I thought it would be helpful to share our experience last week. These are the documents we took to the appointment, organised into separate sections (all with photocopies):
1. Application form Set (M), photos and covering letter (letter was not needed)
2. Passports (mine and husband's)
3. ESOL Skills for Life certificate and letter from the college (the immigration officer mentioned it is VERY important that the letter includes ALL of the information specified in the UKBA guidance. There is a template on their website which you can ask the college to copy).
4. Last 3 months' bank statements for both of us (make sure the most recent is under a month old) and last 6 months payslips and most recent P60.
5. Documents addressed jointly in our names OR separate letters addressed to both of us, organised into 6 sections covering the whole 2 years (e.g. April to July 2011, Aug to Nov 2011 etc.). This is what I took:
Council tax bill (joint) x 2
Joint bank account x 2
Electricity bill x 1
Letters from our own banks addressed to each of us separately
I also took a separate folder with lots of extra letters addressed to either both of us or separately at our home address, from different months in the last 2 years. This is a good idea in case they want to see a letter from a different month than what you have in your folder. I took bank statements (joint and separate), mortgage statements, utility bills, CRB checks and driving licences.
The appointment was 1.30, we arrived 30 mins before as requested and waited about an hour before being seen. The officer was very friendly, she looked thorough the form and asked a few questions and then asked us for the documents section by section (she didn't actually take the whole folder). When it came to the 6 letters she asked for them by date (e.g. now I need something from around January or February 2011).
After she had looked at everything she said it was all fine and my husband would get his settlement. She told us to go to the desk to pay and then wait to be called for biometrics. After that we were told to go out for an hour and when we came back at 3.45 the letter was ready to collect. My husband's residence permit came 3 days later by courier
I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone on this forum who has helped or posted information - the task of submitting applications for the spouse visa and ILR would have been much more difficult without the help I found here.
Thank you again, good luck and very best wishes! Liz
