Getting documents for ILR interview

[clairey]

Hi Guys!

Just found this site looking for some info and I hope someone here can help!

I'm British and my husband is Albanian. He's currently nearly 1 year in to his 2 year extension visa, and I'm now thinking ahead to when we need to fill out form Set M. A few things are worrying me:

As it took us both a long time to find work after getting his fiance visa in Tirana, we've been living with my Mum and Dad. Therefore we've got no utility bills in our names. As a UK resident, I've obviously got a lot of documents, but I'm worried about my husband. He's got a bank account and letters from the inland revenue, but that's about it. Could I use my car insurance, as he's a named driver on it? And his driving license? We're going to get him a contract mobile phone, so he'll have bills from that, and we're trying to get him a credit card, but as he has less than 3 years of addresses, it's proving hard to do. Any suggestions as to what he could use would be gratefully received! Obviously we'd take cards and photos and personal things too.

However, what concerns me most is this. When I met my husband he was in the UK illegally (he claimed asylum pretending to be from Kosovo and was rejected, but stayed in the UK). We put down on the forms that we had met in the UK, but we were never asked about under what circumstances he was there. I don't want to lie if pushed on the subject, but would that go against his application?

Sorry for going on, can you tell I stress over these things???

Thanks for your help

[John]

You are absolutely right to start gathering the evidence together now! Too many people in your situation ... applying for ILR using form SET(M) ... do not plan ahead and end up having a real problem.

Page 16 of 20 of the form includes :-

Note 4:
You must provide documents of the kind described below as evidence that you and your spouse or partner live together.

Please provide ten items of correspondence of the kind, or from the sources listed below, addressed to you and your spouse or partner jointly during each of the past 2 years if they clearly show that you live together at the same address. At least 5 of these documents should be from different sources. If you have not received any such correspondence that is addressed to you and your spouse or partner jointly, it is acceptable to provide no less than 4 items addressed to one of you and no more than 6 items addressed to the other partner during each of the past 2 years so long as they show the same address.

•telephone bills or statements
•gas bills or statements
•electricity bills or statements
•water rates bills or statements
•council tax bills or statements
•local social services department
•local health authority
•government department or agency (eg Department of Health, Inland Revenue, Department for Work and Pensions, Employment Service)
•bank or building society statements or passbooks
•credit card statements
•insurance certificates complete with address
•mortgage statements or agreement
•tenancy agreement

I think the most important sentence in all that is "At least 5 of these documents should be from different sources.". In other words some of the documents can be from the same source, but merely for different dates.

What you have not got to do is anything like producing documents from 20 different sources.

So OK for the first year you don't have any utility bills. But there are lots of other possibilities on the list.

You say "He's got a bank account and letters from the inland revenue, but that's about it." ..... but isn't that sufficient? That bank account produces regular statements?

In short, have you really got a problem?

We put down on the forms that we had met in the UK, but we were never asked about under what circumstances he was there.

I'm struggling to understand what you are worrying about? You have obviously looked at the form SET(M). Exactly what question(s) on the form are concerning you?

[clairey]

Hi John,

Thanks for replying!

I hadn't actually realised we could use several different statements, which is good!

I'm struggling to understand what you are worrying about? You have obviously looked at the form SET(M). Exactly what question(s) on the form are concerning you?

It's not actually a question on the form that worries me, it's if we are asked questions. We are intending to go in person, just to argue our case if needs be. They didn't really ask many questions last time, but just in case they do, we'd like to be prepared.

Clairey

[Marie B]

I'm in a very similar situation to you, my husband is from Albania and almost a year into his spouse visa. See my post below:

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... highlight=

As far as I'm aware it doesn't matter that your husband originally lied about being Kosovan, if the authorities had wanted to question you about that further they would have done so before issuing his fiance/spouse visa. When you filled in your VAF2 form you filled in section 7? On my husband's form he said that he had never applied for a UK visa before but answered yes to the questions about being required to leave the UK. It wasn't a problem then, it shouldn't be a problem now. All you have to prove to the HO in an ILR (Spouse) application is that you still live together and you haven't claimed any public funds.

Have a read of the application form, it contains guidance on what documentation needs to be submitted. The form you need is SET(M), available for download here:

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en ... _form.html

As you will see it says:

'it is acceptable to provide no less than 4 items addressed to one of you and no more than 6 items addressed to the other partner during each of the past 2 years so long as they show the same address.'

So you can provide six items for each year and your husband can provide 4 if you don't have any addressed to both of you. From what I have heard it is important to provide at least one item from him for the first three months that he was in the UK. My husband made sure he joined a GP surgery as soon as he arrived so he has an NHS card from the local health authority dated within the first three months he was here.

The following items are acceptable:

•telephone bills or statements
•gas bills or statements
•electricity bills or statements
•water rates bills or statements
•council tax bills or statements
•local social services department
•local health authority
•government department or agency (eg Department of Health, Inland Revenue, Benefits Agency, Employment Service)
•bank or building society statements or passbooks
•credit card statements
•insurance certificates complete with address
•mortgage statements or agreement
•tenancy agreement

Have a search in the immigration for family members section of this site as this subject has been covered before and there are lots of posts from people about what happened at their interviews and what they took with them. It is very difficult to get a bank account, etc. when you are a new arrival and i'm sure the HO are aware of this fact.

[John]

Clairey, I totally agree with Marie B when she says :-

if the authorities had wanted to question you about that further they would have done so before issuing his fiance/spouse visa

In other words, I really do think you are worrying about nothing.

And I would add this. There really is no reason to make the application in person at a PEO. You say "We are intending to go in person, just to argue our case if needs be.". You need to realise that the difficult test is behind you. Getting ILR is really just a "you present all the correct evidence" test .... pass that and unless there is horrendous information in Section 6 of the form the ILR will get granted.

If I were you I would save £165 ... the difference between £335 and £500 ... and apply by post.

OK, back in 2002 when my wife applied for ILR using an earlier version of the SET(M), we went along to the PEO in person. But then back in 2002 there was no application fee, and we wanted to get ILR promptly because we wanted to get Schengen visa shortly thereafter so that we could plan a summer holiday in France etc.. So Clairey if you too have a good reason why getting the ILR speedily is necessary then also apply at a PEO, but certainly don't apply that way for the reason you give.

[clairey]

Thanks guys - I have been know to over-react about these things!! My husband does keep telling me to relax! It's just a couple of my friends are in the same boat, and we all get stressed talking about it!

Technically my husband was never ejected from the UK, we went to the Albanian embassy and got travel documents for him to return home, so we haven't really told any lies, and we did state that we met in the UK

John, one of the reasons we want to apply in person is that Lunar House made a mistake in issuing his 2 year visa for only 1 year at first, luckily I spotted it and we got it fixed there and then (well, we had to wait for an hour!). I don't want them making any mistakes this time!!!

Marie, thanks for pointing me to your thread. I really appreciate your help, and will keep you all updated. I'll also tell my friends to drop by here for the great advice!!