FLR(M) - A success story!

[thebunster]

On Tuesday myself and my partner applied for Futher Leave to Remain on the basis of 2 yrs cohabitation (partner is Colombian and has been here as a student for nearly 4 years, and we've been together for nearly three of those years). Her student visa expires at the end of this month, and we're getting married in April, so needed the extension.

We decided to apply in person in Croydon to get it all done in one day, and to give them the opportunity to clarify any points face-to-face - and we would get our passports back straight away, which is important as we want a honeymoon of some sort in 8 weeks' time.

My advice to anyone making an applicaion is to prepare, prepare and prepare.

We got together all the documentation to prove 2 years cohabitation in chronological order, both our passports, police registration document, letter from sponsor etc and arranged them in clear plastic sleeves in a folder and numbered each sleeve. We then typed up a Schedule of documents, indicating clearly what documents we had included and their respective numbering.

We also typed out a 2-page letter detailing how we met, when we moved in together, when we became engaged etc, and the letter made reference to the documents in the bundle that supported these dates.

We also got a letter from the priest confirming that we are getting married in April, just to strengthen the case.

Making an in-person application is extremely scary - we could overhear the other applicants to either side of us being asked a load of questions. Not deeply probing questions, just really clarification on what the documents were, where they had lived, what their movements were etc.etc.

Also as preparation we rehearsed the interview questions they might ask - not because we had anything to hide but we wanted to boost our confidence and not forget any stupid facts that would weaken our claim.

We paid our £500 and sat and waited for about an hour for our number to be called, at which point we went up to the counter and presented the documents to the lady behind the screen. She read the covering letter, took copies of passports, police reg. certificates etc and then pulled out the documents one by one, checked through them and made a few notes.

This took around 25 nerve-wracking minutes whilst she scrutinised our documents. She then went off for a couple of minutes, came back back and sat down again and turned on the microphone to speak to us.

This, we presumed, would be when the questions would start. But no - she said 'That's all in order, so I'm going to give you 2 years' residence from today. You can collect your passport in about 2 hours.'

Success! We went off for some lunch, came back in 2 hours and went straight to one of the counters to collect the passport with residence permit in it and covering letter from the Home Office.

So the lessons we learnt are to prepare your documents really really well, give a covering letter setting out your history together and present it in such a way that it makes their job easier. We had a strong and legitimate case, but even so it was worrying going through the process. But our documentation was in such good order that we sailed through the process.

Good luck!

[Chess]

fantastic news - make sure you get us some wedding cake

[John]

Congratulations to the two of you! And as regards :-

My advice to anyone making an application is to prepare, prepare and prepare.

-: I totally agree! The preparation time is well worth it! The lack of questions to you only goes to prove just how well you had prepared!

Now down to applying for a CoA, but no doubt you already realised that. I hope that comes through promptly so that the marriage can happen in April, but time is a bit tight.

Or are you planning to marry in a Church of England Church?

[thebunster]

Or are you planning to marry in a Church of England Church?

Church Of England, so they've handled all the paperwork that needs doing.

[John]

That saves the bother of getting a CoA!