My Experiance of HO when asking for advice re: ILR Spouse

[Jamadar]

Hi

I thought Id share my experiance of the HO Advice line. I called yesterday to ask few questions regarding the application I was due to make for my husband.

These are the following advice I was todl when making an application:

I called to make an appointment for a PEO however was told you have to call 28 days before. My husband's visa runs out on 16/02/08 however he arrived in the UK on 07/03/06. I was told that my application would have to be made 28 dayes before my husband entered teh UK so the earliest I could apply was 07/02/08. Not 28 days before his Visa expires.

I also asked if there was any order to arrange my 20 documents I had to provide as I was a little confused.

I was told to arrange the documents in timeline chronologically. I felt this was helpful. I was told that since your husband has arraived put each document in month order, this is how the Casworkers sort them out, so from March 06 each month up to March 08. The caseworkers need evidence that you (my husband) has lived here for 2 years by providing correspondence/documents for each month in joint names.

My problem is I live with my parents and I only have 1 thing that is in our joint name and that is our bank statment. When I told the person this he treated this as a serious problem and said 'this is the issue we have when couples stay with their parents, you will need more then one item in your joint names' this task has become impossible for me, however I was told that I should submit my application by post and not in person as my application was not straight forward!

This has stressed me out because I have collated as much as I could and even though the application states try to have them in joint accounts but if you cant then in seperate names but of the same number which I have I am not able to provide more joint account details.

Also I was told which makes sense tahts its not the quality the quantity you send in and you should send in everything and anything.

When I stated that my husband has only recently gained a mobile due to mobile providers not giving him a line as he has not been in the country for more than 3 years!! The advice person could not sympathise with this and ended teh converstaion with ensure you have as much documents in your joint names.

I never thought this would be a problem. I will submit my application as I have it and just wait for a decision.

Sorry for teh lenghthy post but I hope iv helped others with this advice. Please reply back with any ideas of how to put docuemnts togeather, overcome my problem and what sort of documents you have included to make sure I have not forgoten any.

Thanks

[SYH]

i would submit via mail, going to PEO with weak evidence will just waste your time

[thesaint]

I am not quite sure it will be the best idea for you or not because it will cost you an extra 500 £
if you sure your ILR will be refused so do not apply for it and apply for FLR(M) at the moment for an extra 2 years extension.

you can say its because your husband did not have a sufficient level of English at the moment and he didn’t pass the life in the uk test yet

During this period you can obtain and collect as many document as you can till he be able to apply for his ILR .
Even more you don’t have to wait the full 2 years once you have a good number of documents you can apply with an explanation why its not covering the full period and it will be accepted

[Jamadar]

Many Thanks for your suggestions.

I know friends and reletives who have submitted their applications and have not had anything in a joint name. I have decided to apply for ILR through post and wish for teh best.

I do have the '20 documents' required I feel this will not change even if I apply for an FLR as I will still not be able to gain documents in both our names as teh likelyhood is we will still be with our parents.

Is it possible to send pictures, wedding invites ect to them aswel??

Thanks

[thesaint]

I thought you don’t have any documents that’s whey I suggest you apply for FLR M but if you have the 20 documents that will be all right as far as I am concern
it has not to be in a joint names it could be your names individually linked to the same address
When I applied for my ILR I didn’t have 20 documents all with joints name
I think you will be alright if you send it by post as john’s advice

See other related post with loads of professional comments

[Jamadar]

Cool, thanks. Yes Im sure I have 20 maybe even more...

Other post??? Do I do a search? Not too sure how to search for proffesional posts? Sorry

Thanks

[VictoriaS]

You don't need ANY joint documents.


Victoria

[JR]

Jamadar,

Co-incidentally, I asked them pretty much the same question as yourself recently, being in largely the same situation as yourself (living with parents, few documents in joint names due to no utility bills) and the person who replied to me didn’t seem to think it was a problem at all.

While most of the email reiterated the stuff in the SET(M) form (also saying that we should include a letter from my parents confirming living arrangements in lieu of a mortgage / tenancy agreement), it finished advising to ‘include as much documentary evidence as possible’.

Our current thought is send every document we have in our joint names (mainly bank statements, a couple of insurance policies and social club letters, somewhere between 6 – 8 in all) and also include one individually-addressed document each for each month over the preceding two years. While this will result in us sending far more than the 20 specified in the SET(M) form, we feel it will let them pick the 20 documents they feel are best and (hopefully) not need to ask us to send more.