ILR - letter from employer and dates

[stella2022]

Hi
I'm trying to find clarification:

I am on a work visa, coming up to 5 years next year. I have a dependant wife, and child (3 years old). The cost of the ILR is stated as £2,400 per person.
Will that cost also be for my dependants? ie Total Cost is £2,400 * 3 = £7,200, or is there a reduced fee for a child? It seems a bit much to charge the same for a child dependant.
Thanks

[CR001]

There is no reduced fee. Each applicant pays rhe standard fee. If you opt for priority or super priority, each applicant pay that fee too.

You are applying for a status, ie ILR, why should the age matter in relation to the fee?

Is your child uk born or born abroad?

[stella2022]

My child was born in the UK.

I only ask because there was a reduced fee for the work visa fee, and renewal fee for her.

[mmt]

I am in the same situation as you. If the baby is UK born then you can register him/her as citizen once you get the ILR. So basically you can apply for ILR for yourself and your partner. Once one of you get the ILR, you can register the baby as citizen, which costs slightly less, around 1300£.

[CR001]

You don't need to apply for ILR for a UK born child if you intend applying for british citizenship.

[stella2022]

That's cool.

So:
1. My wife and I apply for ILR.
2. Once we get ILR, then child can be registered as British Citizenship, and apply for British passport
3. After one year of my wife and I having ILR, we can then apply for British Citizenship + passport

And just to be sure, the one year of having ILR is from the date of the end of my work visa (start date of ILR), and not one year from receiving approval of ILR?

[CR001]

1. Correct.

2. Correct. Register the child as British on form MN1 and once approved and certificate received, apply for a passport.

3. It is from the date of ILR approval. Your work visa end date is irrelevant to the citizenship application.

[stella2022]

Thanks for clarifying.

So for those intervening months when we're not on a work visa, but don't yet have ILR, we can't travel at all?

[CR001]

You cannot travel out of the uk while you have an application pending with ukvi. If you do, your application will be considered withdrawn and you lose the fee paid and if you work visa has expired, you will not be able to return to three days uk.

When you apply for ILR before your visa expires, while the application is pending, your existing work visa conditions continue under section 3C of the immigration rules, even if your subsequently does expire.

[secret.simon]

So for those intervening months when we're not on a work visa, but don't yet have ILR, we can't travel at all?

As CR001 has advised above, when you have any immigration (upto and including ILR) application pending before the Home Office, any departure from the UK is treated as an automatic withdrawal of the application.

That does not apply to naturalisation or child registration applications.

[stella2022]

I had a question on payment for ILR, for anyone who has gone through the process.

I will be applying this year for myself and my wife who has been a dependant on my skilled work visa.

Do we apply separately, as we did for the work visas, or do I just do one application for both of us, but pay once?

The reason I am asking is regarding the cost. If there are two separate applications and payments to be made (one for each of us), then that would help, instead of having to make one £5k payment.

Thanks

[zimba]

You can apply together or separately. You end up paying the same amount but if apply separately, it will be in two transactions

[stella2022]

Thanks @zimba

If I am fast tracking the application, then I guess it makes sense to do it as one application.

[stella2022]

I have a naric statement of comparability for my south africa degree, which states that it is comparable to a UK masters degree. But it doesn't make any mention of the english language level at all.
Am I correct in thinking that the statement needs to explicitly state the english language level for the degree, given that South Africa is not an English majority speaking country?

[zimba]

I have a naric statement of comparability for my south africa degree, which states that it is comparable to a UK masters degree. But it doesn't make any mention of the english language level at all.
Am I correct in thinking that the statement needs to explicitly state the english language level for the degree, given that South Africa is not an English majority speaking country?

Correct, that cannot be used as a proof of knowledge of English: indefinite-leave-to-remain/ilr-ho-does- ... l#p2096904

[stella2022]

I will be applying for ILR in August (from skilled worker visa) and my wife will be applying as a partner.

Besides the formal documents requested for my wife to apply (which we have), for example:
- Marriage certificate
- English proficiency certificate

What other documents will she be required to have? There's not much detail on the official site, and I don't want to be hit with trying to gather tons of documents at the last minute. I've heard other people talking anecdotally about having to produce years of bank statements etc, but what is practically required?

I have at least 2 years worth of rental agreements, council tax bills, water and electricity bills with both our names on to prove we have been living together. What else could I anticipate that might be required?

Thanks in advance

[zimba]

All you need to know about cohabitation evidence

[stella2022]

All you need to know about cohabitation evidence

Thanks Zimba - that's helpful!

[stella2022]

I will be applying for ILR in the coming months, and would like to do the priority service to get a quicker result.

However, when doing my skilled worker application a few years ago, I wasn't able to use the priority service for that application as I had previously had a visa application denied (long story - document missing). I can't find anything online about a similar rule for ILR - wondered if anyone would be able to confirm if I could still use the priority service?

[AmazonianX]

It was never a rule but a recommendation that if the was a previous adverse immigration history or refusal, much scrutiny may be on the application hence putting paid to reason for using priority service.
Applicants have can still try the service and get fast or quick decision while others with pristine history can still go the long haul of 6+ months.

[stella2022]

I will be applying for ILR after 5 years on a skilled worker visa.

My wife will be added as a partner/dependant on my application.

gov.uk states that one of the requirement is that:

'You must both have enough income to support yourself and your dependants'

We do also have a 3 year old daughter. My wife doesn't work.

Questions:

1. I presume when it says 'You must both...' it means that our combined income? In which case, this would be my salary.
2. What is the salary that is enough in this scenario (1 wife and 1 child as dependants).
3. Would I just require my payslips and bank statements to prove this?

Thanks

[zimba]

1. There is NO financial requirement for dependants at all. No need to provide any evidence for this. Simply showing that you are cohabiting and paying bills, accommodation etc is enough. See: All you need to know about cohabitation evidence
2. You simply need to meet the salary requirements as the main applicant, as per the skilled worker rules.
3. You need you last payslip and ban statement only

[stella2022]

All you need to know about cohabitation evidence

I've seen this quote around the forum - `You only need 2 years evidence, from 3 to 6 different sources in joint or individual names, spread evenly for every 3 to 4 months`

If I'm reading that correctly, I could use for example (all in joint names)

24 months ago - electricity bill
21 months ago - water bill
18 months ago - electricity bill
15 months ago - water bill
12 months ago - council tax
9 months ago - electricity bill
6 months ago - water bill
3 months ago - council tax
0 months ago - electricity bill

That's 3 sources, with no more than a 3 month gap, for 2 years?

[zimba]

Yes

[stella2022]

I will be applying for ILR soon. My 5 years (skilled worker) started on 31/08/2019 (date of vignette), so the earliest I can apply is the 3/8/2024 (28 days before 31/08/2024).

I have a couple of queries:

1. I'd like the application to be done as soon as possible, and I have seen threads with comments saying that you can do the online application earlier, and then book a date for the in-person biometric stuff to be done within the 28 days.
So for example, I do the online application in late July, and then book the biometrics for 5 August 2024, the application would be deemed to have been within the 28 days? Is there any documentatioI would like to do the fast track (5 days).

I found this paragraph (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... idence.pdf), but it's not very clear to me what this means? What are they counting backwards to? What does the date of application refer to here - the online application or the biometric appointment?

You must count backwards from whichever of the following is most beneficial to the
applicant to see whether they meet the qualifying period:
• the date of application
• any date up to 28 days after the date of application
• the date of decision

2. If done as above, when should all be documents be up to? For example, a bank statement up to 4 August, or would it be for late July. Or in general is it up to the previous month (July?). Do I have to bring all the paper documents to this bio-metric appointment? I think I remember from the skilled visa renewal, that I had to upload the documents before the appointment?
3. From what I can tell, I also need a letter from the my current sponsor of the skilled visa to say that I will continue my position. Is there a template of what exactly this letter needs to say, and for when it should be dated?

Thank you.