Applying for first spouse visa extension

I was so fixated on getting evidence in my wife's name gathered today that I've completely forgotten about myself.

Lol - that's why I kept asking you about YOUR documents... because your wife's documents mean nothing if you don't have documents in YOUR name too .

To make things easier for you, myself and everyone, tomorrow I'm sitting down even if it means not moving all day and I'm getting every letter/evidence in my name out and sorted. I'll then put a list of the documents with dates and then we can take it from there.

I have plenty of letters I can include that's in my name, so I'll crack on and get that done.

Sounds good.

I admit was very confused when I asked about your bank statements and letters, and you didn't answer and just kept telling me about your wife's bank statements and letters

I appreciate you're help & patience. At times I'm not the best person to be dealing with and can unintentionally frustrate others. So my apologies. I'm going to get my butt into gear tomorrow & you'll have a good list of evidence to dissect.

Thank you @ksand24

Don't worry about it - it makes a lot more sense now that we've got to the bottom of it .

Once we have a list of all your documents plus your wife's documents, and any joint ones, we can see which combination of documents from which months will work best .

Hello @ksand24

I'm back again, I ended up sleeping yesterday during the day after I went shopping in the morning, this application process is affecting my sleep along with the humid night.

Here is a spreadsheet of the documents that I have managed to pull together for both me and the wife. GOOGLE SHEET

Having this is one location that will help to keep a track of everything.

The phone bills and broadband bills are PDF documents I can print off, the company is charging £2 per bill to get it printed and sent out. I'm not forking out unnecessary money on that! Now that everything is going paperless, anyone wanting paper bills will need to fork out for them, I don't think this applies everywhere. Three UK and Virgin Media certainly charge you for it.

The Chiropractor invoices, I can get these printed and stamped from them to say that they are originals/certified if I need anymore.

I've requested bills from the start of 2018 for my phone bills to be sent out in an email as PDF attachments.

Hopefully, this goes some way in providing proof of cohabitation.

Thanks,
J

The phone bills and broadband bills are PDF documents I can print off, the company is charging £2 per bill to get it printed and sent out. I'm not forking out unnecessary money on that! Now that everything is going paperless, anyone wanting paper bills will need to fork out for them, I don't think this applies everywhere. Three UK and Virgin Media certainly charge you for it.

Printed PDF statements are not acceptable for the cohabitation documents, I'm afraid, as they were not received in the post. And you can't use backdated mailed statements either, because they can only count for the month you ordered and received them (i.e. June 2020).

The Chiropractor invoices, I can get these printed and stamped from them to say that they are originals/certified if I need anymore.

Again, you can't use these either, because they were not received in the post in the months they were issued.

I've requested bills from the start of 2018 for my phone bills to be sent out in an email as PDF attachments.

Same for the above, backdated bills that you have requested cannot be used either.

_________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Your Google docs file does not specify which documents you actually received in the post (which can be used) and which were issued online (which can't be used, even if ordered).

So, can you list ONLY the documents that you PHYSICALLY received in the post between 2018 and 2020?

I've updated the Google sheet specifying how the evidence was sent/sourced.

If the printed bills that look no different to it being sent in the post, why can't they be used? If I was to request it in the post, each bill is not going to be dated the same date it was posted out. So how on earth would the person checking the application know when the paper bill was received?

That's all I can provide at the moment. At this rate I just feel like getting the bills posted out and paying the £2 per bill and lodge that as my proof of cohabitation. It's bloody nonsense this.

It's really frustrating me out, who on earth puts this criteria together? They need to give their heads a wobble. Right now I wouldn't mind just submitting every piece of paper evidence regardless of spacing it out.   

Why can't this process be made much simpler. Bringing her to this country wasn't this stressful. The wait was.

I really am not feeling too positive about this application now, this is going to give me sleepless nights.

I think 2020 is going to finish me off. 

If the printed bills that look no different to it being sent in the post, why can't they be used? If I was to request it in the post, each bill is not going to be dated the same date it was posted out. So how on earth would the person checking the application know when the paper bill was received?

Well, it's tricky - they might not know.... or it might be that the copies requested actually have the date they were printed on them as well... which will show that they were not mailed in the months that the bills were issued.

We always recommend that you turn OFF paperless for EVERYTHING as soon as the applicant arrives in the UK on their visa, and that you save ALL your mail every month for the entire 2.5 years, so that all of your documents were received in the post.

That's all I can provide at the moment. At this rate I just feel like getting the bills posted out and paying the £2 per bill and lodge that as my proof of cohabitation. It's bloody nonsense this.

I would DEFINITELY pay the £2 per month. You will need those bills for ILR in 2.5 years' time. £24/year is a small price to pay for being able qualify to live in the UK permanently.

I really am not feeling too positive about this application now, this is going to give me sleepless nights.

I think 2020 is going to finish me off. 

Don't stress or panic just yet.

We will work it out... but in order to work it out, we need to look at what documents you CAN use and what documents you CAN'T use, so that we can get everything in order for you.

_________________________________________________ ____________________________________________

From the documents you have listed, you can use:

May 2018
1. You: HM Revenue letter dated 29/05/2018 (source 1)
1. Your Wife: ? (could maybe get away with using the NHS doctor letter dated 17/07/2018)

September 2018
2. Joint: Water Bill 04/09/2018 (source 2)

January 2019
3. You: Doctor letter sent in the post dated 18/01/2019 (source 3)
3. Your Wife: ? (maybe you could get away with the Oldham Council payment receipt dated 20/02/2019, though it was printed and not mailed)

May 2019
4. You: Chiropractor Letter sent in the post dated 01/06/2019 (it's only 1 day away after May) (source 4)
4. Your Wife: NI Number Confirmation letter dated 12/06/2019 (it's only 2 weeks after May (source 5)

September 2019
5. Joint: Water Bill 03/09/2019

January 2020
6. You: Bank statement sent in the post dated 08/01/2020
6. Your Wife: ? (could maybe get away with using the bank statement from 10/12/2019)

Optional extra: May 2020
7. You: ?
7. Your Wife: ?

So, with this list, you have a much better selection with only a couple of documents missing:
- 5 sources
- 6 documents in your name
- 3 documents in your wife's name, but you might be able to fudge it a little to get 6 documents (suggestions above in maroon... i.e. you could write an explanation for the different dates and the printed council payment)

Ok - this is looking less empty now. So we can plug the gaps but with a letter as well explaining.

What on earth do you even say? No one likes us and doesn't mail us stuff? 

What on earth do you even say? No one likes us and doesn't mail us stuff? 

You would explain things like:
- your wife did not receive suitable mail in the months of May 2018, Jan 2019, Jan 2020 (and May 2020) so you are having to use the closest dates you can find
- that the Oldham council payment was not received in the post, but it's all you have
- that your wife didn't open a bank account until late 2019 and therefore doesn't have any statements from before then
- that some of your bills were still paperless and you did not receive them in the post
etc

Ok - this is looking less empty now. So we can plug the gaps but with a letter as well explaining.

Yes - what I was trying to do was fill as many gaps as I could with documents that you received in the mail, so that you would have as little as possible to explain in the letter... because the more suitable mail you have, the better.

You would explain things like:
- your wife did not receive suitable mail in the months of May 2018, Jan 2019, Jan 2020 (and May 2020) so you are having to use the closest dates you can find
- that the Oldham council payment was not received in the post, but it's all you have
- that your wife didn't open a bank account until late 2019 and therefore doesn't have any statements from before then
- that some of your bills were still paperless and you did not receive them in the post
etc

It'll have to do eh? Not much else I can do about it.

She should receive a bank statement in her name next month too, I've put some money into her account that will generate an invoice.

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Yes - what I was trying to do was fill as many gaps as I could with documents that you received in the mail, so that you would have as little as possible to explain in the letter... because the more suitable mail you have, the better.

Absolutely, I'm going to see if there are any more letters I can dig out.

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It'll have to do eh? Not much else I can do about it.

She should receive a bank statement in her name next month too, I've put some money into her account that will generate an invoice.

You should both open accounts, (or open one jointly) which provide a paper statement every month regardless of whether there is any activity.
Alternatively, you could set up a monthly standing order to her account if a deposit does trigger a statement. But remember about yourself too and make sure you have an account which sends monthly statements! 
If you have those statements coming in every month then next time it will just be a case of slotting in a minimum of two other sources and you're done.

You should both open accounts, (or open one jointly) which provide a paper statement every month regardless of whether there is any activity.
Alternatively, you could set up a monthly standing order to her account if a deposit does trigger a statement. But remember about yourself too and make sure you have an account which sends monthly statements! 
If you have those statements coming in every month then next time it will just be a case of slotting in a minimum of two other sources and you're done.

Aye, I'm going to set up a standing order which will trigger the monthly statements. I need to prepare myself better for the next extension so it's a breeze when it comes to providing supporting documents.

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Aye, I'm going to set up a standing order which will trigger the monthly statements. I need to prepare myself better for the next extension so it's a breeze when it comes to providing supporting documents.

While we're on the subject of making life easy for yourself, have her sit her life in the UK test sooner rather than later. It's really good to get that off your plate and not be scrambling at the last moment.

While we're on the subject of making life easy for yourself, have her sit her life in the UK test sooner rather than later. It's really good to get that off your plate and not be scrambling at the last moment.

It's funny you mention that her test is on Thursday.

Fingers crossed she passes it the first time. I'm confident she will do it. She's worked hard for a few months but then the Coronavirus hit & screwed up her momentum & delayed the appointment.

Once this is out of the way, I'll be doing cartwheels on the streets of Manchester.

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It's funny you mention that her test is on Thursday.

Fingers crossed she passes it the first time. I'm confident she will do it. She's worked hard for a few months but then the Coronavirus hit & screwed up her momentum & delayed the appointment.

Once this is out of the way, I'll be doing cartwheels on the streets of Manchester.

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Wow, good for her for being so proactive! Best of luck to her.