My 1st visa set to expire 28/10/2020

Hello all , hope we are all staying safe during this crazy time ...

   My 1st visa is due to expire the 28th of October this year ( thanks for all your help on receiving the correct date on my new card )  I think now is a good opportunity to start looking into the paperwork .. I have been saving mail ( mostly from our banks, the council,the nhs and our water bills )

What months are best to use ?

I am receiving a new copy of our rental agreement

But what else do I need .. is it like the 1st visa where we need all the paperwork I.E bank statements and pay stubs signed within a 25 day periods before we apply .. 


I have proof we have been on holidays together from tui ( all the paper work we had to sign )and different airline tickets ect


Is there a list of paperwork that we do need


Also when do you think the best time to fill out my application And pay the fee ( I was thinking mid to late Sept )


Many thanks for all your help in advance 😊

Hello all , hope we are all staying safe during this crazy time ...

   My 1st visa is due to expire the 28th of October this year ( thanks for all your help on receiving the correct date on my new card )  I think now is a good opportunity to start looking into the paperwork .. I have been saving mail ( mostly from our banks, the council,the nhs and our water bills )

What months are best to use ?

I am receiving a new copy of our rental agreement

But what else do I need .. is it like the 1st visa where we need all the paperwork I.E bank statements and pay stubs signed within a 25 day periods before we apply .. 


I have proof we have been on holidays together from tui ( all the paper work we had to sign )and different airline tickets ect


Is there a list of paperwork that we do need


Also when do you think the best time to fill out my application And pay the fee ( I was thinking mid to late Sept )


Many thanks for all your help in advance 😊

When you apply depends on when you arrived on your spouse visa. You can apply from 28 days before the 2.5 year anniversary of you entering the country, but must apply before it expires.

You will need the same proof of accommodation and financial requirements as before but the relationship evidence is different this time.
Instead of your trips together and the other things you sent the last time, you will need the correspondence addressed to both of you and your marriage and any divorce certificates.

The correspondence should be spaced every 4 months over the most recent 2 years and be in each name (either singly from the same month or joint). You need 6 time periods officially but it's actually easier to use 7, the spacing works out exactly if you do it that way. It needs to be from at least 3 official sources.

When you apply depends on when you arrived on your spouse visa. You can apply from 28 days before the 2.5 year anniversary of you entering the country, but must apply before it expires.

You will need the same proof of accommodation and financial requirements as before but the relationship evidence is different this time.
Instead of your trips together and the other things you sent the last time, you will need the correspondence addressed to both of you and your marriage and any divorce certificates.

The correspondence should be spaced every 4 months over the most recent 2 years and be in each name (either singly from the same month or joint). You need 6 time periods officially but it's actually easier to use 7, the spacing works out exactly if you do it that way. It needs to be from at least 3 official sources.

Good morning Larrabee

I entered on the 2nd of February 2018

So I need 3 pcs of mail for each month ?  Is that 3 pcs per person or combined ?

What do u mean by correspondence Addressed to me and my marriage?

Hi again,

If you entered on Feb 2nd, you reached 6 months in the UK on August 2nd (3 days ago), so, that means you've been eligible to apply for your next visa since July 5th.

Therefore, you can submit your online application at any time between today and October 28th.

The months that you will need to use for the correspondence/relationship evidence will depend on when you actually submit the online application.

You need 1 document in each name (either joint or separate) from each of the months you are using. They must be spaced every 4 months, and from at least 3 different official sources

If you were to submit it this month, in August, you would likely use mail from:
August 2018
December 2018
April 2018
August 2019
December 2019
April 2020
August 2020

But if you submit in September you would use mail from: Sept, Jan and May of each year. And if you submit in October, you would use mail from Oct, Feb and June of each year.

So, it might be an idea to see what documents you can use from which months and work out the best time to apply based on that?

But what else do I need .. is it like the 1st visa where we need all the paperwork I.E bank statements and pay stubs signed within a 25 day periods before we apply .. 

Yes, you need the financial documents, same as last time, for the financial requirement.

You need the new tenancy agreement for the accommodation requirement.

You need your marriage certificate plus the 6 documents from the months above for the relationship requirement.

I have proof we have been on holidays together from tui ( all the paper work we had to sign )and different airline tickets ect

You don't need any of that this time.

Is there a list of paperwork that we do need

Best thing to do is for you to list what you have for each requirement, then we can check if you have everything or if anything is missing... because everyone's application is different, and the documents you need may be different to the documents someone else needs.

Good morning Larrabee

I entered on the 2nd of February 2018

So I need 3 pcs of mail for each month ?  Is that 3 pcs per person or combined ?

What do u mean by correspondence Addressed to me and my marriage?

One piece in each name every 4 months. From 3 different sources.

You need your marriage certificate and any divorce certificates.

Good morning Larrabee

I entered on the 2nd of February 2018

So I need 3 pcs of mail for each month ?  Is that 3 pcs per person or combined ?

What do u mean by correspondence Addressed to me and my marriage?

Just a quick question .. if you have bank statements printed that are stamped ... off from your bank for any of these months could that count as address proof ?

Just a quick question .. if you have bank statements printed that are stamped ... off from your bank for any of these months could that count as address proof ?

Printed and stamped statements are great for the financial requirement but they don't count for the correspondence requirement. For that, they must have arrived to you through the post.

Just a quick question .. if you have bank statements printed that are stamped ... off from your bank for any of these months could that count as address proof ?

For the address proof you MUST have received the documents in the mail in the months that they are dated. You cannot use anything issued online or printed later.

Bank statements printed online (or by the bank) do not prove that you and your spouse were physically living in the house in order receive it in the mail on the date that statement was issued.

This is why we recommend that you turn off paperless billing and bank statements as soon as you arrive in the UK, and you save all your mail for the next 5 years.

For the address proof you MUST have received the documents in the mail in the months that they are dated. You cannot use anything issued online or printed later.

Bank statements printed online (or by the bank) do not prove that you and your spouse were physically living in the house in order receive it in the mail on the date that statement was issued.

This is why we recommend that you turn off paperless billing and bank statements as soon as you arrive in the UK, and you save all your mail for the next 5 years.

Another weird question .. do u have to have the original envelope? 

Another weird question .. do u have to have the original envelope?

No.  But do include all the pages, not just the first page with the name(s) and address on it. 

No.  But do include all the pages, not just the first page with the name(s) and address on it.

Ok just a few other weird questions .. I am so sorry 😐


If a bank statement that was sent in the mail is labeled statement from June -July 2019
Can u use that for June

Also can use stuff from work that’s sent in the mail ?
Like letters and updates to the business ect

And I have paperwork from the home office /it’s not dated but the envelope it came it is stamped at the top .. would I be able to use it ?


Many thanks again for all your help

If a bank statement that was sent in the mail is labeled statement from June -July 2019
Can u use that for June

No, you use it for July, because you would not have received it in the post until July. You either take the last date covered by the statement, or the issue date of the statement, whichever is later.

Also can use stuff from work that’s sent in the mail ?
Like letters and updates to the business ect

It has to be official mail. So if it's from a company with an official letterhead, that should be okay.

And I have paperwork from the home office /it’s not dated but the envelope it came it is stamped at the top .. would I be able to use it ?

No, because it is not dated - it must have a date on the document and be from an official source.

Examples of suitable documents (as per the old paper form):

Examples of acceptable items of correspondence
• 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

No, you use it for July, because you would not have received it in the post until July. You either take the last date covered by the statement, or the issue date of the statement, whichever is later.

It has to be official mail. So if it's from a company with an official letterhead, that should be okay.

No, because it is not dated - it must have a date on the document and be from an official source.

Examples of suitable documents (as per the old paper form):

Thank you ladies for all your help as always .. I think I may be in a bit of a pickle with mail as I didn’t not realise my husband had lot of the bills done on line .. and I’m going to have to figure out something .. we have all our other paper work in place .. just the mail .. we both our on the lease for our house and the water bill is in both of our names that still comes in the post .. most of the stuff from my doctor is not dated for some unknown reason. .., I’m really worried now .. as I have enough mail but not enough for the months I need if that makes sense ..

As I am a really nervous person I’m sure I won’t get much sleep for the next few months and I am sure I will be back with questions ..

Again thank you so much for all you do 😊

Thank you ladies for all your help as always .. I think I may be in a bit of a pickle with mail as I didn’t not realise my husband had lot of the bills done on line .. and I’m going to have to figure out something .. we have all our other paper work in place .. just the mail .. we both our on the lease for our house and the water bill is in both of our names that still comes in the post .. most of the stuff from my doctor is not dated for some unknown reason. .., I’m really worried now .. as I have enough mail but not enough for the months I need if that makes sense ..

As I am a really nervous person I’m sure I won’t get much sleep for the next few months and I am sure I will be back with questions ..

Again thank you so much for all you do 😊

Hopefully if you dig a bit deeper, you'll find what you need.
Right now make sure you have something like a bank statement for each of you coming in every month so you don't have this problem for ILR.
And try not to worry too much. Worst case scenario, you can (must) explain in a letter the reason you can't provide the correct amount/spacing of mail items.

What you could do is list here all the documents you have in joint names, and in your name, and in your husband's name, and then we can help you figure out which ones you can use and hopefully get you sorted with as many as possible.

If you aren't able to provide 6 in each name, or they aren't evenly-spaced, or you don't have the required 3 sources, you just need to write an explanation for why not.