FLR(M) Approved - our experience and advice

[Allan NC]

Thanks to this forum and a few other online resources we did not have to post a single question or use a lawyer. Thank you!

Our case was an unmarried partner to a ILR sponsor (both Australian).

Sponsor is a director of a LLC and fulfilled 100% of the financial requirement (just!).
There is A LOT of paperwork required for a director for the financial requirement - read the guidance carefully and months in advance as it can take your accountant a long time to compile.
We filled in NO employment details for the applicant.

We DID NOT make a copy of everything we posted (as some suggest here - it is not asked for on the application) - we also DID NOT pay for returned postage - we put it all in a folder in plastic pockets and neatly arranged - it was all posted back to us loose without the folder.

We DID NOT post the original passport of the sponsor - we did a full colour photocopy and had it certified by a chartered accountant.

We submitted our application online about 5 days before the applicants current visa expired and then posted off the evidence a few days later. The online application process is good as you can save it and go back - I recommend it to any postal applicants.

One thing that helped is we printed the application a few months before and did a 'dry run' with a pencil to get a feel for what kind of questions are asked etc.

Bank statements are a pain! I would suggest changing to paper statements now if you are looking to apply as getting them all proved to be a massive pain for us (lot's of phone calls - wrong statements sent etc)

They spelt the applicants name wrong on the first biometrics letter so we had to request another (did this via both email and posted letter). After Biometrics were submitted we got approval and BRP very quickly and received everything on the same day. A huge relief!

Timeline:
Application Submitted On: 15/4/2017
Postal or In Person: Online application, posted supporting documents on 17/4/2017
Acknowledgement Received on: 19/4/2017
Biometric Letter Received: 3/5/2017 -wrong spelling of name - new letter requested via email and posted letter.
2nd Biometric Letter Received: 31/5/2017
Biometric Enrolled On: 5/6/2017
Decision of Application: Approved 14/6/2017
BRP Card Received: 14/6/2017