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In 2009 we applied for his first Spouse visa from his home country and it took a few weeks but it got approved. I did my research well and found this forum a great help. I put together a whole folder of proofs of our relationship, photos, letters from our friends, text messages, emails, Skype messages, phone bills with calls to each other highlighted, payslips, bank statements of mine to show that I could support him without recourse to public funds, reasons why we had to be together in this country. I even referred and stated past court cases! The only money we ever paid to a lawyer was £50 to a lawyer who told us that my husband's chances of getting an approval was less than 50%. Heh. I was 21 years old at that time so it can be done, whatever your situation.
I know the law and requirements have changed but as far as I see it, if your relationship is genuine and you do not give a reason to be refused you will get it approved (or at least if it ends up in court the judge will just look at it and pass the appeal in your favour). I even went as far as to write a cover note for each section of the application and saying why we met the requirements, directly stating the law or the ECO's guidance notes back at them, in bold. I really wanted to pre-empt a court case. The folder was bulky and in fact, scared his family because it was so detailed. But it worked. We did it without a lawyer, just a lot of research both on here and from the UKBA website with the relevant laws and guidance sections for the ECOs.
Last year we applied for his ILR. Again I put together a folder of documents, making sure every requirement was met. I brought nearly all the letters we had been sent, split into sections of himself, me and then joint with each section divided up into utilities, bank statements etc etc. We applied at a centre, face-to-face so the lady just went through the folder and picked what she wanted. The ILR was approved within a few hours.
About 2 months ago we applied for his British Citizenship. This oddly enough required the least amount of documents. I had the application checked at an Identity Checking Service before it got sent so we could a) be more confident and
get our passports back! We did get a call asking about an address but it was all sorted within about 2 months.I found the best approach (as in it never failed) with applications, especially the ILR and Spouse Visa was to check what the law said, quote it and say why you have met the requirement. In bold. Don't give them an excuse to say no.
This whole process took a lot of heart-ache, ££££ and tears but it's over. The end came. If anyone is in a situation similar to ours was do not give up hope. It WILL end. And it WILL be worth it.
