— Do you have any family in your country of birth, nationality or any other country where you have lived for more than 5 years?
Does this just refer to immediate family such as mother? Surely this doesn’t mean cousins etc. For immediate family just would just be my wife’s mother.
They mean every single relative you can think of.
— Do you have any friends in your country of birth, nationality or any other country where you have lived for more than 5 years?
We can’t remember what we put on the previous application. Does this matter if the answer is different now to what it was previously? We have included this time around the details of 2 friends living in America.
I doubt they will know what you put on the last one.
You should list every single friend you can think of in the US.
— Are you part of any social groups or do you have any other cultural ties in your country or birth, nationality or any other country where you have lived for more than 5 years?
Not entirely sure what this question means, but if you answer ‘no’ it asks for reasons why your or your family would not be able to integrate into any of these countries?’
We put ‘no’ because ‘all of my social networks are now within the U.K. having lived here for 5 years.’ This is the truth, so hopefully this is sufficient?
They mean things like church groups, cultural centres/groups, local communities etc.
If you don't have any, then just say No.
Basically, all of the above questions are to find out whether, if your ILR was refused, you have a community and/or family and/or friends you could go back to in the US.
— For evidence of my settled status within the U.K. it says I need to supply a copy of my passport and that this should include copies of every page including any blank pages.
Is this right? I know documents need to be scanned now but this is a lot of scanning of blank pages.
I'm not sure this applies to you, because you do not have settled status in the UK.
— When did you first meet your current partner?
Does this mean face to face? Because we had known each other and been together online for 6 years before meeting.
The answer for face to face meeting is 12 Feb 2014.
I would go with the face-to-face meeting date.
— The follow you question to this is when did the relationship with your partner begin?
The answer for when our relationship began was 31 October 2008.
However I’m concerned that they may think it is in error if we put the date of our relationship starting before we actually met.
I doubt it will be an issue, but you can always make a note of this somewhere on the application, or include a note in the cover letter explaining the difference in dates.
What did you put on your last 2 applications for this question?
— Could you and yours partner live together outside the U.K. if necessary?
Surely the answer to this is ‘no’ as I do not have an American visa. Is this right?
No, the answer is YES.... because you COULD get an American visa if you needed to. Just because you don't have one right now, doesn't mean you can never apply for one.
Not to mention, you could get visas to live in a number of other countries around the world as well.
Suitable reasons why you could not live together outside the UK would be:
- your life would be in danger if you returned to your home country (i.e. because of war, terrorism, famine, natural disasters
- you have no family or friends or support system in your home country
- your spouse is permanently banned from entering the US and will never, ever be allowed to step foot on US soil
- you and your spouse would not be eligible to apply for a visa for any other country in the world (i.e. due to criminal convictions)
— It asks the question about employment in the last 6 months and whether I have earned the same amount above the financial requirement. I have, however sometimes I am paid extra depending on how much travel expensive is reimbursed to me. However my actual salary remains the same.
Should we therefore answer this:
A) the same amount continuously, above the financial requirement or;
B) not the same amount continuously, above the financial requirement
Answer A.
If you answer B, the form seems to think that means you do not qualify under Category A and therefore must supply 12 months of payslips and bank statements... which is not the case if you have been earning above £18,600 with the same employer for 6 months.
— Under the list of mandatory documents it requests ‘All previous passports, travel documents or national identity cards that you have used to travel to or remain in the U.K.’
My wife had to renew her passport in 2016 and we used her original passport (the one applicable to her entry in June 2015) as part of the FLR application yet since then this has been misplaced. Will it cause an issue if we only have a copy of her current passport at hand? We also obviously have her BRP from her previous FLR.
Everything is scanned and uploaded now - you do not send anything by post anymore... so, just scan and upload the copy of her passport. You can always include a note to say it's a copy as the passport has been lost.
—Other questions—
— I have a letter from my employer confirming my employment status and the payslips authenticity.
Does my P60 or the payslips themselves need to have a signature and date on them from payroll or other senior official at my place of employment or are they OK as they are so long as I have the letters?
No, as long as the letter verifies the details and amounts on each payslip (and the P60 if required), they do not need to be stamped or signed.
The payslip requirements:
(bb) Payslips must be:
(i) formal payslips issued by the employer and showing the employer’s name; or
(ii) accompanied by a letter from the employer, on the employer’s headed paper and signed by a senior official, confirming the payslips are authentic
— We recently remortgaged the property we live in on 20th February 2020 and have a letter which basically says ‘thank you for remortgaging with us your month payments are £X’ from NatWest. Is this sufficient as we wouldn’t have a mortgage statement at the moment?
I would include both the letter and your latest annual mortgage statement (the one issued before you remortgaged).
