OLD FLR(M) waiting times Thread

[kolaxy]

Here is my spouse's time line

Application Sent on: 29/12/2015
Application delivered to HO on:30/12/2015
Application fee deducted on: 04/01/2016
Biometrics Letter arrived on: 08/01/2016
Biometrics done on: 09/01/2016
Request for Additional info: 05/02/2016
Sent Additional Info on:12/02/2016
Additional Info delivered to HO on:15/02/2016
Visa Issued(next day) on:16/02/2016
Passport/Docs/Biometric card received on:18/02/2016

7 weeks in all. If you're still waiting for your visa, I wish you all the best of luck. Thanks everyone especially CR001.

[talal22]

Hello everyone first of all I would like to thanks this website it was very helpful i got my wife visa extended and here is the time line

Application Sent on: 20/01/2016
Application delivered to HO on:21/01/2016
Application fee deducted on: 25/01/2016
Biometrics Letter arrived on: 27/01/2016
Biometrics done on: 27/01/2016
Passport and Docs received on:17/02/2016
Biometric card received on:18/02/2016
Very pleased with the result it took only 4 weeks
all the best for everyone .

[ansarf]

Hello everyone first of all I would like to thanks this website it was very helpful i got my wife visa extended and here is the time line

Application Sent on: 20/01/2016
Application delivered to HO on:21/01/2016
Application fee deducted on: 25/01/2016
Biometrics Letter arrived on: 27/01/2016
Biometrics done on: 27/01/2016
Passport and Docs received on:17/02/2016
Biometric card received on:18/02/2016
Very pleased with the result it took only 4 weeks
all the best for everyone .

HI
CONGRATULATIONS It was really quick .. could you please tell me the documents you submitted as i am employed and my wife is self employed and we are relying on income from both please if you can help..

Thanks

[K_Karan]

Hello all,

I am silent follower of this forum, thanks to everyone for their posts in this forum. Really helped a lot. I applied for my wife's extension last month and got the documents back today. Hoping will get her biometeric card in couple of days. Below are the timelines

Application Sent : 21/01/2016
Application delivered to HO : 22/01/2016
Payment Taken : 27/01/2016
Biometrics Letter arrived : 03/02/2016 (with dated 01/02/2016)
Biometrics given : 06/02/2016
Passport and Docs arrived : 19/02/2016
Biometric card : waiting

The processing time was quicker than I anticipated. Glad it is almost over.
Good luck to all who has applied and going to apply.

[oldnavy37]

Hello k_karan did ur wife paid the IHS (Immigration Health Surcharge), if yes, is it everybody no matter the category of ur leave to remain extension except the ILR would pay this money, pls i will be happy if u can reply and also anyone that understand the IHS very well can explain pls.

[K_Karan]

Hi oldnavy37,

My wife's is FL(M) extension and yes we did paid £500. I think so everybody except ILR and short term (less than 6 months) needs to pay.

[uk21411]

Hello all,

I have been member of this forum God knows how many years and I think this is the only forum which has proved time and again very helpful regarding different immigration queries and getting first hand experience of others users who are on the same immigration route. Ever since I got the British passport (it's been more than 2 years now) I have been less active but for last one month or so I have been scanning this particular thread as my wife had her FLR-M appointment today at Solihull PEO (2nd extension - 5 yr route). (**By the way hats off to a gentleman above who fought his case for almost 3 years! You sir are man of steel**)

I thought to share our experience and give something back to this forum for the benefit of other users. I am glad to share this that her extension has been extended up until Sept 2018 and I think she will qualify for ILR in May/Jun 2018. The whole procedure took in total approx. 4 hours. The staff at Solihull PEO was very nice and co-operative and I said to myself that why all these years I applied for my HSMP, Tier-1, Tier-1 extension, ILR etc. etc. through post and went through painful months and months of thinking what would be the outcome of my application. This was my first PEO experience and I would recommend to anyone out there who thinks his/her application is straight forward and all documentation has been provided as per related immigration rules then go Premium...I can't find any other reason to go by post unless you want to save some bucks (at the expense of headache) or you don't want to face Home office staff ?!?

Anyways, back to Solihull PEO. We arrived an hour before our appointment as I was a bit scared getting there late and they turning us back home. However, they will not let you in 10 mins before your appointment so be ready to kill your time by walking around town centre. We went through security (Airport style security, everything was thoroughly checked- even my wallet) and we were asked to wait in a waiting area (not too big, good enough for 15-20 people). My wife was then called and they confirmed fee has been paid and she has IHS reference etc. (Health surcharge). After like 10 minutes we were called at a counter where one of the case worker quickly scanned through our documents, forms and took photocopy of both passports. He then asked a mobile number in case they want to contact us and I provided mine. We were then asked to wait again. After like 10-12 minutes she was called to enrol her biometrics which also took 10 minutes. We were then told that our case is under consideration and will take couple of hours or more so we can go out if we want (to be honest there is not enough space to wait while new applicants are coming so its always better to leave otherwise they will ask you to leave ).. As we were feeling hungry we left and had our lunch etc. there is a John Lewis store nearby and we killed half of our time wandering around the 3-storey good ol' John Lewis. There is a cafe as well. I think we can now act as good salesman for JL as we are very well aware of about half of their catalogue ..

After spending like 3 hours we got a call but not on my mobile (which I provided the case worker) but on wife's phone .. They asked to come back to the office. We rushed back, went through security and were then asked to wait. After like 5 minutes they asked to go to one of the counters where a case worker was waiting for us. We went to the counter where a lady case worker handed us our documents back and confirmed her visa has been extended and BRP will arrive in 5-7 days (almost all documents were returned except my company letter which was addressed to Home office). They will keep all letters which are addressed to them.

Now just to briefly list what we submitted:

- Passports, 2 wife photos, 1 my photo
- 11 photos of Wedding and some 20 odd photos of last 3 years with family, together etc (not sure if you need to submit these photos but i just did no harm in submitting)
- Marriage certificate (again maybe not necessary if you are going for extension but I didn't want to take any risk)
- Tenancy agreement (latest) with a letter from Letting agent confirming that we both are living at this address from so on so date and that the property is fit for x number of people
- Council Tax Bills (Both names)
- HSBC Bank statements for last 3 years (Join acct.)
- Water Bills for 3 years (Both names)
- Wife's NHS appointment letters
- Letter from GP confirming the registration status of both of us and our address
- Wife's dental appointment letters
- My dental appointment letters
- DVLA license wife
- Wife use to do shopping from an online clothes shop - attached all receipts of that shop as they had our address on it
- Electoral letters and postal cards both mine and wife
- Electric, gas, Sky, TV license, HM Revenue tax summary letters (my name)
- P60s
- Bank statements = 8 months (6 months are enough though)
- Salary slips = 8 months
- Letter from Company HR confirming my job title, salary, position and joining date etc.
- Letter from my Company Manager
- Cambridge ESOL PET test result (this was accepted today as it was accepted earlier in her previous application..otherwise it won't be accepted for new case)

Note: Regarding Bank statements if you get your statements every month by post like I do then there is no need to get them stamped. Also, if your salary slips come by post no need to get them stamped.

That was it! I did struggle initially to submit co-habitation letters for my wife as she does not have her name on so many things as she does not work and most of the DDs are set on my account. But, I think whatever we submitted today was enough to satisfy the case worker that we are in a genuine relationship. I will stress though to submit as many documents as possible to satisfy this requirement as this seems to be an important one.

Alright guys, I will take a break now up until Mid 2018

N.B: Any questions please do ask as I will visit this page for next few days and would be happy to help!

Thanks for your extremely helpful post. I would really appreciate if you can answer some of my questions.

I am on a Tier 2 visa, moved to UK in Sept 2014 and have been in the same job since. My visa is valid till Sept 2017. From the time I moved to UK I have been living with my wife (who was my girlfriend back then). She got her citizenship in March last year (she has been living in UK since 2007). We got married 3 weeks back in London.

I now want to switch my visa to a spouse visa. We have multiple letters from banks, NHS, HMRC but they are all addressed to us individually and not jointly. We both have all bank statements from Sept 2014 till now (which were all sent in one big pack by the bank on a special request) but these are not addressed to us jointly. Although our marriage certificate is jointly addressed to our home address. Would lack of jointly addressed letters affect our application ?

The statements our bank sent, I have kept all of them but one sealed in their envelopes. However, these are not 'stamped' by the bank (but printed on the Bank's letter head with their special paper). I asked HSBC that I specifically need these statements for Home Office use and they said they have been sending similar statements to customers for such use. I am not really sure if this is ok.

Please can you let me know how we can put together proof of cohabitation with no jointly addressed letters (although we have many individual letters addressed to the same address). Would it help to put together photographs from last several years ?

Thanks

[ellingham84]

Within flrm (the visa you will use) it requests 6 lots of evidence per couple (if addressed to both of you), alternatively you can submit 6 items of evidence for each of you, or as me and my wife did we issued four pieces of evidence addressed jointly (tenancy agreement and renewal and two electricity bills from SSE) and two items individually to each of us (Thames water bill, HMRC tax code, DVLA and NHS) - this was accepted by UKVI.

With respect to bank statements if sent by post to you they will be accepted. I am also an hsbc customer but I do online banking, before my application I went into my branch and asked them to print out my last six months statements on official bank stationary and issue a letter stating the request and enclosed copies, they understood my requirements and did this (almost) straight away, they also didn't charge me although this may be because online banking was down at the time - this was accepted.

I don't see the harm including some photos, it is what I did with both applications plus it is a nice exercise to do with you partner, it can only have a positive edge!

[uk21411]

Thanks ! Yes photos can never be bad

If we submit 6 documents each (12 overall), do all 6 need to be from different sources ? So we both have bank statements for last 18 months, HMRC and NHS letters and few other things but not sure if we can produce a unique docuemnt for each month (as in 6 docs from 6 sources, different doc for each month eg. NHS letter for august, HMRC letter for September and utility bill for Octorber)

[ellingham84]

See flrm page 62, note 11 for definitive answer but my interpretation is that you can use one source twice, for me that was helpful as our electricity bill was in both mine and my wife's name so we could use two quarterly bills!

I forgot to say before but if you can't provide all 6 items addressed to both of you you should provide a letter stating why, for us I wrote a very simple letter just stating that we have shared financial responsibilities but operate our own bank accounts.

[Mercia300]

Thanks ! Yes photos can never be bad

If we submit 6 documents each (12 overall), do all 6 need to be from different sources ? So we both have bank statements for last 18 months, HMRC and NHS letters and few other things but not sure if we can produce a unique docuemnt for each month (as in 6 docs from 6 sources, different doc for each month eg. NHS letter for august, HMRC letter for September and utility bill for Octorber)

Three different sources is the minimum they ask for and they don't have to be for every single month.

[uk21411]

Perfect ! thanks

[ansarf]

hi
I am applying for flr(M) for my wife.Can any one please help, i am bit confused while filling financial requirements section
As we both were working as self employed until September 2014 .I started salaried employment in Oct 2015 but my wife is still working as self employed.
We are relying on both income mine (Employment) and wife's (Self employment).
My question are
1) do we need to give tax returns for last financial year(For both ) and fill the form according to last year income?
2) Or fill form according to current circumstances i.e. employment(myself) and self employment(my wife) both

P.S. I am at section 7.3 of FLR(M)

Regards

[khan499]

[b]can someone help me[/b]
I'm British Citizen and I want to apply for my wife visa.
Confused to choose route, she been in this country for about 2 years now as Tier 1 Dependant. we have 3 kids british citizens the quickest route might b the 5 years route but I'm not finanacialy strong for this route at this time I'm not claming any benefit except child benefit but thingking to claim some other benefit. if I go for 10 year route will that will b the best option for her and after 8 years she will b able to apply for 10 years long reseidency.
I'll be very thankful plz advise.

[xoheb786]

Hi, I lodged appeal against the decision made by home office on the 21st of November 2015 inside uk and they took the money out of my account on the 23rd of November. It should have been a straight forward decision as they made a mistake but I never heard nothing after that. I emailed tribunal last week and they said they are very busy and unable to confirm a date of hearing. Does anyone know how long do they take to review and make a decision?

Thanks

[uk21411]

Were you missing any documents ? Was this a first application or extension ?

[xoheb786]

Were you missing any documents ? Was this a first application or extension ?

No, I took the pearson test of english before 5th of April 2015 that means it was still valid untill 5th of November 2015 and I submitted my case in September 2015 but they refused by stating PTE is not in appendix O of the immigration rule but it was on 5th of april 2015.

[nnashh]

My application detail as
Sent Application: 15/10/2015
Confirmation letter: 21/10/2015
Biometric Registration: 03/11/2015
Decision Still waiting


After this I did not received any further letter. I contact home office in January 2016. According to them my case is still under process. It is nearly 6 month now and still waiting for result. Please any can guide me what I need to do now. How long I have to wait more.

[gordon750]

See flrm page 62, note 11 for definitive answer but my interpretation is that you can use one source twice, for me that was helpful as our electricity bill was in both mine and my wife's name so we could use two quarterly bills!

I forgot to say before but if you can't provide all 6 items addressed to both of you you should provide a letter stating why, for us I wrote a very simple letter just stating that we have shared financial responsibilities but operate our own bank accounts.

Hi,
Planning to send my wife's application tomorrow, but we only have 3 items of correspondence in joint names - actually 4 but one is dated about a month after the 2 year period [i.e. starting from the end of the previous period of leave under FLR(M)]. We have also included 8 items in my wife's name and 7 in mine. Does anyone with experience of this have any advice? I can write a letter to explain this if necessary.

The main reason is due to the inability of some banks to allow anyone without an NI number to open an account or join an existing one (Santander is one example). We had to quickly find other ways to get joint correspondence but TV Licensing don't provide bills in joint names and neither do Sky. Should I write this in a letter?

[hcl]

Hi all,

I've only just sent my application for FLR(M) last week and I'm waiting anxiously for the ball to get rolling (will be sure to post my timeline once things have started moving).

In preparation for worst case scenario, I was wondering if anyone had any advice for appealing the decision made by the HO if it should come to that. For those who have experienced it, would you recommend using an immigration advisor or lawyer? I'm a bit reluctant to go down this route because I understand this is such a money grabbing industry, taking advantage of desperate people, though knowing little about immigration law myself I wonder if it is the most sensible option regardless of the cost.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

(As a side note: I think mine and my partner's case is pretty straight forward but you just never know! It all depends on the person working on your case)

[ronnimcm]

Hi

I have a very similar case as many others. Here is my current timescale.

Application posted 3 March 2016
Application received 4 March 2016

That is where I am! I am so anxious for them to take my money and send my biometrics letter. This is the most stressful thing I have ever done in life. My first visa was not nearly as stressful. I think it is the thought that you could be declined and your life turned upside down. I followed the checklist and believe my case is straight forward.

I thought the money would have been taken by now. Even just the thought that even though the package was signed for that they didn't receive it is driving me mental! I will update my timeline as things progress. Appreciate the support team!!

[Splitmoon]

My timeframe.
Submitted 05.02.2016
Delivered to HO 08.02.2016
Acknowledgement letter received and request for biometrics letter received and biometrics submitted 16.02.2016
Brp received 11.03.2016 dated 09.03.2016
Passports and documents - waiting
Applied for first leave flr m from inside uk very pleased with such a quick progress. Thanks to Almighty God! Thought the application will not be so straight forward as before I had a visa and was sponsored by ex spouse in a different category. Also applied with my child from first marriage which broke due to DV. Hope because we both got BRP today it means over and our visas are granted?!

[ronnimcm]

Hi

I have a very similar case as many others. Here is my current timescale.

Application posted: 3 March 2016
Application received: 4 March 2016
Payment taken: 10 March 2016
Confirmation letter received: 11 March 2016
Biometrics letter received: 11 March 2016

This is the most stressful thing I have ever done in life. My first visa was not nearly as stressful. I think it is the thought that you could be declined and your life turned upside down. I followed the checklist and believe my case is straight forward.

I will update my timeline as things progress. Appreciate the support team!!

[svatuk]

Hello all here is my partners time line

Application Sent on: 05/03/2016
Application delivered to HO on:07/03/2016
Application fee deducted on: 10/03/2016
Biometrics Letter arrived on: waiting
Biometrics done on: N/A
Request for Additional info: N/A
Sent Additional Info on:N/A
Additional Info delivered to HO on:N/A
Visa Issued(next day) on:N/A
Passport/Docs/Biometric card received on:N/A

Bit worrying as my partners tier-2 company is in suspended mode (not revoked). Not sure HO will accept the financial condition or not. We've used my partner's income £21,000 as the financial support.

Good luck for those who are waiting.

Regards

svatuk

[NomiKaay]

Here is my timeline so far.

Application Sent on: 04/03/2016
Application delivered to HO on:07/03/2016
Application fee deducted on: Strangely enough, they haven't taken out the fee as of today. May be its because I utilised cheque as a payment method.
Biometrics Letter arrived on: waiting
Visa Issued(next day) on:N/A
Passport/Docs/Biometric card received on:N/A