I posted a question regarding a police "caution" a few weeks ago and received kind help from some forum members; I have also been reading the forum and learning from stories posted by other members, so I feel I owe this one to you all - thank you!
I hope my story will also help those of you in similar situations to where I was until yesterday afternoon, when I received a shiny (and expensive!) sticker with the word "indefinite" on it on my passport
I applied with FLR(M) as an unmarried partner of a British national. I had no worries in proving the genuineness of the relationship - we have been living together for ages, have a child (British) together, have lots of proofs of the stability and continuity of our relationship. So that wasn't a problem.
If anything was confusing/difficult, neither of us is "employed" per se so we had to be a little careful in preparing proofs of our finances. I am in the middle of changing jobs after gaining a new qualification this summer; prior to that I was a part-time researcher, funded by a foreign organisation (so no in come as such in the UK), part-time student. And until six-month ago I had been off work as I'd just had a baby (but this was a voluntary time-off rather than an official mat leave as, again, I am not usually employed by anybody in the UK). I do have some savings, so for the application I enclosed a letter from the foreign sponsor for my research stating how much they pay me monthly and until when, plus savings accounts balances, and I also attached my new qualification and copies of communication with potential employers to show my employability.
My British partner, on the other hand, is usually self-employed but he also has been off work due to ill-health, receiving various benefits including DLA. I was a little worried about this as, although I was aware that being British he was entitled to his benefits, I still feared that the Home Office might see it as we as a family were too hugely dependent on the state. We enclosed detailed information of how he had been running his business until earlier this year when his health worsened, and how he hopes to start working again when his condition eases; he explained the healthy nature of his business and how he already has a handful of clients who are likely to give his firm contracts once it starts to operate again. I am not sure if all this was necessary at all, but the case worker at the PEO "thanked" me for making it easy to understand our financial situation.
Then of course there was that police incident. I did not tick "Yes" as advised, but did explain the incident in the covering letter, and also made a note about it in a box on the page 12 of the application form. I worded it to sound like, although I knew it wasn't necessary to disclose it, I felt I should like to mention it as it was nevertheless a police incident (which is how I really felt). The caseworker said that my mentioning this helped, because now they carry out PNC check on almost all ILR applications, which reveals even very small and silly incidents one has had with the police, and if anything appears relevant then they do have to ask you about it. The caseworker also said that in most cases police cautions, penalty notices, warnings and the like didn't affect their decision as long as they could be accounted for. So I think it was a good idea to have mentioned it - had I not included a note, likely thing to have happened was for the caseworker to see a note on the PNC and ask me questions about it, which would have been fine but I had saved time by already mentioning it in the application (and probably have reassured the caseworker that I was honest and straightforward about it).
Otherwise the whole experience at the PEO was agreeable. The staff are friendly and helpful. One does feel that one is treated with respect and that helps in a stressful situation such as this.
I thank you forum members again for having been there for me!