Tier 1 (General) ILR queries - confused

[Perpglo]

Hi there,

Two things we would like some clarity on please. My husband is the main applicant and I am the dependent and we will be applying for ILR next year so just planning ahead for then (as one has to do!)

We are both teachers and have been absent from the UK during school holidays to go on holiday to Europe and our home country. These absences have been short, no more than 5 weeks a year. We noticed the change as of December 2012 whereby you have to provide evidence from your employer setting out reasons for any absences. What exactly are they wanting? A letter saying we were on paid leave and left the UK briefly for a holiday? Do they want it from every employer you've had because my husband worked at a horrible school for 6 months in our first year here and during that time we went to Amsterdam for Xmas and New Years. Can't even get lesson observations out of them now so not sure how we will fare getting a letter as evidence of paid annual leave! Is going on holiday "consistent with the original purpose of entry to the UK"?

OK, then my last query is about the proof of cohabitation documents. Do these need to be for each month from our last grant of leave to remain for both of us? If so, how many documents for each month as I believe it should be from more than one source? If it's from more than one source, for example, bank statement + council tax bill for me, and bank statement and gas bill for hubby per month, then we're looking at a whopping 96 documents proving cohabitation for 2 years! And of course we don't have that kind of evidence for every month, I'm afraid!! Are credit card statements OK because my bank account is a green account? What kind of documents do they want and is it for every month?

Thanks in advance for your help! Sorry if I sound stupid, just need things to be spelled out for me and the application form and guidance isn't very helpful on the UKBA site.

[sonub4ualt]

Hi there,

Two things we would like some clarity on please. My husband is the main applicant and I am the dependent and we will be applying for ILR next year so just planning ahead for then (as one has to do!)

We are both teachers and have been absent from the UK during school holidays to go on holiday to Europe and our home country. These absences have been short, no more than 5 weeks a year. We noticed the change as of December 2012 whereby you have to provide evidence from your employer setting out reasons for any absences. What exactly are they wanting? A letter saying we were on paid leave and left the UK briefly for a holiday? Do they want it from every employer you've had because my husband worked at a horrible school for 6 months in our first year here and during that time we went to Amsterdam for Xmas and New Years. Can't even get lesson observations out of them now so not sure how we will fare getting a letter as evidence of paid annual leave! Is going on holiday "consistent with the original purpose of entry to the UK"?

OK, then my last query is about the proof of cohabitation documents. Do these need to be for each month from our last grant of leave to remain for both of us? If so, how many documents for each month as I believe it should be from more than one source? If it's from more than one source, for example, bank statement + council tax bill for me, and bank statement and gas bill for hubby per month, then we're looking at a whopping 96 documents proving cohabitation for 2 years! And of course we don't have that kind of evidence for every month, I'm afraid!! Are credit card statements OK because my bank account is a green account? What kind of documents do they want and is it for every month?

Thanks in advance for your help! Sorry if I sound stupid, just need things to be spelled out for me and the application form and guidance isn't very helpful on the UKBA site.

If the overall absences are less than 180 days I don't think there should be much of a problem, please try to explain this in detail in a covering letter explaining the reason for absences, and if possible try to have payslips during the holiday term to prove that those were genuine holidays/annual leaves and you were being paid by the employer during that time.

Counting backwards from the date of application arrange cohab proofs for every 4 months, if in joint names three would do for the whole year (6 in total for two years), if not try to get 12 on individual names. Yes, you can use credit card statements.

[Perpglo]

Thank you for responding - very helpful! To clarify, is it no more than 180 days' absence over the five years or in one year? Lastly, can I write the letter of must it come from employer?

Thanks in advance!