# ILR - Set (M) Success



## MrsScotland (Jan 18, 2016)

*ILR - Set (M) Success (with details)*

We received a much appreciated and highly anticipated confirmation email approximately 3.5 hours after our Super Priority booking in Glasgow today. It reads:

_Dear Mrs xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am pleased to confirm that your application for Indefinite Leave to Remain has now been granted. You will receive your decision letter and Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) via post in due course and these will confirm your immigration status.
Thank you for using our Super Priority Service.
Yours sincerely,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

I will outline briefly the process we followed, in case it might be useful to anyone else. This is not an inclusive list because when you apply, your list of required documents may be different to mine. However, for the purposes of planning ahead, I think it won't hurt to start with the list below. 

1. Firstly, we determined when we qualified to apply. At the top of this forum in the sticky section there is a lot of information about how to determine the exact day. Basically you need to be here for 4 years and 11 months from the date your passport was stamped when you first entered the UK (not the date your initial leave was approved, which for most of us is an earlier date because we had to wait for our passports to be mailed back to us so we could fly into the UK 5 years ago). 

2. After you know the date you qualify to apply, check the dates of your payslips and when your bank statements are issued. The most recent copies of both cannot be any older than 28 days. The only thing you have control over is the date your bank statements are issued (not your payday!) So, if you get paid on the 5th of every month, you can ask your bank to issue your paper statements to you on the 10th of every month so your payslips and your statements match up nicely. (Paid on 5th, reflected on statement on 10th). You can start to work out these details months before you need to gather up the most recent 6 payslips and bank statements -- and it will make it a little easier on you if you plan ahead to align these documents. Also banks like RBS are turning off paper statements unless you specifically request them not to - so you should also call your bank anyway to be sure you are all set.

3. Let your employer know you'll be needing a letter of support and it's helpful to give them a date to issue the letter. I asked for mine a month in advance and for a date just 2 weeks before our appointment so I had it in-hand and ready to go when I applied. As far as what the letter needs to say, I assume this is subject to change, so can't advise you on what needs to be in that letter. For my application, the employer needed to state my job title, start date, salary, that it was a permanent contract and that I paid my taxes at the source (they took the taxes out of my pay for me). 

4. Find your most recent P60 and your employment contract. You'll need both.

5. You'll need to prove where you live, whether you rent or own. So you'll need to have your most recent rental agreement or mortgage statement. Also proof of the utilities you pay (electric, gas, phone, internet, etc) and your Council Tax bills. If your Council Tax bill doesn't list the applicant, you'll need to call your Council and fix this right away. You'll also need letters addressed to both of you jointly. I know this can be hard when you are new to the UK, but try to get bills put in your names jointly as early as possible (like when you first move here!) It is also helpful to have a joint checking or savings account. Otherwise the applicant will need to save official letters to help meet this requirement individually (up to 6 letters) so things like your NHS correspondence, etc. The sponsor should have no problem meeting this requirement as it's most likely the bills are in the sponsors name if you couldn't get them jointly. 

6. Start studying for your Life in the UK test as soon as you arrive in the UK. I am from America and I found the book a struggle to get through (I suppose I am used to history from an American perspective haha). I know a lot of people complain about this requirement, but after I got through the material and was able to pass the test, I am truly grateful for the knowledge. I honestly think it is so nice to be able to engage in conversations about the UK and have a grasp of its history so that I understand the references people make about this or that. You may have an easier go of it, but either way -- start early and take your exam as soon as you feel comfortable. But don't wait until the last minute!!! Give yourself time to fail a few exams just in case you need the extra time. Maybe you won't. =)

7. You'll need your current Biometric Resident Permit. 

8. You'll need your sponsors British passport. 

9. You'll need your passports (both old and new).

10. You'll need your marriage certificate.

11. If either one of you were married before, you'll need the divorce papers.

12. Probably subject to change as well, but we had to download a statement my husband had to sign basically (in more eloquent terms, of course) it's just a statement to confirm that we are married and he knows he's breaking the law if he's lying to help get someone into the country on false pretenses. It's just a one-page letter, but it is mandatory. 

13. Invest in a simple A4 scanner and start collecting and scanning your documents as early as you want. We had a zip binder where we kept the documents after we scanned them. This is the binder we grabbed and took with us today, so it was really easy. You may want to regroup or move your PDF pages around after you have scanned them but you don't want to splash out a lot of money on Adobe Pro. We found a 15-day trial of desktop software called PDF Pro 10 and it was so easy to manage our documents this way. Prior to this we tried something called Soda PDF and that about killed our laptop, it was such a resource monster. Lucky you if your already have Adobe! It will be quick work for you. As a reminder when you are scanning, the files can't be larger than 6mb each. So you can try to scan in black and white to get the size down. But if you want them in color, you can also try this software called NXP Power Lite that reduces PDF sizes by 80% or better. We were able to reduce down one file of 24,000 to 2mb -- so highly recommend it.

14. Filling out the application: We began 1 month in advance and kept logging in to answer the questions a little at a time. It does ask you for a lot of dates, so you'll want to take your time to be sure you don't just go off your memory but actually have the real dates for things like when you moved into your current home, etc. etc. Outside of the dates, the rest of the application is really very easy. You just answer basic questions, nothing different to what you've already seen on other applications. You can go back and change your answers up to the point that you actually pay. Once you pay, your answers are locked in. (I think others have warned about this in the forum already). After you pay, you will be sent an email to create an account for Sopra Steria (the place that will take your biometerics). Once your create that login, you will see the options of uploading your documents and booking an appointment. We headed straight for booking an appointment without delay. Then we went back and uploaded our PDFs. I believe others have also noted in here that it's good to number your documents so they are easy to keep track of when you are uploading. That is because after you upload a file that says BANK STATEMENTS AUGUST 2019 will look like this: BANK STA......19 after it's uploaded. It cuts out the middle text and shortens it up. It can be confusing to know what you've uploaded and what you haven't. I had to delete a few sections and start over. But, the good news is you can delete a PDF after you've uploaded it, for example, if you put it in the wrong category.

15. The actual appointment: It went fast -- 20 minutes max. My husband walked in with me, but he was asked to leave. I went through some tight security and just before I entered the final door, I had to produce my passport and my proof of appointment (which is a QR code). So you'll need access to a printer to print this out before you go to your appointment. After that, I was directed to sit and wait. There were about 8 other people with me who all had appointments at the same time. When it was my turn, they took my finger prints, had me sign my name in a box and also took my photo. Then they asked to see the mandatory documents. When you pay for your application you are given a list of items that you'll need but at the very top there is a section that says MANDATORY. For me, this was my passport and my husband's letter that he had to sign stating everything was true. I provided this and waited while they went through all of my scanned uploads to make sure I included everything and they were readable documents. I did not pay any extra for this service, so it was very kind of them to do. After that, she gave me back my items and said that I might hear from them today. And we did!

We are going to begin my British Citizenship application in January but for now, we are going to celebrate getting this far. It is a good feeling to finally know that this is our home and I don't have to keep applying every 2.5 years. It takes its toll on you, although I don't think I realized how much until the weight lifted off my shoulders today. This is a long journey and I know what everyone is going through. I wish you all the very best and thank you to everyone for the help you've provided along the way. I know this is a long post, but I wanted to share it because it was posts like this that helped me on my journey and I wanted to pay it forward. xx


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## Whatshouldwedo (Sep 29, 2013)

Congratulations! This is an excellent report and, I am sure, will be very helpful to future applicants. Just one minor point, isn’t your current BRP one of the mandatory documents? I know my husband had to present his as such.


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## MrsScotland (Jan 18, 2016)

Whatshouldwedo said:


> Congratulations! This is an excellent report and, I am sure, will be very helpful to future applicants. Just one minor point, isn’t your current BRP one of the mandatory documents? I know my husband had to present his as such.


Thank you! 

No, it was not mandatory for us. I am not sure why? I was expecting to provide it, so I had it on me.


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## Mr_L (Dec 20, 2019)

Very useful, appreciate the detailed explanation. 

I have noticed a number of people pointing out they scanned documents. I plan to apply via post, if that still exists, i.e. will not have a premium appointment. Will we need to send the original documents by post as well? Or is everything scanned now? 

Also do you have any notes on SET (M). During previous applications there were some guidance notes e.g. Appendix FM you may recall. This was really useful. This time it all seems to be more vague. 

I have already posted a thread but as you mentioned it, I do have online statements as well. Annoyingly, Natwest did not send me the old A5 style ones when I asked for them to be sent and instead sent me A4 printouts, I am not sure if I need the bank to stamp them, and if so each page? Or are they just the way statements are now. 

Thanks in advance.


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## styam (May 30, 2014)

Mr_L said:


> Very useful, appreciate the detailed explanation.
> 
> I have noticed a number of people pointing out they scanned documents. I plan to apply via post, if that still exists, i.e. will not have a premium appointment. Will we need to send the original documents by post as well? Or is everything scanned now?
> 
> ...


- You won’t be able to apply for your SET(M) through the post anymore, it’s online only.
- I am not sure if you are referring to the guidance notes during the FLR(M) application. The old SET(M) paper form had some guidances alongside. But there are no guidance notes as such for the online application form. It is meant to be self explanatory, but unfortunately it is far from it. I would strongly recommend to search through this forum as you will definitely find the right answer to each and every question!


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## styam (May 30, 2014)

Whatshouldwedo said:


> ... Just one minor point, isn’t your current BRP one of the mandatory documents? I know my husband had to present his as such.


My mandatory list also had only 2 documents listed: my passport and a declaration signed by my husband. But we were advised to use a similar list of documents as when we applied for my FLR(M). 

The gentleman from Sopra Steria that handled our appointment confirmed that different people within SET(M) application had been getting different documents listed in the mandatory section. He also kind of suggested that the online form was in a quite a mess - almost every single applicant of his had complained about the confusion and inconsistencies.


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## Mr_L (Dec 20, 2019)

styam said:


> - You won’t be able to apply for your SET(M) through the post anymore, it’s online only.
> - I am not sure if you are referring to the guidance notes during the FLR(M) application. The old SET(M) paper form had some guidances alongside. But there are no guidance notes as such for the online application form. It is meant to be self explanatory, but unfortunately it is far from it. I would strongly recommend to search through this forum as you will definitely find the right answer to each and every question!


Hi Thanks for the reply. 

Yes when i say "Postal" I mean the non premium appointment. In the past it was referred to as "postal" i.e. you did the application online but printed declarations and bundled all original documents and sent.


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## sprite75 (Aug 11, 2014)

No, everything is digital now.

And it's the differences in centres that is part of the frustration. I nearly broke down while waiting in the office for my appointment, because I realised I'd left partner's passport back home. 
I kept my mouth shut, and was never asked for it, just for mine.

I didn't print out my QR code--I opened the file on my phone, and for security took a screen shot of it, and that's what I gave to the agent.
But there was also almost no security!


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## MrsScotland (Jan 18, 2016)

Hi - just a note for the moderator of this forum. 

When I read my original post (above) I am seeing spam links added to it, but only when I'm reading the post before logging in. When I log in, the links are no longer visible. How is this happening? Words such as PASSPORT are linking to items for sale. 

Has my account been hacked or has your forum been hacked?


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## xbel (Feb 12, 2015)

_8. You'll need your sponsors British passport._

so the checklist is not accurate? there's no mention of this in the checklist...

just to also confirm that, the sponsor, my husband do not need to go with me to the center?


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## Whatshouldwedo (Sep 29, 2013)

Your spouse (sponsor) does not need to go with you. Many lists of required documents appear to miss some that we would normally consider necessary. It is better to be safe than sorry! If in doubt, ask here! And in any case, take anything you think might be missing but needed, to the Sopra Steria centre.


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## ithinkin (Jan 30, 2015)

Congratulations on your success! Many thanks for taking the time in posting such a detailed guide for all of us, which I will copy and use as guide, when as apply in the next two months or so. 

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk


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