Making the Move from Malaysia to UK, our ILR journey

I met my Malaysian wife in Kuala Lumpur in 2003. At the time we were enjoying the now and not even thinking about the future. As time went by, however, and we were still together, we took stock of our lives and decided that maybe it would be a good idea to try to set up our lives in England, my home country. We had been in a relationship and living together for about 5 years; we had no kids and were not married.

In December 2007 I decided to quit my job in Malaysia and this meant my work visa was no longer valid and I had to return home early 2008. So we took the opportunity to start the process to get a visa to live together in England. We decided that we would live apart for a year whilst I got a job and prepared the way for us - me in England and my wife in Malaysia.

The first step was for my wife to compile all the evidence required to apply for an unmarried partner visa. We had to prove that we had been together for two years and living in a similar way to a husband and wife. To be honest we hardly had any official letters in our joint names but nonetheless she managed to put together a pack and submit it to the British High Commission in Malaysia in January 2009. Once we got the interview date in March 2009, I booked a flight and came over so that I could support her. The interview went well and the slightly haphazard pack of papers my wife put through was sufficient for the officer to grant us an unmarried visa for entry into England for two years. We were given very little instructions on what woud happen next so we just booked a flight and away we went!

The most difficult experience with the first stage was that I wasn't with my wife at the time she was applying for the visa and the difficulty I experienced in trying to get questions answered as the UKBA website was very poor at that time. No one would answer my emails properly; all I got were automated replies. Plus the fact that we were not told that I was not really required at the interview but they did let me join in at the end.

Once we were together in England in May 2009 (we deferred the start of the visa till then) we stayed with my parents as I did not own a property at the time. Eventually we moved out to our own flat and continued to live together. A year down the line and we hadn't done anything but enjoy ourselves living and working in England. We had also taken a 3 week trip back to Malaysia for a holiday in May 2010. In June 2010 my wife gained her UK driving licence after the year on her interational licence was up. She should have done her tests during the year but my nagging fell on deaf ears. About a year and a half later in November 2010 we found out, to our joy, that we were pregnant. This was great news and this really hammered home the need for us to get our acts together and look at what we had to do next.

We stepped up my wife's studying of the Life in the UK text book as we had not really put my much effort into it before. We mainly studied with a DVD ROM using practice questions because the book was quite hard going. In February 2011 my wife took another trip to Malaysia for 4 weeks this time.

We mistakenly thought that we had to wait 2 years before my wife could take the test so when she finally got around to taking the test she was about 5 or 6 months pregnant! She did really well and passed. She did note that by just doing mock tests on a DVD ROM she had not studied for all the questions that came up on the test. All in all, the testing experience was quite good for both of us as the people at the test centre in Southampton were very nice and not at all officious.

After the test we submitted our set M application still as an unmarried couple in early June 2011. However, we did not want to have the baby as an unmarried couple so we got married in mid-June 2011. It was a stroke of luck as the Certificate of Approval scheme was coming to an end so we decided to wait till it was abolished before starting the process to get married. I did not fancy having to apply for a COA so close to having to submit similar documents for Indefinite Leave to Remain. Once the COA was abolished, getting married at a registry office meant having to give notice in an approved registry office as not all offices can do this for couples with one non-EU citizen. We then got married at our local registry office.

Before we applied for ILR, I tried to get advice on what to do at this point - should I wait until we were married to apply as a married couple or just apply as unmarried couple as time was running out - the unmarried visa ran out in August 2011 and that was when our baby was due too! In the end we did apply before we were married. I did submit a covering letter but omitted the fact that we were getting married as I thought it may muddy the waters. The letter was mainly explaining why there were hardly any letters in our joint names again! We were never very organised in this respect.

The pack I submitted was stuffed full of pay slips and bank statements. I also provided letters for both of us covering our entire time in the UK. We used anything official such as utility bills, NHS letters, mobile phone bills etc. We had at least learnt that we should keep all the letters, bank statements and payslips while we were in the UK but we only had a tenancy and bank account in our joint names.

To pay for the ILR I supplied our bank details. They took the money almost immediately. I was really worried that we may lost the money due to not submitting a valid application but not worried enough to enlist the help of a solitor. As directed, I photocopied everything twice and sent off a massive pack. It took about a week or so to prepare all the evidence and submit the paper application. I really did not like the idea of doing it online as it seemed that the evidence required for an online application seemed to differ from a paper one.

In July 2011 our baby arrived a week and a half early. The day after, about 7 weeks later after we sent off the pack, the letter confirming my wife's successful ILR application arrived.

In addition, my wife had a job when she fell pregnant and had no problem getting maternity leave and pay. We also found out that if we had an active application, going over the time on the visa would be OK. If we had known that we could do the Life in the UK at any time I like to think that maybe we would have done it earlier and submitted the application as soon as the 2 year qualifying period was up... but who am I kidding!