Looking for FLR Clarity

Hello! It has been awhile since I have posted here. This community helped to provide support and information regarding the application for the UK Spouse Visa, and I am back again this time for FLR.

I am a US citizen (married a British citizen). I entered the UK on a Spouse/Partner Visa on December 30, 2018. The date is the STAMPED date in my passport. My residence permit expires on 23/09/2020. We are currently collecting our documents and are in the process of submitting for the extension. I have a few questions regarding some of the finer details in our documents...

1. My wife and I have our names on the annual Council Tax bill, however her surname is misspelled (Spelled on the bill 'Borland', but should be correctly spelled 'Borlant'). Is this a major concern and rendered invalid? We have addressed this with the council, but all correspondence has been over the phone, and with no change

2. Another spelling question: since we moved flats, our new Energy provider lists my wife with her full name and my last name. Is this an issue?

3. In terms of printed bank statements, if we print these at home (since we have gone paperless), do we just need these to be stamped by the bank once printed?

4. Is it possible to send too many items? We are considering that if we send documents that have both of our names and address on it we are just "being safe", such as Meter Reading Requests from our Energy supplier. Too much?

5. How evenly must it be spread over 2 years? Here is how we are spreading our documents:

STAMPED entry: Dec. 30, 2017
January 2018 - Tenancy agreement (1st Flat)
May 2018 - Sponsor: joint bank account statement Applicant: joint bank account statement
August 2018 - Sponsor: bank account statement Applicant: bank account statement
January 2019 - Joint water bill
May 2019 - Tenancy agreement (2nd flat)
August 2019 - Joint Council tax bill
January 2020 - Sponsor: Energy bill Applicant: bank account statement
April 2020 - Joint water bill

Thank you for your help with this.

-C

Hello! It has been awhile since I have posted here. This community helped to provide support and information regarding the application for the UK Spouse Visa, and I am back again this time for FLR.

I am a US citizen (married a British citizen). I entered the UK on a Spouse/Partner Visa on December 30, 2018. The date is the STAMPED date in my passport. My residence permit expires on 23/09/2020. We are currently collecting our documents and are in the process of submitting for the extension. I have a few questions regarding some of the finer details in our documents...

1. My wife and I have our names on the annual Council Tax bill, however her surname is misspelled (Spelled on the bill 'Borland', but should be correctly spelled 'Borlant'). Is this a major concern and rendered invalid? We have addressed this with the council, but all correspondence has been over the phone, and with no change

2. Another spelling question: since we moved flats, our new Energy provider lists my wife with her full name and my last name. Is this an issue?

3. In terms of printed bank statements, if we print these at home (since we have gone paperless), do we just need these to be stamped by the bank once printed?

4. Is it possible to send too many items? We are considering that if we send documents that have both of our names and address on it we are just "being safe", such as Meter Reading Requests from our Energy supplier. Too much?

5. How evenly must it be spread over 2 years? Here is how we are spreading our documents:

STAMPED entry: Dec. 30, 2017
January 2018 - Tenancy agreement (1st Flat)
May 2018 - Sponsor: joint bank account statement Applicant: joint bank account statement
August 2018 - Sponsor: bank account statement Applicant: bank account statement
January 2019 - Joint water bill
May 2019 - Tenancy agreement (2nd flat)
August 2019 - Joint Council tax bill
January 2020 - Sponsor: Energy bill Applicant: bank account statement
April 2020 - Joint water bill

Thank you for your help with this.

-C

1- Not a problem.

2-Also not a problem.

3- Stamped on every page by the bank is fine for the financial requirement but is not acceptable for the correspondence requirement. You can only use original posted items for that. So change back to paper statements now to make ILR easier.

4/5-You need 6 joint equivalent items over the most recent 2 years but it works out easier to send 7, the spacing is nice and neat at every 4 months start to finish if you do that.  So have another go with your spacing as you are starting too far back and your spacing is not even.

Welcome back .

1. My wife and I have our names on the annual Council Tax bill, however her surname is misspelled (Spelled on the bill 'Borland', but should be correctly spelled 'Borlant'). Is this a major concern and rendered invalid? We have addressed this with the council, but all correspondence has been over the phone, and with no change

Nope, not an issue.

2. Another spelling question: since we moved flats, our new Energy provider lists my wife with her full name and my last name. Is this an issue?

Nope, not an issue.

3. In terms of printed bank statements, if we print these at home (since we have gone paperless), do we just need these to be stamped by the bank once printed?

If you are using them to meet the financial requirement, then yes. they MUST either be:
- stamped by the bank on every single page
or
- accompanied by a letter from the bank confirming their authenticity.

However, you CANNOT use printed online banking statements for the correspondence documents, as the documents you provide MUST have been physically mailed to you on the dates they were issued, to prove you were both living in the house at that time.

I would seriously recommend turning OFF paperless statements ASAP... because having monthly bank statements mailed to you can be a lifesaver for the correspondence requirement. You should also do the same for ALL other bills if they are also paperless.

4. Is it possible to send too many items? We are considering that if we send documents that have both of our names and address on it we are just "being safe", such as Meter Reading Requests from our Energy supplier. Too much?

For the correspondence documents, you must send:
- 6 documents in each name (either joint or separately addressed - so, 6 joint, or 12 separate, or a combination of both)
- from at least 3 different official sources
- spread evenly over the last 2 years... so one document in each name every 4 months.
- every document you use must be original and received in the mail. You cannot use online bills or statements

5. How evenly must it be spread over 2 years? Here is how we are spreading our documents:

As just mentioned above, it's every 4 months going back a maximum of 2 years for FLR(M)

So, if you're applying soon, you will need documents from the following months:
June 2018
October 2018
February 2019
June 2019
October 2019
February 2020
Optional extra: June 2020

However, looking at the spacing of your listed documents, maybe the following would be better if you have more documents from those months:
May 2018
September 2018
January 2019
May 2019
September 2019
January 2020
Optional extra: May 2020

Thank you for your responses.

So, that part about the correspondence having to be mailed in paper statements is sour news. We have a mix (mostly of bank statements) that we planned on being from online statements. We are going to look for all the mailed in evidence we can, but a lot of the mail is under my wife's name.

If we are struggling to find paper statements that fit the even spread over 2 years, how can we otherwise provide information that meets the requirements?

-C

If you cannot provide all the required documents you need to write a letter explaining why you cannot provide them.

This is the very reason that we recommend you turn OFF paperless for EVERYTHING as soon as you arrive in the UK, keep it turned off for the next 5 years, add both your names to as many things as possible, and save ALL your mail.

You can also use things like:
- NHS letters
- DVLA letters
- HMRC/DWP letters
- letters from the council
- credit card statements
- TV licence correspondence
- phone bills
- TV/internet bills
- electricity/gas bills
- payslips (if they are original and have your address on them)
- letters from insurance companies

Or if you have any other mail saved at all, you might be able to get away with using other things as a last resort


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We are having a look now to see if we have any original mailed in letters from energy companies that have our address on them, whether they are joint or individual. Do letters from our Energy provider regarding tariff increases count? How about NEST Pension letters?

January 2018 - Tenancy agreement (1st Flat)
May 2018 - Sponsor: joint bank account statement Applicant: joint bank account statement
August 2018 - Sponsor: bank account statement Applicant: bank account statement
January 2019 - Joint water bill
May 2019 - Tenancy agreement (2nd flat)
August 2019 - Joint Council tax bill
January 2020 - Sponsor: Energy bill Applicant: bank account statement
April 2020 - Joint water bill

This is our spacing, with the most consistent evidence we can find where we prove we lived together. Again, we understand that the spacing is only slightly off but it is the best we are working with here. We are planning to include a letter with our submission (once we gather more info).

We will continue to look for more mail, but at this point, it is looking more likely we have to fill in the gaps with online statements (verified by the bank or council). Hope to post an update once we gather more info. In the meantime, any advice is welcome. Cheers.

We are having a look now to see if we have any original mailed in letters from energy companies that have our address on them, whether they are joint or individual. Do letters from our Energy provider regarding tariff increases count? How about NEST Pension letters?

Yep, all of those are fine.

For your documents, you do not need anything dated before May 2018, so you can get rid of the January 2018 document. You also do not need the April 2020 document.

Ideally you want something from
September each year, rather than August, because using August, you have 3-month and 5-month spacing instead of 4 months.

However, if you really cannot find anything for September, you could use the August ones and explain in a letter that you have nothing for September.


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Thank you for the timely response.

That clarity is what we were hoping for, so thank you.

Also, we are going through the cash savings route for our financial requirement. My wife has a substantial amount of savings held in a UK bank, untouched. Do we need the 6 months of statements from the month we are applying (this month, June 2020) and then going back 5 or does this month count in the 6 months? Kind of a silly detailed question, but trying to make it as air-tight as we can.

We are on our way to the bank today to get statements and stamps for pretty much everything. As well as a letter from the bank. Fun times!

Also, we are going through the cash savings route for our financial requirement. My wife has a substantial amount of savings held in a UK bank, untouched. Do we need the 6 months of statements from the month we are applying (this month, June 2020) and then going back 5 or does this month count in the 6 months? Kind of a silly detailed question, but trying to make it as air-tight as we can.

Okay, the document requirements are very specific for this.

You must show:
- 6 FULL months of bank statements, covering every single day of the 6 months
- the last bank statement must be dated no more than 28 days before the date you submit the application
- the balance in the account CANNOT have fallen below £62,500 for even 1 day during the 6 months.

So, for example, say her most recent bank statement is dated May 31st, then the 6 months you must cover are:
November 30th 2019 to May 31st 2020

And the statements you send must explicitly cover all the way back to November 30th.

So, you would need to send the following bank statements:

- 1st-30th November
- 1st-31st December
- 1st-31st January
- 1st-29th February
- 1st-31st March
- 1st-30th April
- 1st-31st May


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You must show:
- 6 FULL months of bank statements, covering every single day of the 6 months
- the last bank statement must be dated no more than 28 days before the date you submit the application
- the balance in the account CANNOT have fallen below £62,500 for even 1 day during the 6 months.

All good for this.

At the moment we are just making sure that the documents to show us living together are legit. We have ample proof, just lining it up is a bit of a pain. All the advice has been so helpful, and hopefully people can learn from our experience! 

Just an update:

We have all the financial requirements for the Cash Savings route (Proof of at least £62,500 for last 6 months) as well as bank statements printed from the bank that prove we were living together at the address. This has been verified by the bank, stamped, and we will also provide a letter to explain this. I still have 2 questions:

Does the stamp from the bank (which shows the date) match exactly with the date it is printed? Very minor detail I noticed, but it does not match the day it was printed. That is clearly a mistake by the staff at the bank, but is it an issue?

What do you think is the best way to send in the documents? Is there a specified way to order everything or is it a case of "as long as it follows a timeline" sort of thing?

Thanks for the help! Just making sure we are going about this the right way.

We have all the financial requirements for the Cash Savings route (Proof of at least £62,500 for last 6 months) as well as bank statements printed from the bank that prove we were living together at the address. This has been verified by the bank, stamped, and we will also provide a letter to explain this. I still have 2 questions:

Does the stamp from the bank (which shows the date) match exactly with the date it is printed? Very minor detail I noticed, but it does not match the day it was printed. That is clearly a mistake by the staff at the bank, but is it an issue?

If the bank has printed the statements themselves they are considered original for the financial requirement, so they do not need to be stamped. So, there’s nothing to worry about regarding the stamps. Just send them as they are.

However, because they have been printed by the bank in June 2020. you cannot use these bank statements as proof of living together over the last 6 months... because in order to do that, you must have received them in the post in each month they were issued. You can’t use back-dated statements that were printed and stamped in June 2020, and were not mailed to you, for the correspondence.

So, if you have gaps with your correspondence, instead of sending the stamped bank statements for the correspondence you are missing, you need to include a letter explaining why you do not have any correspondence for those particular months.

What do you think is the best way to send in the documents? Is there a specified way to order everything or is it a case of "as long as it follows a timeline" sort of thing?

Not sure what you mean.

For the financial requirements, you scan each monthly statement into a PDF file, name each file with the month and year as per the instructions on the UKVCAS website, and upload them all to the financial requirement section on the website.

For the correspondence documents, you scan each item of mail, name each file with the type of mail, month and year they were sent in the post, and upload them to the ‘Residence in the U.K.’ section.


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So here is the updated list of documents we have.

Entry into UK (stamped): December 30, 2017
Visa expiry: September 23, 2020
FINANCIAL: Cash Savings route

JANUARY 2018
Halifax Joint Bank Statement

MAY 2018
Sponsor: EDF Energy Tariff Letter
Applicant: NEST Pension letter

AUGUST 2018
--

JANUARY 2019
Joint Thames Water Bill

MAY 2019
Joint Council Tax Bill

AUGUST 2019
Joint Council Tax Bill

JANUARY 2020
--

This is the best we can do as far as spacing and putting together mailed in documents to prove our living together over the last 2 years. We are going to include a letter explaining the reason for the spacing, as well as why we do not have correspondence for 2 of the months (we simply don't have mail that was posted to us to prove). What exactly needs to be said in the letter? Do we need a table of contents page?

Thank you for the insight. Much appreciated. Looking to send this out as soon as we can.

So here is the updated list of documents we have.

Entry into UK (stamped): December 30, 2017
Visa expiry: September 23, 2020
FINANCIAL: Cash Savings route

JANUARY 2018
Halifax Joint Bank Statement

MAY 2018
Sponsor: EDF Energy Tariff Letter
Applicant: NEST Pension letter

AUGUST 2018
--

JANUARY 2019
Joint Thames Water Bill

MAY 2019
Joint Council Tax Bill

AUGUST 2019
Joint Council Tax Bill

JANUARY 2020
--

This is the best we can do as far as spacing and putting together mailed in documents to prove our living together over the last 2 years. We are going to include a letter explaining the reason for the spacing, as well as why we do not have correspondence for 2 of the months (we simply don't have mail that was posted to us to prove). What exactly needs to be said in the letter? Do we need a table of contents page?

Thank you for the insight. Much appreciated. Looking to send this out as soon as we can.

Do you have literally nothing at all between May 18 and Jan 19 and from January 2020 onwards? If you don't have the ideal spacing, something from another month is better than nothing. 
 

Do you have literally nothing at all between May 18 and Jan 19 and from January 2020 onwards? If you don't have the ideal spacing, something from another month is better than nothing. 

Yes, we have joint bank statements verified and stamped by the bank. We are aware that it's not the best proof because it is back dated, but it is evidence of us living together. Same with January 2020.