Anxious and frustrated

I know it's not for a while, but I am really starting to worry about my next visa. I still don't have much mail with my name on it. My husband tried adding me to the council tax. He then received a bill in the mail with his single occupancy discount taken off, but my name was not on it. We live in a council flat, and he went to a civic centre in Hounslow to inquire about getting my name on the council tax bill. They said my name wasn't on the bill because I am not on the tenancy agreement, but that they would send a form for the "change of circumstances." My husband was reading the form yesterday, and it stated that only British citizens and people with ILR could be added to the tenancy agreement. I am very worried about what to do now. It seems like it would be much easier to get my name on bills if I can get it on the tenancy agreement and council tax. I have so far been unsuccessful in getting a bank account. The only other bill I have been added onto was the gas and electric, but we have a prepaid meter for that. I don't know if anything will come in the mail. I am worried that we will end up having to move once I have a job (I still haven't received my National Insurance number and am waiting on that before I apply), and it will be somewhere MUCH more expensive than a council flat. I am not sure how we would be able to afford a flat in this area.    I know I am very lucky that I managed to get my visa and move here. I just hope we are able to sort this out somehow.

I know it's not for a while, but I am really starting to worry about my next visa. I still don't have much mail with my name on it. My husband tried adding me to the council tax. He then received a bill in the mail with his single occupancy discount taken off, but my name was not on it. We live in a council flat, and he went to a civic centre in Hounslow to inquire about getting my name on the council tax bill. They said my name wasn't on the bill because I am not on the tenancy agreement, but that they would send a form for the "change of circumstances." My husband was reading the form yesterday, and it stated that only British citizens and people with ILR could be added to the tenancy agreement. I am very worried about what to do now. It seems like it would be much easier to get my name on bills if I can get it on the tenancy agreement and council tax. I have so far been unsuccessful in getting a bank account. The only other bill I have been added onto was the gas and electric, but we have a prepaid meter for that. I don't know if anything will come in the mail. I am worried that we will end up having to move once I have a job (I still haven't received my National Insurance number and am waiting on that before I apply), and it will be somewhere MUCH more expensive than a council flat. I am not sure how we would be able to afford a flat in this area.    I know I am very lucky that I managed to get my visa and move here. I just hope we are able to sort this out somehow.

I'm sorry it's been hard.

Regarding the mail, have your US bank and credit card statements sent to you here. Write to HMRC with a benign question such as "will I need to file taxes once I start working?" they will reply by post.
Enrol at the doctor and find a dentist, those should both generate mail. See about applying for a joint bank account with your husband, try different banks.

And hang in there, it'll all fall into place soon.. you're doing everything right! 

I'm sorry it's been hard.

Regarding the mail, have your US bank and credit card statements sent to you here. Write to HMRC with a benign question such as "will I need to file taxes once I start working?" they will reply by post.
Enrol at the doctor and find a dentist, those should both generate mail. See about applying for a joint bank account with your husband, try different banks.

And hang in there, it'll all fall into place soon.. you're doing everything right! 

Thank you, I have just updated my US bank and credit cards with my UK address. I will also try writing to HMRC. I've enrolled at the doctor, but they never sent me anything. I had to call them to find out my registration had gone through. I will look into finding a dentist and continue the search for a bank.

Be careful with changing your US credit card address to the UK... some card issuers will close the credit account when they learn of the non-US address.

Be careful with changing your US credit card address to the UK... some card issuers will close the credit account when they learn of the non-US address.

That's a good point. Hopefully they should at least give you the opportunity to change back to a US one if they are one of those which objects to a UK address.

That's a good point. Hopefully they should at least give you the opportunity to change back to a US one if they are one of those which objects to a UK address.

Ours (Cap One and BofA) have an option to have a home address and a mailing address. We left the "home" address in the USA and the mailing one here. The hardcopy that arrives to us here (until I switched back to paperless) was perfect for this sort of thing - proof of residence.

My husband was reading the form yesterday, and it stated that only British citizens and people with ILR could be added to the tenancy agreement. I am very worried about what to do now. It seems like it would be much easier to get my name on bills if I can get it on the tenancy agreement and council tax.

It's good that your council had that. Adding your name to a council (LA) tenancy would be a breach of your visa as that is classed as public funds.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-funds

From page 14
"A joint tenancy cannot be granted to 2 or more people if any of them is a person subject to immigration control who is ineligible for local authority housing. This applies both to local authority housing and to housing which is provided by a housing association as the result of a referral from a local authority.  A sole tenancy may be granted to someone who is eligible (for example a British person or person settled in the UK) but whose spouse/partner is not eligible. The ineligible spouse or partner is not counted as accessing public funds as a result of this."

Ours (Cap One and BofA) have an option to have a home address and a mailing address. We left the "home" address in the USA and the mailing one here. The hardcopy that arrives to us here (until I switched back to paperless) was perfect for this sort of thing - proof of residence.

I have Bank of America as well. I changed my account address to the UK. I don't recall seeing the options for both home and mailing and will have to check later.

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It's good that your council had that. Adding your name to a council (LA) tenancy would be a breach of your visa as that is classed as public funds.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-funds

From page 14
"A joint tenancy cannot be granted to 2 or more people if any of them is a person subject to immigration control who is ineligible for local authority housing. This applies both to local authority housing and to housing which is provided by a housing association as the result of a referral from a local authority.  A sole tenancy may be granted to someone who is eligible (for example a British person or person settled in the UK) but whose spouse/partner is not eligible. The ineligible spouse or partner is not counted as accessing public funds as a result of this."

I had no idea it was still considered public funds even if he's not on housing benefit. Thank you for the info.

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I have Bank of America as well. I changed my account address to the UK. I don't recall seeing the options for both home and mailing and will have to check later.

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In a pinch, if you don't have that option, you can open a BofA savings account online. Move some money into it. Keep your USA address on that one, and have your UK address on your checking account.

Update: We were finally able to open a joint bank account! My husband was able to transfer the TV licence to my name, and we went back to MetroBank. They accepted that along with my letter from DWP. We are set up to receive our statements in the mail. We are also switching our gas and electricity  from prepaid to a monthly bill, so I should be able to get my name added to that as well. I haven't received anything from my bank or credit card companies in the states yet.

I am hoping that since they approved my visa without a letter from the housing council, they will approve my FLR(M) in 2.5 years without it (as long as we write a letter explaining our situation like we did last time).

Fingers are crossed for you that things go a bit less stressfully from here on out!