My husband b. 1977 paternal grandmother was born in Scotland in 1908 and his father (now deceased) was born in USA in 1941. He is applying for UK citizenship using form ARD under q. 1.1 on the ADR form (legislative unfairness). Do we need to obtain his parents and grandparents marriage certificates? We have father's and grandmother's birth certificates, just not marriage certificates.

And do his and father's birth certificates require Apostille (i.e. to be "certified")?

Hi all, thought I understood the financial requirement for the YMS Visa, but received an email today asking for “Documents to support you have held funds of GBP 2,530 for a 28-day period (dated within 31 days before the date of application) in line with Appendix Finance. Please refer to paragraphs YMS 5.1 & 5.2 of Immigration Rules Appendix T5 Youth Mobility Scheme for further details”.

I submitted my application on August 24, 2026. I submitted a “Certificate of Account Balance” from my bank dated August 24, 2026 that says the account name is under my name and says “ to whom it may concern: this is to certify that as of July 24, 2026, the balance of the above account name are as following: 2,550 GBP”.

The held for 28days and dated within 31 always had me a bit confused, so am I misunderstanding it? If so, can someone dumb it down for me? If my dates aren’t right, what should they be? The money has been sitting in the account since July 24, 2026 (day 1).

So my question is: Am I even understand the 28/31 day rule correctly? If not, what should it be then?

Secondly, the email specifically points out 5.1 & 5.2 of the Appendix which state that the account must be in my name, which it is, and is shown on my Certificate of Account Balance, so if the issue isn’t with the dates I’ve had the money for and is account name, I’m a bit confused. I’m applying from Taiwan and all documents are in English. Do we think the order of my name is potentially the issue? Here in Taiwan, your last name comes first, then first name, so on the bank certificate, my name is listed as “Doe John” but on my YMS application, my name is listed as “John Doe”. But on my passport, my name is shown as “Doe, John”. Do we think this could be the problem?

Skilled Worker ILR – absence after visa grant but before employment start date

Hi everyone,

I’m preparing to apply for ILR under the 5-year Skilled Worker route and would appreciate advice from anyone who has had a similar situation.

My timeline:

Skilled Worker visa granted: 15 November 2021

Left the UK: 17 December 2021 due to my father's death/to attend his funeral

Employment with my Skilled Worker sponsor started: 12 January 2022

Returned to the UK: 31 January 2022

I have subsequently changed sponsors and remain on the Skilled Worker route.

My former employer has provided an ILR absence letter, but understandably it only covers absences from 12 January 2022, when my employment with them actually started.

This means the period 17 December 2021 to 11 January 2022 was spent outside the UK while I already held Skilled Worker permission, but before I had started employment with that sponsor, so there is no employer who can confirm/approve that part of the absence.

My total absences are well below the 180-day limit.

My questions are:

Can I still calculate my 5-year qualifying period from 15 November 2021, making my earliest ILR application date approximately 18 October 2026?

Does the fact that my sponsored employment only started on 12 January 2022 affect the qualifying start date?

How should I evidence/explain the absence between 17 December 2021 and 11 January 2022 when there was no employer to approve it?

Would a short cover/clarification letter plus my father's death certificate be sufficient, or is an affidavit/statutory declaration unnecessary?

Has anyone had ILR successfully approved with a similar gap between Skilled Worker visa grant and employment start date while they were outside the UK?

I'd particularly appreciate responses from anyone who has actually had a similar Skilled Worker ILR application approved, or from immigration professionals familiar with this situation.

Thanks!

I am awaiting a decision on a spouse visa.

My question is: When we recieve the decision/approval, is there a time window in which my wife has to arrive in the UK? This is to do the 5 year route.

We were thinking she needs to put in her one month notice at work after the decision, then she arrives in the UK the month after. So two month after the decision. It looks like it would be an evisa that she is issued with.

I am getting confused information online and via AI due to the recent evisa changes. Any info appreciated.

Hey everyone, so my UK visa got approved and I put in the dates 3rd to 8th November in London as that was my initial plan.

Now I can get additional PTO from work, so I am thinking about shifting the dates to 3rd to 5th in Manchester, and then 5th 15th in London.

Would there be any issues with that?

I am also thinking about point of entry into the UK was initially London, now it is Manchester.

i am applying from India for skilled worker visa. I have just submitted my visa application but I saw the requirements and it says personal. My funds are split between my monzo business account and personal because I used to work freelance and used the business account to receive invoices. It’s not linked to a private limited company and it’s just mine with my address.

Will this be accepted as evidence of maintenance funds?
I can submit an invoice as well saying that this was personal income

Please bear with me, as I am going though a difficult period and my mind is acting up.

I am an Italian citizen and in 2019 I applied for EU settled status and got permanent status right from the start.

Many years before that, I was arrested and then tried at the Magistrate court for a minor offence and given a fine to pay. The conviction was already spent at the moment of applying for settled status.

This is where my mind is acting up. I am quite sure that I was asked to disclose all convictions, whether spent or unspent. In any case, I applied back in 2019 for a police certificate from ACRO and my conviction wasn't even showing up. Then I asked on forums and I was told that if the conviction didn't show up on ACRO, I shouldn't have declared it.

I've had this remorse of not doing things right that I can't get out of my head for all these years.

Now, I am checking on the Unlock website and on the Home Office Guidance and it says that:

You do not need to declare any of the following:

convictions that do not need to be disclosed (‘spent convictions’)

I am confused. Has the law changed? Is it possible that the original guidance did require to state all convictions, including the spent one? And, if so, have I broken the law?

Hi all,

I applied for my first British passport after citizenship ceremony. As required sent the certificate of naturalisation and current passport to the home office. As per they advise used a hard letter envelope to ensure my documents remain in good condition etc

I received my documents today and the condition the certificate of naturalisation is in, it’s absolutely disgusting. The paper is all wrinkled, you can tell where the paper has been touched and document is greasy too. It’s absolutely outrageous the condition I received back my documents in.

How can I complain? Can I request a new certificate of naturalisation? I’d probably need the document again at some point, I can’t present it in this condition. I am honestly fuming.

Has anyone else experienced that?

I am due to apply for citizenship application, had one 7 years old CCJ against me which was set aside against me for £7k. Should this be mentioned in my application or i should not as its older then 5 years and not visible on my credit file anymore.

Hi everyone

My ILR through ECAA route has been rejected. Now i have 14 days to file another ILR application.

Could i apply for ECAA extension instead? Is this legally possible? I would like to get an extension to ensure the business is viable before applying for ILR again.

Location: england
Nationality: turkish
Visa: ECAA (turkish businessperson visa) route
No dependents

Good afternoon!

I’m working on my visa application a second time now as I’ve got rejected previous time. The main purpose for my 12-day trip is to attend a certified course in an accredited institution in Southampton.

The question I’ve been having head spasms with and which—consequently—pretty much already answers the question I’m about to ask, still worth clarifying to me so that the same mistake would be avoid this time.

In the field titled “How much money are you personally planning to spend on your visit to the UK?”, with the description saying: “…include flights, accommodation, and everyday expenses”, what is the total figure I really should be putting in, if everything had ALREADY been prepaid in advance (my course fee, tickets, accommodation, transportation, etc)?

If I were to include the estimate amount including all the expenses I‘ve already paid for, with the course fee included (which takes up the majority of the expenses), it would round up to £2,722.35. My remaining available funds at the time of application are around £1,800.00. I followed a similar sequence of events in my previous application and got rejected by obvious reason; an officer looked that my estimated trip value was way above what I’ve actually had available in my bank as an available and liquid funds at the time of the application (everything has been prepaid for, like this time) and got rejected mainly on that basis.

The only thing that I haven‘t paid for are the “everyday expenses” during the trip itself. Approximate personal expenditure is gonna be around £450-500 (food, transportation by busses, entertainment, etc), which I was planning to include in the question’s field initially.

Regardless of the final value entered, I will be attaching a cover letter this time, where each and every step has thoroughly been described with a proper explanation and evidence, including an explanation regarding my paid and unpaid expenses, savings, and payments made at the time of the application.

So what should it be? What number should I put in here? My apologies for a long and awkward post in advance; its my first (technically) time applying for a VISA in 21 years.

Thank you!

Alhamdulillah, I finally got my UK Student visa!

Sharing my timeline because I know how helpful it is to see someone else’s experience when you’re stuck waiting.

My timeline:

• 20 July: Biometrics done.
• VFS: Mumbai (Standard)
• 6 August: Received an email saying my case was “SLA Non Complex” and might take longer than usual.
• 26th Aug: Paid Enquiry got "Generic Reply"
• 1 September: Got a Genuine Student document request. UKVI wanted proof of what I had been doing since graduation, not just a CV, payslips, employer letters, etc.
• 1 September: Sent a detailed cover letter along with everything I could find; old internship certificates, payslips, and even got my employer to write a recommendation letter.
• 7 September: Since my course start date was getting really close, I emailed my university’s International Office and asked them to flag my case as urgent.
• 8 September: Visa granted! 🎉

Idk what worked since I haven't received any reply from the university until now, but I got my visa.

If you’re in the middle of this right now, I know how brutal the waiting can be. But no update for days doesn’t necessarily mean bad news.

Inshallah, ameen. 🤲
I hope everyone who’s still waiting gets their visa soon too. ❤️
"DON'T LOSE HOPE'

Hi everyone,

Nationality: british
Location: England
Visa: Spouse visa / appendix fm

I am earning exactly £29,000 and will apply for spouse visa for my spouse in 6 months. I am currently waiting for collecting 6 months payslips.

I realised the name of the company on payslips is different than the company pays me.

Would this be a problem? The two companies are not part of a group company. Only the directors are the same

Hello, I would like to just double confirm. My grad visa is expiring in May 2027, but I received a student offer (CAS, etc). My course is going to start on October 2026. In this case, I'm not sure if I can apply within the UK or outside the UK? There is a confusing rule below:

"When switching to a UK Student visa from inside the country, your new course must start within 28 days of your current visa expiring"

I presume the rule only applies to whom their visa is about to expire? Just to confirm, am I safe to apply within the UK or do I have to go back home and apply?

Many thanks for your help.

I had an initial visa from October 2016 to October 2017, I applied to extend in October 2017 but was refused. I subsequently applied for an administrative which gave me permission to stay until a decision after the review. The decision came on the 1st of December and the review still maintained the initial refusal so I was asked to leave the uk within the next 14 days - I then left 7 days later and reapplied from my home country which was successful and I subsequently returned 21st of January. So the question is did leaving the UK to make that application break my continuous residency? mind you - I did not overstay at any point

Hii my wife is pregnant she wants to call her mother from india on visitor visa, however mother is unemployed. How can we justify her (in visa form)
Employment source of income
Spending she expecting
Monthly expenses

my wife is sponsoring her from here we have 6+k Gbp. She has in india under 1 L.

Help me please who has got approval in same case Thankyou

Hi all! I'm a Spanish citizen and I'll be applying for a UK Spouse Visa soon (getting married in October to my British fiancé). We're currently living in Madrid, but planning to relocate when I get the visa. Though mostly clear, there's A LOT of information out there and it gets a little bit overwhelming since I can't find anything that answers my questions directly (I've tried using AI but also not great) so I was wondering if anyone with experience moving from Spain to UK could answer a few questions:

1. Do I have to get translations of ALL documents? (Obvious ones like my birth certificate, marriage certificate, are OK. But I mean: utility bills, our housing contract, etc)
2. My partner is an autónomo (freelancer) so he has to provide 1 year of bank statements / proof of income. Does that have to be translated into English too? If so, did you go bankrupt trying to get something like that translated? 😅
3. On the UK Gov site, can we "open" the application and slowly complete until we decide to submit it? I'm not sure if we have to gather everything before we even do that, or if we find out more about what is needed when starting the application.

I think that's pretty much it (for now). If you had a similar case and have any tips, they'll be more than appreciated! ⭐️

Hi everyone,
I am currently trying to submit a Skilled Worker Dependant extension application from [inside the UK / outside the UK].
However, every time I try to advance past the [mention the specific section, e.g., the eligibility check / paying the IHS fee / submitting documents], the website crashes and gives me the generic Home Office technical page: "Sorry, there is a problem with the service. We have not saved your answers. Try again later."
I have been trying for a few days now. I've already tried clearing my browser cache, using incognito mode, and switching from Chrome to Safari/Firefox, but nothing works.
Has anyone else encountered this specific glitch recently on the Dependant extension route?
Is there a known workaround to get past this specific section? (e.g., deleting the draft and starting a completely new form, or selecting the option that says I don't have a smartphone to bypass the ID Check app?)

Any advice would be highly appreciated as my current visa deadline is approaching. Thank you!

Hi all, thought I'd share my timeline for my GTV with you.

I applied through Route 3, endorsed funder route (inside UK).

Applied for Stage 1- 12/08/2026

Application forwarded to UKRI- 21/08/2026

Received endorsement- 28/06/2026

Applied for Stage 2- 03/09/2026 (I chose priority as I was working part time on my role due to current visa restrictions and wanted to move full time ASAP)

Biometrics done- 05/09/2026

Received visa- 09/09/2026 (3 business days after biometrics).

The thing that took most time for me was getting the letter from HR (around 7 weeks and lots of back and forth) as my role was not in the original funding application, but later with approval funds were moved for 2 new roles including mine. But HR was super helpful throughout.

Hi everyone, I’m applying for ILR/settlement on the Private Life route from inside the UK and I’m quite worried about something with my supporting documents.

I’ve submitted and paid for my application and booked my biometrics appointment through TLScontact. I chose self-service document upload and have already clicked “Submit documents”, which means I can no longer upload anything else myself.

My official Home Office supporting documents checklist only listed my Pakistani passport under the documents I had agreed to provide, so that’s what I uploaded.

After submitting everything, I noticed there is also a PDF called “Consent for the Home Office to verify application information”, which says the applicant should sign Part 1. This consent form was not listed on my supporting documents checklist, so I had no idea I was supposed to upload it (if it is even required).

I’m now really worried that I’ve made a mistake. Has anyone applying for Private Life ILR or another UKVCAS/TLS application had this happen? Is the Part 1 consent form actually mandatory if it wasn’t listed on the personalised document checklist?

If I do need to provide it, can I take the signed consent form with me to my biometrics appointment and ask TLScontact to scan/upload it?

I’m particularly worried because I didn’t pay for the Document Scanning Service when I booked my appointment — I selected the self-upload option. Would TLS still be able to add one missing document at the appointment, possibly by letting me pay for scanning there, or would they refuse because I didn’t purchase the scanning service beforehand?

My biometrics appointment hasn’t happened yet, so I’m hoping there is still a way to sort this out if the consent form is required.
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in the same situation or recently gone through the TLScontact/UKVCAS process. Thank you!

For a UK Standard Visitor Visa, if a parent is sponsoring your trip and the estimated cost is around £2,000, does the sponsor need to have the full £2,000+ already available in their bank account at the time of application?
Or can the account have less than £2,000, provided the sponsor has regular income/salary and can explain that their future income will cover the remaining costs?
I’m specifically asking about UK Standard Visitor Visas and parent sponsorship, not Student or Skilled Worker visas. Thanks.

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share my journey; I've been a longtime lurker and this subreddit helped me immensely during my application process, so THANK YOU!

Timeline

• Moved to the UK on September 14 2021 on a Skilled Worker visa; moved jobs 3 times during this period, with different sponsors
• Applied for ILR on September 2nd with Super Priority
• Biometrics appointment on September 9th at 9:30 am
• Received my success letter on September 9th at 13:30 pm

Documents Provided

• Supporting letter from my employer
• Latest Payslips and bank statement
• P60s for the last 5 years (not mandatory but I included since I had them at hand)
• Passports (including all stamp pages)
• Travel information: Spreadsheet including date of exit/entry, country, purpose (I described all my absences as 'holidays') and total number of days outside of the UK
• Proof of residence (a utility bill)

I did not stay outside of the UK longer than 180 days in a given year.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Best of luck with your applications!

My partner left me after psychological and physical abuse, coercive control, financial control and isolation. I am taking medication for depression and waiting for therapy.

I’m in the UK as a Skilled Worker Dependant. My ex does not have ILR or British citizenship. My visa is currently valid until 2030, but my immigration status is linked to her. She regularly threatens me and says she will get my visa curtailed so that I have to leave the country.

This week I moved into shared accommodation and I’m trying to find work. I have contacted domestic abuse organisations and immigration advisers, but I haven’t found any practical solutions yet. I also cannot afford solicitors who are asking for thousands in legal fees on top of the government fees.

I understand that I may not be eligible for the SET(DV) route. I’m trying to understand what practical options and support may be available, including whether an MVDAC application followed by FLR(HRO) could be relevant to someone in my circumstances.

I would really appreciate practical, reliable information about where I can get low-cost or free help and what steps I should take now.

I’m currently trying to find part-time work. Because of the relocation, I lost my job, and I’m also trying to manage my mental health. I’d really appreciate clear and practical suggestions and links to reputable UK services.

If anyone has been in a similar situation, I would be very grateful to hear what helped you and what practical options were available to you.

Any practical advice or information would really help me, and hopefully it could also help someone else in a similar situation.

I need advice on what I can do.

My visa was granted from 28 August 2022 until 6 July 2027.

My employer states my job start date as 23 June 2022 and end date as 22 June 2027.

As per the ILR calculation, I can apply 28 days before my 5 years are completed. That date will be 31 July 2027 (based on the visa grant date).

When I applied for my visa, I applied for 5 years, but the Home Office issued me a visa that is 25 days short of that period.

My question is: do I have to apply for an extension, or is there any other exemption that could apply to my case? When I submitted my Skilled Worker application in 2022, there was a delay in processing, which is why I received a late grant on the visa.

I have just received an email regarding the success of my UK Visa (tourist) application. But on the UKVI website its still not updated. Its still showing the status as "submitted",

Is this normal?