ILR approved!!! Skilled Worker + dependant — 5-year route Set O
My husband and I both got our ILR approved! 🥹
I was ridiculously anxious about the documents, so sharing what we submitted in case it helps someone else.
Nothing quite prepared me for clicking ‘pay’ on £7,000+ in one transaction with absolutely no guarantee of approval — pretty sure my heart briefly left my body. 💸
Could breathe properly for the week till I got the approved email 🤢
I was the main Skilled Worker applicant and my husband applied as my dependant.
Our qualifying visas started sept 2021, although we had both entered the UK in 2020 on different visa routes, so I included a short cover letter explaining this.
Documents submitted:
Passports + eVisa/status evidence (both)
Previous BRP/visa letters available to us (both)
Employer letter (main applicant)
Latest payslip + corresponding bank statement (main applicant)
Degree/English language evidence (dependent)
Life in the UK test code (both)
Marriage certificate
Travel dates (relevant passport stamps as evidence for both, no other evidence)
Consent forms (part 1- main applicant, part 2- dependent, part 3- nil )
Cohabitation evidence
Short cover letters for anything that needed clarification (we gave 3 in total - absolutely not needed but good for peace of mind )
Tried to keep all the evidence to a minimum and still felt it was a lot , because you don’t need to give any evidence already provided during previous visas as they keep it and would just delay the caseworker having to go through it.
No Lawers were involved in the application. Though ChatGPT and Reddit provided a lot of reassurance for any confusing questions.
Cohabitation evidence : We only submitted evidence for the last 11 months, NOT the whole 5 years. The document advice asked for evidence since the most recent grant of leave, or up to a maximum of 2 years. Our latest visas were granted 10 months ago, so that’s all I covered with utility bills for a month , Joint tenancy, council tax and joint bank statement for another month.
Another thing I massively overthought was my employer letter. It did not say I was required “for the foreseeable future”. I’m on a fixed-term contract, so my employer wouldn’t give that wording. The letter instead confirmed my new contract with the same employer with an end date one year later. I was very anxious about this, but it clearly wasn’t an issue!
Also I changed employment once during the 5 years - did not provide any letters from them as it was already mentioned during previous visa extensions.
Cover letters x 3 (overkill)
One explaining entry dates , another for travel dates and one for CCJ.
I also declared a recently discovered uncleared CCJ for utilities with an explanation.
Timeline
Application : 07/08/2026 (28 days before the 5year)
Type : Priority (5 working days)
Biometrics : 11/08/2026
Granted email : 15/08/2026 at 11.11 ( 4 days after biometric,even though it was a Saturday)
I spent an embarrassing amount of time worrying that one tiny detail would ruin everything but both applications were approved!
Hope this reassures another anxious Skilled Worker + dependant applicant currently drowning in PDFs. 😂❤️