Immigrationboards.com

Hello,

My wife is due to apply for ILR -- SET (M) in October 2025.

To meet the correspondence/cohabitation document requirements, would the following be acceptable, in terms of spacing and type?

Me (sponsor) Wife
12 October 2023 - Barclays statement. 9th October 2023 - Natwest statement
6th February 2024 - Childcare Choices letter. 7th February 2024 - Barclays statement
9th June 2024 - TSB statement 9th June 2024 - TSB statement
11th October 2024 - Barclays statement. 9th October 2024 - Lloyds statement
28 January 2025 - HMRC Self Assess. Calc. 25 January 2025 - HMRC Self Assess. Calc.
12th June 2025 - NHS Letter* 12th June 2025 - NHS Letter*

*estimated (example)

Is the 25th/28th January one too far away from the ones surrounding it? or probably acceptable?
I have bank statements start of February, but I think the tax docs give a bit of variety of sources.

Thanks so much in advance for your help.

Is it likely that the B1 test my wife has already taken will be OK for settlement in Oct '25?
Whitepaper suggests B2 soon, but probably that needs a bit of time to implement, since Speaking and Listening tests at that level are not currently offered? Also family visa clarification changes are probably coming a bit later than Skilled Worker?

There are no specific requirements at all.
Read: All you need to know about cohabitation evidence

The old B1 test can still be used. You should really ignore the 'white paper' for now, as no rule changes have been announced at all. Without any official changes, no one can tell you what to expect

Thank you.

Would documents ideally be spaced over period since last grant of leave (for me this will be 26th June 2023)? i.e. period of 2 years 3months and 14 days.

or is it last 2 years even for ILR?

I'm pretty satisfied we have the right types of documents, I am more worried about getting the correct period and spacing. As long as there are no massive gaps is it usually OK? When does a gap become too big?

I already told you there is no right or wrong answer, as there are no specific requirements under the rules. I am not sure what do you mean by the correct spacing. It makes no sense whatsoever, so provide whatever you have. It seems you are overthinking this

Hello,

Does my wife need to prove she has lived in the UK to apply for ILR?

We have passport stamps from when she has left the country before.
However, when she travelled to Colombia for a month in July she didn't get a UK entry or exit stamp or any Colombian stamps (used eGate in Colombia and apparently UK don't give stamps at entry with eVisa anymore?)

She is well within the absence limits, but do we need to provide bank statements or something, since now she doesn't have any passport stamps?

Is it a different situation for citizenship? (you need to prove you were in UK?)

I don't think there's a requirement to prove travel dates for ILR (certainly not for citizenship), passports are scanned at the UK borders and the Home Office has data from these scans and the data they collect from the airline.

There is no absence limit for spouse visa holders.

Thank you very much both for confirming that.

Is it the same situation when applying for citizenship?
Only absence evidence needed for that is passport (?)

ILROctober2025 wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 04, 2025 2:49 pm

Thank you very much both for confirming that.

Is it the same situation when applying for citizenship?
Only absence evidence needed for that is passport (?)

No. A nationality application is NOT an immigration application. These two are NOT related