Uk Ilr - Applying By Post

[aubutie]

Hi All,

My wife and I have have been married and settled in the UK for the last 2 years, with a 1 year old daughter, who was born in the UK, obviously a UK National,

My wifes FLR is up at the end of August, therefore its time to apply for her ILR,

We had hoped to apply in person with a face to face interview at a public office, as this is far more personal and we can hopefully iron out any issues that may exist, however having phoned the number given in the settlement guides (0870 606 7766) I am having trouble getting through although I can listen to an automated voice for a very long time me I can't make an appointment in August (a very unsatisfactory state of affairs given the vast amount of money I will be parting with in order to secure my wifes visa). Does anyone have any experience of this, or know of another number I can phone where i can actually get to talk to a person rather than an electronic set of questions

Although all my documentation is in order and I have the documented proof required (I think) as requested in the Settlement form. It does not ask for things like photo's together or anything 'personal' to show we are in a loving relationship, and the fact that we have a daughter in the UK is obviously irrelavant to them. it only requires to show evidence of any children we are applying for.

I had hoped to take this kind of 'personal' evidence to a face to face meeting to support my application, even though it does not seem to be required, and hopefully we could answer any kind of questions theey have (The thought of them turning my wifes application down on a technichality that could be cleared up with a face to face meeting is quite worrying)

Could anyone tell me if they have fallen into any kind of pitfalls becuase they have not been asked to produce any kind of personal information in an application form they had to send which may be beneficial. would they really turn my wifes application down and ask her to leave the country even though she has a UK born daughter

sorry if this is a bit vague, I'm fishing for others experience of Applications sent by post, just in case something may be of help.many thanks

[stevebow]

Im just about to start that application. I wouldnt bother trying to contact them for the premium one day service. I eventually got through on Friday and was told all offices were fully booked for August and September.

Steve

[icequeen]

Just write a covering letter explaining anything that may not seem crystal clear in your application, also mention the birth of your baby and include a copy of the babies birth certificate. I did this for some friends at the beginning of the year and what could have been a problematic case (not enough documentation in her name) sailed through with no questions asked.

There's also a huge difference in price of the face to face interview and doing it by post, it's up to you but personally I would just write a covering letter and save the extra money.

[aubutie]

Just write a covering letter explaining anything that may not seem crystal clear in your application, also mention the birth of your baby and include a copy of the babies birth certificate. I did this for some friends at the beginning of the year and what could have been a problematic case (not enough documentation in her name) sailed through with no questions asked.

There's also a huge difference in price of the face to face interview and doing it by post, it's up to you but personally I would just write a covering letter and save the extra money.

I had intended to do this as I may also have a problem with not enough documentation in her name, (allthough there is some) the other slightly worrying aspect is that as my wife has not worked during the past 2 years , due mainly to the baby, and we have bought a house in the last 6 months, our bank accounts show much more going out than coming in over the last couple of years, although i have not had recourse to public funds, they may question this, my wife has just been verbally offered a job which should make a big difference cover it but i dont know if we will have documented proof of this prior to sending the application, this is a concern aswell, as what is left of my savings will run out over the coming months

[icequeen]

Hi aubutie, I don't think you have anything to worry about, you are living off your income and your savings at the moment. They are your savings and you can spend them as you wish.

Just write a covering letter explaining any gaps in documentation and as I said earlier include a copy of your babies birth certificate,

if you bought your house in joint names also include some docs from that.

If you want to include in your letter that your wife is due to start work in the near future it won't do any harm but I wouldn't think you would need to provide any proof.

[7by7]

I have never heard of anyone being refused ILR, either personally or on boards such as this one (unless they weren't time qualified or had not satisfied the KOL requirement).

Unless one absolutely must have one's passport back quickly, apply by post. Pre Labour, applications for ILR, FLR etc. were free. The extortionate charges for ILR, FLR etc. introduced by Labour are high enough without giving them an extra £200!

[micky44]

hi 7by7, you may recall that my wife was refused ilr when we applied at Sheffield 18 months ago, we had 80k in the bank, both working, they said we had insufficient paper work to prove our marriage was sustaining, so gave gave us 12 months flr at a cost of £950, while i appreciate you are a prolific poster and can not remember all the posts you have commented on, you did post several replies to me with regards my original post. cheers Micky.

Edited August 4, 2009 by micky44

[7by7]

Make that one then!

Although, having looked back at this post it does seem that one of their concerns, if not the main one, was the large amount of time she had spent out of the UK before applying.

[plachon]

My wife has her ILR application by post in at the moment and it is giving me some aggro. Or at least the Border Agency telephone system is (it is definitely NOT a service, despite the huge sums we pay to them), as they clearly have too few staff manning the phones. After wasting time listening to the irrelevant info, you get put in a hold queue and have to endure endless Beethoven's 5th while waiting for an indeterminate length for someone to answer. No inkling of how long you have to wait or if anyone will ever answer. Soul destroying stuff, when you need your passport back urgently for a holiday booked ages ago.

I sent them a letter 12 days ago requesting my passport back and so far nothing has arrived. Eventually got through to a live human being today after trying 3 or 4 times over the last few days to get through and all he could tell me was that he wound send a reminder through to the relevant department, but this can take up to 10 days!!!!!!!! This is ridiculous, when it says on the letter acknowledging her application that you should phone the general number at the top of the letter if you need documents "urgently". Their idea of "urgent" is 10 days it seems. Pathetic really, when one is paying 820 quid for this type of farcical "service". If it doesn't come by next week, their goes another 140 quid for the air ticket already booked and my holiday in Spain.

Lunar House needs to be kicked to the moon and back to get its act together.

[micky44]

hi ,yes very frustrating indeed, are you sure its Beethoven's 5Th ? keep your pecker up

[the scouser]

Beethoven's 5th? That's the one that starts off with the morse code for the letter V for victory. Whose victory? Perhaps his 9th would be more welcome, it containing the Ode to Joy.

[micky44]

Beethoven's 5th? That's the one that starts off with the morse code for the letter V for victory. Whose victory? Perhaps his 9th would be more welcome, it containing the Ode to Joy.

hehehehe welcome back scouser !!!!!!!!!

[plachon]

Beethoven's 5th? That's the one that starts off with the morse code for the letter V for victory. Whose victory? Perhaps his 9th would be more welcome, it containing the Ode to Joy.

Must admit it was a wild stab in the dark as to the musical entertainment between the 30 second messages saying st like: "Currently all our operators are busy. Your call will be answered shortly" while I coolly grind my teeth waiting for that magical sound of a real, live human being to take the call at some point in time and basically admit: "the left hand doesn't have a clue what the right hand is doing in this place, and you might get your passport back this side of Xmas if you are lucky".

My knowledge of classical music composers is next to non-existent at best, so I feel quite chuffed that I seemed to have identified Beethoven correctly. Please explain more about this 5th symphony and its morse code message Scouser - you've tickled my curiosity now.