First I'm sorry for the long post, but I am trying to set my mind at ease a bit, and see if there is anything I should be doing.
I'm the American wife of a Brit, and I applied for ILR in Mid-May. Still nothing from the Home Office. I've seen from the boards that a lot of applications have been done in a month, and I am getting worried that I didn't supply enough documentation or did something wrong on the application which is causing a delay. Finances aren't the problem. Husband has has his job for the past 24 years (about 34 K), I am self-employed, working as a part-time contractual university lecturer and writer (about 4 K). I know it is a pathetic income on my part, but I took time off to finish and publish an academic book. We have no debts, and hub owns a rental property free and clear.
I entered the UK on an academic visa (not student) in August 2004, which was renewed for one more year, expiring in August 2006. (This was for a visiting lecturer/research exchange at a UK uni, as I was a lecturer in the States previously). We married in May 2006, and I received FLR which expired May 31, 2008.
This is what I gave the Home Office to prove cohabitation/economic stability.
1.My husbands pay slips from the past two years (104 of these as he gets paid weekly), and his P60 from last year.
2. Our bank statements....24 of my husband's and 18 of mine spread out over the past two years (from July 2006 to May 2008). I didn't include two of my statements (January/February) because my pension company lost them getting them back to me in the mail when doing an identity check (ironic, no?). However, I included the letter from the pension company explaining they lost my statements in the documentation for the HO. The pension company scanned the two lost bank statements and attached them in their letter to me.
3. My pay slips from the university where I work part-time as a contractual teacher for the past two years. These have irregular amounts of income, as I am paid hourly per lecturer/seminar and per paper marked. These were mailed to our home and there were about a dozen spread from October 2006 until April 2008.
4. Our council tax (his name)
5. Our home contents insurance policy for the past 2 years (both names)
6. three electricity bills (both names)
7. 2 phone bills (both names)
8. A letter from the surgery for me, as well as a prescription with my address.
9. A letter from from the surgery for him
10. four letters from HMRC about my self-employment. I made under the 4500 pound threshold and received a small-earnings exemption for tax
11. 5 joint letters (both names) from a letting agent about my husband's property he owns he is trying to sell (not where we live)
12. 3 letters to me from the Pension company.
13. DVLA letter to husband about his road tax
14. Car insurance addressed to husband.
15. Three letters to him from the pension company.
All told I had around 32 pieces of evidence besides all the bank statements/payslips/P60.
First question, was this enough documentation? There was more for the second year than the first, but there was a bank statement to our address, either hubs or mine, for every month the past two years. As they asked for 20 pieces of evidence in both names, and I only had 12, I provided about 20 more pieces in separate names. I also have in a folder a load more documentation, but I was trying to follow instructions and not overwhelm them with stuff.
Secondly, I didn't include my expired passport with my academic visas in it, just my new passport with my FLR, as I thought I lost the expired one. I subsequently found the expired passport, and Victoria advised that I write the home office a letter asking them if they wanted it. I also asked if they wanted me to order new copies of the two original bank statements that were lost by the Pension Company, and the four I didn't include from the past two years. (I thought I had enough of a spread of bank statements). Are the missing bank statements going to be a problem?
Thirdly, my husband paid off my US student loans (thanks dear!) by transferring money to my bank account--about 12,000 pounds whereupon I then paid the loan company. I didn't think at the time to include this in my cover letter, but wonder if I should have. I also received about 3000 pounds in US tax refunds from the academic fellowship I held part-way through 2006. I didn't think to mention this either, because it was a one-time thing, not regular income. Should I have mentioned these things in the cover letter?
Fourthly, we've been living together at the same address for two years, and we privately rent. We rent from my hub's boss...an old farmhouse that he needed fixing up. The first six months we did fix up work in lieu of paying him rent (but we did pay the council tax), and after that we paid him monthly and were given a lease. I didn't think at the time to explain all of this in the covering letter, and hub's boss was out of the country when we needed a copy of the lease. He got it to us past the time I needed to sent the ILR application in, so I figured I had plenty of other evidence of where we lived. Now I wonder if I should have explained this more thoroughly to the HO.
Fifthly, I included both our passports, but not our marriage certificate, or my divorce certificate as the home office didn't ask for it in the form. We provided these for FLR, but on the ILR form they only seemed to want a marriage certificate for civil partnership, not marriage, and I was trying to follow instructions. Mistake?
Sixthly, we went on 2, 2-week holidays to France and German via the chunnel. I believed I was allowed to go on holiday, but is 30 days absence from the UK during my two-year FLR period a problem? I have not left the country other than for those holidays.
Lastly, I found out two weeks ago I received a British Academy Grant for my next book. Though it isn't income (just research expenses), it would show the HO that I am not a lay-about. To be eligible, you have to be a UK resident, and I told the grant committee I had FLR and would be applying for ILR in May. I also didn't mention in my covering letter my income was so low as I was writing a book, which is now published. Should I have?
Anything I should do at this point? Just hang tight and wait for the HO to get in touch? Or, is another clarifying letter to them needed? I feel like a real nincompoop about this whole thing. Thanks for persevering through this long email
buglet
