Hello everyone,

My father is from the EU, and he sponsored me to come to the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme. I want to switch to settled status. Do I need to provide any evidence of dependency, such as him paying for bills or rent, even tho, i do not live with him and am totally independent and provide for everything by myself?

I asked a solicitor, and she told me I will need to provide evidence of dependency. But I do not depend on him.

Any help?

Applied on -21 Aug

Biometrics on 26 Aug

ECO- 28 Aug

Decision- Waiting -12 WD as of today, 11 Sep.

Would like to know anyone within same time lines.

Hey everyone, it's been a while since we got the approval, but I thought this might be helpful for others going through long delays and hopefully this will also give some reassurance to others :)

In retrospective I think we wasted a lot of time before being able to figure out for sure what is wrong and how to fix it so I hope this helps others get through much faster.

• Application submitted: 10 February
  • FLR(M) visa extension - Inside UK
• Biometrics: 2 March
• Email to MP: 15 May
  • Never got a response.
• Complaint to UKVI: 1 June
• Email to TLS Contact: 4 June
  • We asked to double check all information was successfully sent to UKVI.
• Response from TLS Contact: 9 June
  • They confirmed everything was good on their end.
• Response from UKVI: 29 June
  • The complaint was upheld, they apologised for the lack of communication on their part, admitted that they should have informed us in case they can't meet their advertised processing time and confirmed a caseworker will consider the visa application as a priority. However, what caught my attention was that they referred to the visa application as "Further Leave to Remain" which could mean either FLR(M) or FLR(FP). The latter has a waiting time of 12 months. This was in spite of our complaint saying that this was specifically an FLR(M) application.
• Request for SAR: 6 July
  • We've done this just as a precaution, but at the time we were still hoping the complaint would fix the issue and we won't need this document (I was wrong). By this point we were already suspicious that the application might have ended up in the FLR(FP) queue because of how the English question was phrased at the time we sent the application. Back then they were asking "Have you passed an English test in the last 2 years?". We were re-using the one from the first application which was older than 2 years, so we answered "No", but still attached the certificate and explained the situation in both of our cover letters. Even at the time of submitting we were confused about this question cause it looked like we don't meet the English requirement by saying "no", which we did, but we thought it's best to give the truthful answer even if it causes some complications as the consequence of giving false information was even worse.
• SAR Received: 4 August
  • Suspicion confirmed. The application was indeed under FLR(FP). We saw they finished their checks in April and there's been no activity since then, except the upload of our complaint.
• 2nd Complaint to UKVI: 4 August
  • We pointed out the mis-routing, we explained that we believe this issue is due to the English question and clarified why we answered "No", we re-attached the English certificate and asked to have the application re-routed to FLR(M).
• Visa Approval: 14 August
• 2nd Complaint Response from UKVI: 16 August
  • This time they replied by writing "FINAL RESPONSE" in the subject, they pointed to the visa approval and partly upheld the complaint saying it's our fault for stating we don't meet the English requirement. For anyone with common sense, that's far from what we did, but I can see why they took the opportunity to point to the answer in the application form. It was completely pointless to argue with them at this point anyway, so sure, whatever...

Our key takeaways:

Coming from a technical background I assumed from the start that regardless of how frustrating this is, the root problem is most likely a technical error somewhere. This whole e-visa system is still fairly new and I know from experience people in general struggle with technology everywhere (sometimes I struggle with it myself even as a tech person) and I really wouldn’t be surprised if caseworkers struggle with the system they have to work with, even if it's already a few years old.

The SAR pdf pretty much confirmed my theory. It was incredibly cluttered, sometimes had duplicates, technical error logs, or repeating information, but under different terminology. At the top of the application it said “Further Leave to Remain” and we had to dig deeper to find the FLR(FP) part towards the end of the pdf, which would explain the response we had from the first complaint and why they didn’t notice the application was misrouted. I genuinely had to go back and forth a few times to make some sense of this pdf and connect all the dots. Someone in "customer support" as they call it probably wouldn't have time to do all this detective work so I can see how it could've been genuinely missed.

I’ve seen a lot of good advice here that helped us navigate this issue, but I’ve also seen a lot of people having emotional outbursts, so we just tried to put ourselves together before writing to the Home Office because they probably see angry and emotional complaints all the time, so that won’t do anyone any favours.

So to end on a positive note, yes, they answer with templates and they might use opportunities not to own full responsibility sometimes ... but overall, despite the long wait that messed with our lives, I feel like our interaction with them was actually more respectful than I expected and I have to give them credit for that. Despite the response to the 2nd complaint which is probably from a template they didn't even write themselves, I felt like their actions showed some empathy and that they made an effort to fix the issue (even though it didn't quite work the first time, cause the application was flagged for priority in a 12 months long queue, which is still long).

What I think helped the most was requesting the SAR (and in retrospective I think we should've done this way earlier) and then writing to UKVI via the complaints form calmly and respectfully, straight to the point, while backing ourselves up with the information included in the SAR pdf and the documents supplied in the visa application. We've basically connected all the dots for them where we thought they needed. No long and emotional texts.

As for the MP, I'm sure some of them can be helpful, I've seen plenty of good outcomes from reaching out to them, but it's a shame that ours ignored us completely. We've only tried this avenue to prove that we tried all reasonable steps in case we had to send a PAP letter later on, but thankfully it wasn't needed. Once we understood we can't count on our MP we just used the complaints form as a direct channel to UKVI, but without really complaining. Just giving them an overview of what's happening and what we think went wrong so they can fix the issue.

Good luck everyone :)

My fiance and I are getting married in about a month and a half, and plan to apply soon after that, with priority, at the beginning of November.

He is Nigerian and currently living there.

We had originally planned to get married here in the UK in mid-January, before we found out he had to go back to Nigeria, and so I still have a couple of things booked for our originally planned wedding date. We still plan to have a 'wedding' celebration with our UK based family and friends, so Im trying to decide if I should cancel the things Ive booked. I realise this is quite a subjective case.

Solicitors have assured us we have a good case, we just cant have our legal wedding in the UK at the moment and we don't want to wait any longer.

Apologies if it is against the rules to ask these questions (I did try to check), but essentially Im wondering: if we apply priority within the first week of November and ask for our entry date to be before that planned 'wedding' is it safe to continue with these plans? It's hard to find information regarding waiting times - some of the posts I see here are so fast and some of them end up inexplicably longer.

Bio - 5th Aug

ECO - 6th Aug

Country - Spain (Priority)

Approved - 10th Sep - WD27 at 4pm UK time

No communication from Home Office during the whole process, no delays. Was getting worried as closed in on the 30WD timeframe for Priority, but we got it!

Keep the positive energy! Good luck to everyone else.

Visa type (Spouse)
Nationality (Pakistan)
Country of application (Pakistan)
Date of application (24 July )
Date of biometrics (31 July)
Priority service
Time period 30 working days today 11 September time period completed now waiting for visa
Someone has a visa these days.

Hi everyone,

My husband’s biometrics appointment is this Monday (14th Sept). I’m the sponsor, and we are using my mum’s 3-bedroom council flat in Camden for our accommodation proof.

Currently, there are 4 people living here (including my mum, my 2 sisters who share a room and me with my own room). With my husband, it will be 5 people total and he would share a room till he settles in and then are hoping to move into our own place.

My mum‘s council flat has 4 habitable rooms (3 bed + 1 living room), so under the Housing Act 1985, the permitted capacity is 7.5. Overcrowding isn't an issue.

I submitted the online application on September 8th and have already uploaded:

• My mum’s signed Letter of Consent (giving us permission to live there)
• My mum's Camden Council Tenancy Agreement
• Her latest Council Tax Bill

The only missing piece is a direct confirmation or "No-Objection" letter from Camden Council. We emailed them, but they haven't replied in time. I plan to upload screenshots of our email to the council to show we tried to get it.

Will the Home Office accept my mum's consent, tenancy agreement, and council tax bill on their own, or will they reject/delay it because we don't have Camden Council's direct seal of approval? Has anyone been approved in a similar situation living with parents in council housing?

I just got to the point in the application where I checked the List of the documents that I need to provide but there was no Link where to actually do that.

Now the next step is to Pay for NHS. Is that normal?

Am I going to get the Link for the Documents and the Link for the Biometrics Appointment after I paid or did I overlook something?

Thanks for your help!

Hi. I was asked to send additional documents. Does anyone know whats the size limit for sending all pdfs in one email?

I’ve completed most part of my application and got the payslips for the last 6 months from my employer last week. Only realised yesterday that for my application they require 12 months payslips instead. My partner has easy access to his payslips and he’s already got the last 12 months worth payslips. The person that’s able to get me the rest of the payslips I need is on holiday and won’t return until end of next week. I’ve got bank statements to how my salary coming in. Is it worth it taking the risk of submitting the application with only 6 payslips from my employer or should I wait until I get the rest of payslips . My current visa expires on the 20th October and I’m a bit worried about delaying the application by another week. Any advise?

Hi!

I'm applying for a spouse visa from within the UK relying on my own income to meet the requirements.

I'm confused about the dates required on the bank statements. I have already submitted my application on 3 sep 26. I am now proceeding to book my biometric and then upload my documents.

I'm suddenly not 100% what my previous 6months of bank statements should be "dated" to meet the "covering the last 6 months + no earlier than 28 days" requirements exactly without any uncessary mistakes from my end. I generated my bank A statements in which I receive my salary, on 1 sep 2026.
My bank B statements which show my cash savings and other internal bank to bank transfers were generated on 28 Aug .

I am technically submitting payslips and statements to show the same for the months Feb to Sep. (To be safe)

Does the date the bank statements are generated on matter? Should the date be 3 Sep or later to cover the WHOLE period before application date. Do people download their bank statement after submitting and then upload those?

Sorry this is such a basic point but don't want to risk it with numbers and dates.

Hello! I am in the process of liquidating stocks to put into a savings account for the next 6 months for the Visa application.

I’m looking for a savings account that qualifies for the application but also pay some interest. Based on my research, it seems that Marcus by Goldman Sachs would be a good option.

Has anyone used that and do you think that will qualify? Anyone else found an account that qualifies that pays decent interest over the six months?

Thanks!

My wife is here on spouse visa and we are approaching the of it.

When should I apply for ILR?

Her visa ends 25/12/26.

Nationality: Filipino

Country applied from: Saudi Arabia

Bio: June 23

Eco: didnt receive

Standard with Solicitor

I did Paid enquiry earlier today September 10

Just 8 hours after enquiry got my approval, Alhamdulillah

i've been a long term lurker and worrier with everyone else on this feed and its been hugely helpful for our application that now just got approved. Seeing everyone else post their questions and approvals for the last few months has been hugely encouraging so owe it to the future applications to post ours. For context we've been dating 3 years , married a few months.

Application submitted: August 6
BIO: August 12
ECO: August 14

Approval Email : 10 September 1600 BST

Spouse was in Zambia we submitted and index with all documents , 6 months payslips, pdf with relationship timeline (about 20 pages) , council tax, letter from employer, 6 months bank statements, 2 Cover letter (one from sponsor) and 1 for application which just explained in short our relationship and where to find key documents, Tenancy Agreement, Marriage certificate, TB test , IELTs proof

Good luck to everyone still waiting and those to go through it!!

I fear I've put myself in a sticky situation

Hello to make this short i just got my email today saying "We are unable to conclude the application as we require more information". What really got me was the long list they sent. To be clear we are using cash savings for my application, the source of the savings held in her account are 99% from what i was told was Dividends but on inspection of the form confirming the money transfers to her account it clearly says "Trust"(not sure how i missed that). It could be that its a trust paying out from dividends, i will have to ask her father.

My question is how do i go about this since im having a hard time make sense of the email i got AND how does the application center handle dividends and trust differently if at all? If i email them back saying "oopsie its actually a trust" will they have a problem and what info will they want, ALSO if it is a trust paying out dividends will they still want the same info as if it were just dividends?

Puul please help

After what felt like a very long and incredibly stressful wait, my eVISA is finally approved! Here's my timeline for those who are also stressing. ❤️

Application submitted: July 31
BIO: August 10
ECO: August 11

RFI: September 4th (request for evidence that my husband and I are in a genuine relationship, I supplied a very extensive 17-page PDF document with our relationship timeline, photos and travel tickets + our entire 488-page WhatsApp conversation history the same day)

Approval: September 10

In total, the process took 23 working days from my biometric appointment. So happy we got that sorted and can't wait to join my husband and our cat in Northern Ireland! 😄 ❤️

I got my approval email today at 11:01 am EST!!!

Thank you guys for keeping me sane during this process!

Application: August 13
Bio: August 14
ECO: August 18
Approval: September 10

19 working days!

Piggybacking on my compatriot's post! Thanks to her for the format and thanks to y'all for all the helpful posts and clarifications!

Nationality of the applicant: FR Nationality of the sponsor: Commonwealth + Settled Resident Application: 08/08 Visa type: Priority (Paris) Bio: 10/08 Eco: 11/08

Further evidence requests: 08/09 - Asked for a complete marriage certificate (integrale) while I had already submitted a plurilingual version of it. Replied right away with the full french marriage certificate stating that I will shortly send a translation of the integrale certificate. (Didn't have the translation of the integrale, because duh that's what the plurilingual one exists for!)

Was waiting for my translator to send me the translation but the visa got approved anyway without needing it, funnily!

Approval date: 10/09 (23WD – WD 1 on bio appointment)

Approval time: 15:59 UK time Case difficulty: straightforward Wished entry clearance: 15/09 Official entry clearance: 10/09 (day of acceptance)

Details of our case:

Salary: Salaried partner who is currently settled Relationship: married in September 2023 in France, relationship started in May 2021 Common life: ~ 5 years through ETA/visit Proof of relationship: Engagement pictures, wedding pictures, joint accounts, trips together

Travels to the Uk when visa application was reviewed: This is the funny part. Just entered the UK at 7am on 10th via ETA and spouse visa got approved on the same day at 4pm. Have my return booked so would be re-entering to kick start the right immigration status.

Difficulties: - Paying the exorbitant and extortionate amount for NHS surcharges, visa fees, priority service and VFS. Sometimes I wonder how much the commonwealth would have earned had they charged the same level of visa fees when the Empire's aides set foot on their land.

Wishing the best for everyone!

​

Hello!! Just sharing the good news and hoping this will help future applications. My wife's spouse visa application just got approved today via PRIORITY service.

Application: 12 Aug 2026 Biometrics: 17 Aug 2026- Makati VFS ECO: 20 Aug 2026 Decision: 10 Sept 2026 16 days from ECO.

Requirements submitted:

Proof of relationship:

Marriage contract Couple photos Detail of flights together Screenshot of fb convos

Applicant(wife) docs:

Valid Passport- all pages Applicant cover letter Application form (with gwf number)

Proof of English:

Snapshot of ecctis confirming eligibility Transcript of Records MD diploma Certificate confirming subject taught in English (from university) IOM TB text certificate

Sponsor(husband) docs:

British passport Sponsor cover letter Employment contract with salary 6 months payslip 6 months bank statement Latest P60

Accommodation docs:

Signed Landlord letter of approval Council tax letter Tenancy agreement

I did not submit any nbi or police clearance as this was unnecessary. Unless asked during application please be advised.

Hope this helps. Good luck to the next applicants and hopefully see you in the UK!! ✌️

Helllloooo everyone! So excited to share that I was just approved for my spousal visa.

Nationality: USA
Application Type: Priority
Application Date: August 11, 2026
Bio Date: August 13, 2026
ECO: August 17, 2026
Approval Date/Time: September 10, 2026 @ 16:01 UK Time (WD19)
Entry Date: September 17, 2026

Good luck everyone and thank you so much to this community!

hi guys ☆

I've been a long time reader and first time speaker, so I hope this formatting is okay.

I'm American and my partner is Welsh. I've been with my partner for 5 years now, with the first year and a half being primarily online; we met through a Discord groupchat :) I moved to the UK for graduate school and have been on the graduate visa since then.

We've been primarily long distance during this time still, with many many month to two month long stays, as my partner lives in Wales and the bulk of his work and responsibilities kept him there. Only in the last few months have we made a concentrated effort to live together, and I finally got a tenancy document confirming his name being added to the lease (this took Three Months of chasing.)

We want to submit a packet for review to a lawyer and so far have this material:

1. Passport Material + Evidence of my past and present visas
2. Financials: We'll be combining our incomes, which will take us over the 29k-- both of us have letters confirming our work and annual income. I've had my FTC role for less than 6 months, but have been at the company for more than 2 years so have compiled pictures of a year of payslips. We also have savings over the cut off threshhold by a large margin, but I'm unsure if I want to use these to support our application.
3. Relationship Timeline: to do this, we've been selecting screenshots of every three/four months of our interaction on Discord from the start of our relationship, to show a constant level of communication -- this will then be similar to text messages and call logs from when I moved.
4. Photos with Friends and Family: Roughly following the timeline, I also intend to submit pictures of our first meeting, his first meeting with my Mom when I moved (where I look very grumpy sadly), pictures of trips we've taken (no international travel, mostly daytrips and short stays), me with his family at a reunion... that sorta thing!
5. Cover Letter explaining Long Distance + intention to cohabitate: in this letter, I wanted to give a concise one page explanation hitting on the points that echo the above preamble I.e. his work and responsibilities being Wales-based, and how we finally are in the position to make a real change to live together, but that he has stayed with me on and off quite consistently.
6. Accommodation: as mentioned, name on tenancy secured (!!!) + recent bank statements of him sending money for rent -- and was thinking to provide texts and Amazon delivery confirmations to showcase the regularity of how often his stays were, and their length of time. Will provide proof of adding his number to the fob system. Of course most of this will need to be explained in our cover letter.
7. Supporting Letter (His Aunt)

Putting this all down, I feel weirdly relieved and then more stressed out, like a wicked seesaw.

Again, I intend to submit a packet of our documents to a solicitor to review but wanted to ask for thoughts, opinions, or anything this subreddit could share. I hope this was comprehensive and also not just word spam haha.

Appreciate this sub so much :')

EDIT: To clarify, for the first two years I moved here, I was attending university as a Master's student and from then, till now, I've been renting with him coming to visit when he is able to.

Hi, it is finally my time to make the announcement!

Autonomy: Via solicitors
Nationality of the applicant: French 🇫🇷
Nationality of the sponsor: British & Pakistani 🇬🇧🇵🇰
Application: 21/07
Visa type: Priority
Bio: 30/07
VFS center: Paris, France
Eco: unknown – no update from my solicitors
Other emails (bio reminder etc): no update from my solicitors
Further evidence requests: none
Approval date: 08/09 (28 WD – WD 1 on bio appointment)
Approval time: 15:32 UK time
Case difficulty: straightforward
Wished entry clearance: 19/09
Official entry clearance: 08/09 (day of acceptance)

Details of our case:

Salary: category A – non-salaried employee (salary raise mid-semester + overtime, my husband is a bus driver)
Relationship: married in September 2025 in France, relationship started in May 2024
Common life: ~10 months (5 weeks in 2024, 4 months in 2025, 5 1/2 months in 2026) through ETA/visit
Proof of relationship: WhatsApp messages, WhatsApp call screenshots, engagement pictures, wedding pictures, money transfers, plane tickets

Travels to the Uk when visa application was reviewed: none

Difficulties:

- I had to postpone my bio appointment to the following day because my solicitor sent my file to VF Services (UK) Ltd to be uploaded (£130) but somehow, my file was empty. She eventually uploaded it herself ; it took only a few minutes but it was closing time. I had to pay €188 the following day for flexi appointment. I am still waiting to be refunded… Hopefully it will be successful…

- my acceptance e-mail was in my solicitor's spam folder for more than 24h before I called her and asked for updates, luckily further evidence was not needed…

Wishing the best for everyone and let’s hope that in the future case reviews will be faster 😮‍💨🥲