fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner)? I put ‘yes’. I currently have a spousal visa, and this is my first time applying for an FLR(M) extension.

No, this is your SECOND time applying. Your first time applying for a partner route was a spousal visa, and your second time is your FLR(M) visa.

If it then asks which FLR(M) visa application you are making, this is your first leave to remain extension visa.

When did you start living together in a relationship? I put down the date that I returned to the UK on my current visa. We have lived together previously – should I put that date?

I would put the first date that you ever started living together, regardless of what country you were living in at the time.

Where have you lived together? I put down my original address that I lived with my partner when I first entered the UK on this visa, but we have since moved. Should I have put down my current address?

I assume they want you to put down all addresses where you have lived together, both in the UK and abroad?

In regards to your documents:

Accommodation:
- Not sure why you are including the eviction notice from the previous apartment, since it is not relevant to this application... you only need to provide your CURRENT tenancy agreement, because you are showing you have somewhere to live in the future

- I believe you are also now asked for your council tax bill as well

- Not sure why you have included your visa refusal letter with your accommodation documents... that goes with the applicant documents

Relationship

• Marriage certificate
• 6 correspondence documents in both our names, the dates are a bit wonky as our bills normally are paid every three months so there was no good way to divide it evenly

Water bill, joint - Sept 2017
Council tax, joint - March 2018
Electric bill, joint - June 2018
Electric bill, joint - Dec 2018
Council tax, joint - March 2019
Water bill, joint - Sept 2019

Your documents need to be evenly-spaced over the last 2 years leading up to the application, so they should be every 4 months, from at least 3 different sources, and they need to cover Dec 2017 to Dec 2019 (or Jan 2018 to Jan 2020 depending on when you apply)

At the moment your spacing is:
6 months
3 months
6 months
3 months
6 months
Which won't meet the requirements.

What you really need is documents from the following months:
December 2017
April 2018
August 2018
December 2018
April 2019
August 2019
December 2019

Do you have any other documents at all that you can use instead? You don't have to just use bills, you can use letters from official sources (HMRC, DVLA, NHS etc.), phone bills, TV/internet bills, bank statements etc. If they are separately-addressed, you just need 1 document each from the same month.

What about monthly bank statements received in the mail? If you have them from every month, you could pick and choose from them.

For example, you could use the August 2019 and December 2019 bank statements from your financial evidence for those months (just scan them twice, once for each section of the application)...  but if they are only in 1 name, you'll need something else in the other name for August and December.

You can use any of the following types of documents:
• Letters or other documents from government departments or agencies, for example HM Revenue and Customs, Department for Work and Pensions, DVLA, TV Licensing.
• Letters or other documents from your GP, a hospital or other local health service about medical treatments, appointments, home visits or other medical matters
• Bank statements/letters
• Building society savings books/letters
• Council tax bills or statements
• Electricity and/or gas bills or statements
• Water rates bills or statements
• Mortgage statements/agreement
• Tenancy agreement(s)
• Telephone bills or statements

In regards to your documents:

Your documents need to be evenly-spaced over the last 2 years leading up to the application, so they should be every 4 months, from at least 3 different sources, and they need to cover Dec 2017 to Dec 2019 (or Jan 2018 to Jan 2020 depending on when you apply)

At the moment your spacing is:
6 months
3 months
6 months
3 months
6 months
Which won't meet the requirements.

What you really need is documents from the following months:
December 2017
April 2018
August 2018
December 2018
April 2019
August 2019
December 2019

Do you have any other documents at all that you can use instead? You don't have to just use bills, you can use letters from official sources (HMRC, DVLA, NHS etc.), phone bills, TV/internet bills, bank statements etc. If they are separately-addressed, you just need 1 document each from the same month.

What about monthly bank statements received in the mail? If you have them from every month, you could pick and choose from them.

For example, you could use the August 2019 and December 2019 bank statements from your financial evidence for those months (just scan them twice, once for each section of the application)...  but if they are only in 1 name, you'll need something else in the other name for August and December.

You can use any of the following types of documents:
• Letters or other documents from government departments or agencies, for example HM Revenue and Customs, Department for Work and Pensions, DVLA, TV Licensing.
• Letters or other documents from your GP, a hospital or other local health service about medical treatments, appointments, home visits or other medical matters
• Bank statements/letters
• Building society savings books/letters
• Council tax bills or statements
• Electricity and/or gas bills or statements
• Water rates bills or statements
• Mortgage statements/agreement
• Tenancy agreement(s)
• Telephone bills or statements

Thank you for this! I honestly get dates/spacings mixed up. And the weird spacing is because our bills only come out every couple months. I do have new docs for:

December 2017: joint, electric
April 2018: joint, council tax for previous flat
December 2018: joint, electric
April 2019: either joint, council tax for new flat OR joint, water bill (new flat)
August 2019: Internet bill, only in husband's name
December 2019: Letter from bank about saving's account, only in my name (well initials, it says 'M K' instead of my first and middle names)

But I don't have anything for:

August 2018

And I've kept literally every bill/piece of official mail that came through our post. But we usually get the bills in March/July/Sept. Is it okay then to use joint-Sept 2018 to fill in the gap that would have been August 2018. I realise that I now have a mix of joint statements and those in only one person's name so am unsure if I have all my documents.

And I've kept literally every bill that came through with both our names on it. But we usually get the bills in March/July/Sept. Is it okay then to use Sept 2018/2019 to fill in the gaps that would have been those August ones. I would include something from December this year, but we weirdly didn't get any mail or post last month. I am tempted to call my water company and ask for a bill in December because we should have gotten one, but it wasn't posted to us.

Change your bank statements to monthly, that way you won't have this problem the next time. 

Change your bank statements to monthly, that way you won't have this problem the next time. 

Yeah, I realised my husband does because I have monthly bank statements for him, but I think my monthly post was accidentally shut off when I opened a digital savings account  Definitely getting that put back on

Yeah, I realised my husband does because I have monthly bank statements for him, but I think my monthly post was accidentally shut off when I opened a digital savings account  Definitely getting that put back on

Yeah, a lot of banks are trying to make you switch to paperless now, but if you can get the monthly paper statements switched on that will help for ILR in 2.5 years (and you need to cover the whole 2.5 years for the relationship documents for that visa).

Yeah, a lot of banks are trying to make you switch to paperless now, but if you can get the monthly paper statements switched on that will help for ILR in 2.5 years (and you need to cover the whole 2.5 years for the relationship documents for that visa).

Yeah, I have to go back to the bank to get one page in my bank statements stamped, just realised they missed one. So I'll be asking for those paper bills again 

Also just realised @ksand24: you said

Your documents need to be evenly-spaced over the last 2 years leading up to the application, so they should be every 4 months, from at least 3 different sources, and they need to cover Dec 2017 to Dec 2019 (or Jan 2018 to Jan 2020 depending on when you apply)

I'm applying (hopefully) this weekend or early next week so I assume I'm still okay to use Dec 2017-Dec 2019 as my time frame

Also just realised @ksand24: you said

I'm applying (hopefully) this weekend or early next week so I assume I'm still okay to use Dec 2017-Dec 2019 as my time frame

Yeah, you should be fine, because it's only the beginning of January, so you're unlikely to have any mail from January yet.

Having said that, the December 2019 document will make it 7 documents, and you only need 6, so you don't technically need that one (you could just use Dec 2017 to Aug 2019, and then your accommodation/financial documents will show you were still living together in Dec 2019).

Another option, depending on what dates you have documents for is to use these months:
January 2017
May 2018
September 2018
January 2019
May 2019
September 2019
(January 2020 - optional extra but not needed)

Really just depends on what documents you have that you can use and which range of months works best for you.

I assume they want you to put down all addresses where you have lived together, both in the UK and abroad?

The form only has a space for one address, at least at the steps I have completed thus far. So do I put the very initial address we lived at together in 2015 when we first started living together or our current one.

The form only has a space for one address, at least at the steps I have completed thus far. So do I put the very initial address we lived at together in 2015 when we first started living together or our current one.

Hmm, I'm not sure - I don't have access to the form, so I don't know what the options are.

My first thought is to put your current address as that seems most relevant... do you know if it gives you an option to list previous addresses on the next page once you have completed this address?

One option would be to list all the addresses you have lived at together on a separate piece of paper and scan and upload it along with your other documents.

Yeah, you should be fine, because it's only the beginning of January, so you're unlikely to have any mail from January yet.

Having said that, the December 2019 document will make it 7 documents, and you only need 6, so you don't technically need that one (you could just use Dec 2017 to Aug 2019, and then your accommodation/financial documents will show you were still living together in Dec 2019).

Another option, depending on what dates you have documents for is to use these months:
January 2017
May 2018
September 2018
January 2019
May 2019
September 2019
(January 2020 - optional extra but not needed)

Really just depends on what documents you have that you can use and which range of months works best for you.

AFTER DIGGING THROUGH MY FOLDERS I did find the front page of a letter dated August 2018 from my husband's professional body (HCPC), but it only has my husband's name on it. Will that work? Or is the balance not even between things in his name, my name and joint bills.

Example:

December 2017: joint, electric
April 2018: joint, council tax for previous flat
August: Letter from HCPC, husband's name
December 2018: joint, electric
December 2018: Letter from HMRC, my name
April 2019: either joint, council tax for new flat OR joint, water bill (new flat)
August 2019: BT internet bill, husband's name
December 2019: Letter from bank about saving's account, my name/initials

I think that covers the sources, and it evens out the balance of joint (4), his name only docs (2) and only my name (2)

The application says:

If you do not have enough items in your joint names, you may also provide items addressed to each of you individually if they show the same address for both of you. For example - 4 items of correspondence in joint names to the same address and 2 items addressed to each partner at the address. In total 8 items would need to be submitted.

So I think I've got it this time???

AFTER DIGGING THROUGH MY FOLDERS I did find the front page of a letter dated August 2018 from my husband's professional body (HCPC), but it only has my husband's name on it. Will that work? Or is the balance not even between things in his name, my name and joint bills.

The whole point of the correspondence documents is that you are proving you were living in the same house as each other at the same time (in the same month).

So, you need 1 document in each name for each specified month (i.e. if not jointly-addressed, you need 2 documents for that month, one each), ideally dated as close to each other within that month as possible... therefore, if you have a document for him from August 2018, you must also have a document for you from August 2018, preferably dated within a few days of his document.

So, in regards to your document list, you currently have:

December 2017:
1. Him = Joint electric
1. You = Joint electric

April 2018:
2. Him = Joint council tax
2. You = Joint council tax

August 2018:
3. Him = Letter from HCPC, husband's name
3. You = ?

December 2018:
4. Him = Joint electric
4. You = Joint electric

April 2019:
5. Him: Joint council tax or joint water bill
5. You: Joint council tax or joint water bill

August 2019:
6. Him = BT internet bill, husband's name
6. You = ?

[Optional = December 2019:
7. Him = ?
7. You = Letter from bank]

So, you are missing 2 documents in your name (August 2018 and August 2019) to match his two August documents (this is where receiving monthly bank statements can come in handy, because if you had them, you could just add your August 2018 and August 2019 bank statements to his August documents).

I wouldn't worry too much about December 2019 though, as it's not required anyway, so you can always just leave that one out.

I'm not sure if I missed something in an earlier post or not, but for the months where you only list mail for either yourseld or your husband, that isn't enough. If both your names aren't on one letter, you need a letter each for yourself and him for the same month. Otherwise, it defeats the point that they want to see you are both living there at same time.