Author: Kat

Moving to the UK

By Kat · Applied August 2018, my sister December 2020

Five years on the Ancestry visa and the clock’s nearly up. You know you can apply to settle. What you’re after is an example of what someone else sent before you put yours together.

I applied on 13 August 2018, the first day I could, paid for the fastest service going and had a decision the next day. My sister did hers in December 2020 on the standard service with about half the paperwork I sent. Both approved.

Based on our two applications, this is what they looked at. It’s two people’s experience, written down so you can see what another human did. It isn’t a rulebook. The official guide for your route is the rulebook and I’ve linked it wherever I’ve used it.

Here’s what I’ll take you through, in order:

• the day you can apply, which is not your visa’s expiry date
• what it costs, all in, with the faster services priced
• the employer letter, what it has to say and what mine said
• every document, in one list, with what I sent next to what you need

The day you can apply

You can apply up to 28 days before you reach five years in the UK on the visa. The five years counts from when you entered the UK. The gap between your visa being issued and you landing can count too. Both rules are in the Home Office’s continuous residence guidance.

Don’t count back from your visa’s expiry date. Mine expired on 10 September 2018 and my five-year point was the same day, because the gap between my visa starting and me landing counted. That put my window at 13 August and that’s the day I applied. Your expiry date and your five-year point may not be the same day. Work off the five-year point.

Four more things have to be true. All four are on the Ancestry settlement page:

• You can work and plan to. The Ancestry route is for people who came to work and settling on it asks you to show that. The employer letter below is how I showed it.
• You can support yourself and anyone applying with you. Bank statements do this job, see the document list.
• You’re still a Commonwealth citizen. Your Australian passport covers it.
• You haven’t been out of the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period. For visas granted on or after 11 January 2018 that’s counted on a rolling basis, so any 12 months you pick. For older visas it was fixed 12-month blocks. Mine was 2013, so I was on the old counting. Yours almost certainly isn’t. Same guidance as above.

The two tests you’ll be asked about are further down: the Life in the UK test, which you have to sit and the English test, which as an Australian you don’t.

What it costs, all in

The faster services were paused for a while. They’re back and both are open to settlement applications made in the UK. There’s no separate biometrics fee on the route page now. The fee last changed on 8 April 2026, so check the fee table’s date before you pay.

What I paid. £2,389 in 2018, plus the super priority service, which took it to £3,189. I paid on my credit card, half for the air miles and half because it kept the savings in my account visible for the application.

My sister paid £2,389 in December 2020, plus £19.20 for biometrics and £75 for an express appointment, on the standard service. None of those figures is the current one. The application alone has gone up by more than eight hundred pounds since her run.

Was the fast service worth it? For me, yes. I’d read about people stuck in limbo with employers while they waited and I didn’t want that, so I paid the extra for the peace of mind. The decision came the same day. My sister waited on the standard service and was fine. How long hers took, I honestly can’t remember.

The employer letter and what it has to say

Here’s the letter, properly. It’s your employer confirming you’re employed here, on headed paper, addressed to UK Visas and Immigration. Mine was drafted by my employer: I told them what I needed at a high level and HR wrote it and signed it.

What mine confirmed, line by line:

• start date
• job title
• employment status
• date of birth
• nationality
• passport number, date of issue and expiry date

Then two lines of company boilerplate: that it’s their policy only to provide factual information and that the reference is given in good faith without legal liability. Mine was addressed to the Croydon premium service centre, because that’s where my appointment was. Those centres are gone. Yours is addressed to UK Visas and Immigration and your appointment is at a UKVCAS service point, which is further down.

That’s it. It doesn’t need to be long and it doesn’t need to say anything nice about you. It needs the facts the form asks for, on headed paper, signed.

My sister’s was the same shape from a different company, two years later. It was accepted alongside her current contract and six months of payslips. Mine went in with every employment contract I’d had and five years of payslips, which I now think was two hundred documents’ worth of anxiety.

The cover letter. I sent one. It was a one-page summary of every document in the bundle so the caseworker could find things. I don’t have it any more, so I can’t show you, but that’s all it was: a contents page, not an essay.

Every document, in one list

Two columns. What the application asks for and what I sent in 2018, with what my sister sent in 2020 where it differed. The online form gives you the exact list for your case. This is what the list looked like for two Australians on Ancestry.

Originals or scans. You upload your documents to the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) online service before your appointment, or have them scanned at the appointment. In 2018 I carried the whole stack to Croydon. Now most of it happens at home before you go.

The absences tracker: start it today

The application wants every trip out of the UK in the five years, with dates and the total days. If you’re reading this with a year to go, start the list now, because reconstructing five years of weekends away from memory is slow and I wouldn’t trust mine to catch a 180-day problem.

Mine had more than thirty lines. I built it from both passports, stamp by stamp.

Passport stamps don’t exist any more, which makes this harder than it was for me. Two things fix it:

• Request your Australian travel records. The Department of Home Affairs will send you your movement records, every entry and exit. I didn’t know this existed. It would have saved me hours.
• Keep a rolling tally as you go. One row per trip: where, out, back, days, why. Remember it’s a rolling twelve months for anyone on a visa granted since 2018, so the total that matters moves with you.

If you want a head start, here’s a blank copy of my spreadsheet. One row per trip and the rolling-year totals add themselves up.

The Life in the UK test

Book it early. It costs £50, you have to book at least three days ahead and the name on your booking has to match the name on your ID exactly. All of that is on the test page. I’ve known people turned away on the day because their ID cut off a middle name or had their country of birth wrong.

Please, please, please don’t leave it to the last minute. If I’d failed, I’d have missed my ILR window. I sat mine for ILR and reused the same pass for citizenship a year later, which is allowed, so it’s one test, not two. The form asks for your test details, so you can’t submit until you’ve passed. I sat mine on 3 July, six weeks before my window opened.

You’re exempt if you’re 65 or over. Otherwise it’s part of the deal.

The timeline, from submit to status

1. Apply online through the settlement form for your route (form SET(O) for Ancestry).
2. Pay and choose standard, priority or super priority.
3. Book and attend a UKVCAS appointment for your fingerprints and photo. Take your passport, a printed copy of the appointment confirmation with its QR code and any documents you haven’t uploaded. Nobody hands you a decision in the room.
4. Wait. Next working day on super priority, about five working days on priority, usually within six months on standard.
5. Your status arrives as an eVisa. There’s no card any more. Every biometric residence permit (BRP) has expired and been replaced by a digital record you reach through a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account. You prove your status to an employer or a landlord with a share code.

Mine, in 2018: applied online on 13 August, super priority, appointment at the Croydon premium service centre on 14 August, decision the same day. I only found out it had been approved when the BRP card arrived in the post. I had no idea the card had an expiry date until it did. The photo was better than my passport one. Neither of those things can happen to you now, because there’s no card.

Where my experience stops. I’ve never had an eVisa. I became a citizen before they existed, so I can point you at the UKVI account page and I can’t tell you what it’s like. If you still have an expired BRP, cut it up before you bin it. It can still be used for a few limited things until 31 December 2026 at the latest.

What catches people out

• Counting from the wrong date. Your five-year point, not your visa expiry. See the top of the page.
• The name on the test booking. Exact match with your ID or you’re sent home and out fifty pounds.
• Absences with nothing to count them from. Request the Australian travel records. Start the tally now.
• Three-month bank statements. Lloyds only gave me three months, stamped at the branch. Ask your bank early what it will give you and in what form.
• Leaving the UK for a long stretch after you get ILR. Two continuous years outside the UK and it’s gone. You’d need a Returning Resident visa at £726 to come back.
• The fee date. It last changed on 8 April 2026. Applying either side of a change can be a different price.

What’s changing

Two things are moving. One is still a proposal, one is a rule with a start date. Neither changes what you’d do this year.

• Five years could become ten. The Home Office ran an earned settlement consultation from November 2025 to February 2026 on a ten-year qualifying period for most routes. It’s still marked as analysing the responses and no outcome has been published. The rule today is five years.
• The English standard goes up on 26 March 2027. A rules change made in March 2026 raises it from B1 to B2 for settlement, Ancestry included, for applications made from that date. Australians are on the exemption list today and that list hasn’t changed, so it shouldn’t touch you. Check it on the day you apply anyway.

Doing it yourself or paying someone

I did it myself. For an Ancestry settlement application it was straightforward: the form tells you what it wants, you gather it, you book the appointment. I knew what I was doing, so I felt comfortable. For me that was worth it. There were plenty of companies at the Home Office the day I went, so people do pay. If you don’t feel comfortable, that’s exactly why those services exist, to make it smooth and easy for you. Neither is wrong.

What I’d do differently

Request the travel records instead of reconstructing five years from stamps. Send my sister’s bundle, not mine: a current contract, the letter and six months of payslips did the same job as five years of everything. Book the test the month I became eligible, not the month before the deadline. And I’d still pay for the fast decision, because the waiting is the worst part and I’d already done enough of that.

FAQ

As of the 5^th of November, the whole service has changed and it’s no longer the same Premium Service offering by UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI). There is a new service called UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service (UKVCAS) which is run by Sopra Steria in partnership with UK Visas and Immigration. I have searched the internet, so you didn’t have to! Here is everything you need to know about the changes.

Psstt.. You can read more about the application process and documents I provided for the Indefinite Leave to Remain Visa (Settlement) here.

Super Priority service is currently suspended. As things are changing (due 2020 events) with UKVCAS service please keep up to date with UKVI latest information and UKVAS.

Disclaimer: This is based on my research and you should seek professional advice if you are unsure. Go to GOV UK to check if there have been any changes to the visa rule & fees.

5th November 2018 Changes to Appointments

With the rollout of the UK Visa and Immigration new streamlined services there have been several changes introduced which include:

• a streamlined online journey for most application types, with an intuitive form making it easier to apply and the option to purchase additional services;
• a modernised, digital and more secure process to submit key evidence and personal information, with most applicants able to retain their passports and other valuable evidence rather than sending them separately to UKVI;
• fast and convenient self-service with the ability to make applications and upload evidence directly;
• more flexible on-demand, mobile application services accessible at third party premises;
• enhanced support for vulnerable customers through a range of financial support for travel costs and mobile services.

You can read more of the details UKVI issued on this here.

Timeline of the Changes

• From 5th November: the new UK VCAS centres will open and slowly rolled out until the 29^th of Nov. They are opening 57 locations across the country to make the process easier.
• During the period of 5th November – 29th November, the old and new service will run which means there will be access to the new biometrics/document upload centres and Premium Services.  
• 29th November: Premium Service Centres will close
• January 2019: Service and Support Centres will open, for use by a small number of customers who require more support with their application. These customers will continue to use the current process until January and the UKIV will issue more information on this process shortly so look out for it.

Premium Service Appointment Booking

In order to book the premium service appointment, you need to complete the online application (for my ILR I used the new visa immigration website), it will be the last stage of the online application process providing you with two options to submit your application. The two options are Standard and Super Priority service and the type of visa’s this service is offered to are:

• Tier 2 or 4 visa
• Tier 2 or 4 dependant – applying on your own
• Tier 1 or 5 dependant – applying on your own
• Remain in the UK with family – applying in the partner, family life as a partner or private life in the UK routes
• Indefinite Leave to Remain
• And a few more.

What does this mean for you?

This changes the way the visa appointments used to work so instead of the appointments opening 45 business days in advance they now open within 5 working days of making your application. They encouraged to go to an appointment as soon as possible and will receive a reminder after 15 working days if you have not attended an appointment.

If you want to visit one of these service points you can book an appointment:

• up to 28 days in advance
• the same day
• the next day
• outside of standard office hours

If your application included family members or dependents you will need to attend the appointment at the same time.

What are the Decision Timelines for the New Premium Service?

The changes have introduced a new timeline for when a decision is made on your application, the choices are:

• Standard service – get a decision within 6 months
• Super priority – get a decision in 24 hours
• Read more about processing times here.

Example of the new application

Visit Gov.uk to commence your application, depending on the visa type you will be directed to the appropriate form you need to fill out. Once you commence the application you will be presented with an information page about your visa which will detail information about; biometric information, healthcare Surcharge, before you start applying, what you need to know, how to apply and application fees.

Once you’ve completed the application and declaration you will get to the payments section.

The first step of this process is providing your evidence and biometrics information. Between 5th November and 29th November you will be offered the choice between the existing service or the new UK VCAS. This is still displaying on some applications. You will need to choose the new service as the existing service no longer exists.

The next step is choosing the service, to recap the decision timeline is:

• Standard service – get a decision within 6 months
• Super priority – get a decision in 24 hours

The moment of spending your money is now here! Put in those card details.

The last page is further actions will cover booking appointment, downloading the checklist and application.

Booking Your Appointment

Once you complete your online form and pay the fees you will be emailed an access code. This is used to book an appointment through the online portal on the UKVCAS website.

This is also the portal you will self upload your support evidence.

What Locations Can You Get a Premium Service Appointment?

Before the changes there only used to be 7 Premium Service Centres now there is now 57 UKVCAS centres across the UK:

• 6 core service centres offering free appointments – Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast and Croydon.
• 50 enhanced service centres offering charged appointments so it will be £60 for appointments between 10 am – 4 pm, £100 for weekday appointments outside of these hours, or £125 for weekend appointments.
• 1 premium lounge for a fee of £200 (or £260 outside of10 am –4 pm hours). Choosing this service won’t improve your application processing time.

To find your closest centre use the location tool here. When you are booking the appointments the location tool will also appear providing you with the 4 closest centres. If you wish to find another location then enter the postcode of that area and it will show you the centres to that area.

For example, my closest centres in London are:

• Croydon Core Service Point – Bedford Point, 35 Dingwall Road Croydon
• Wimbledon Service Point – Wimbledon Library, 35 Wimbledon Hill Road London
• Victoria Service Point – Regus, 52 Grosvenor Gardens London
• Premium Lounge Service Point – 20 Mark Lane London

Indefinite Leave to Remain Premium Service Fees

The fee structure for the Premium Service was £800 which has now been transferred to Super Priority service (new arrangements).

You can see the latest fee list here.

Additionally, you can purchase the following services:

Enhanced service points

Basically, this is scanning and evidence checking services and cost £60 per person. I suggest doing this yourself instead of paying for the third party to do this on your behalf.

Out of hours appointments

This service was previously offered and is just appointments out of the core hours. Prices start from £100 per person on top of any other appointment-based fees.

Next day appointments

As the title states, they now offer next day appointments for £100 per person on top of any other appointment-based fees.

Same day appointments

For urgent applications you can now get a same day appointment. Prices start from £100 per person on top of any other appointment-based fees.

How Long Does a Premium Visa Appointment Take?

I would allow 30 to 60 minute for the appointment. The appointment will just the enrolment of your biometrics and a check supporting evidence has scanned correctly. If you have uploaded/scanned the documents, then it will be simply getting you biometrics done and you will be out the door.

Once that is complete the decision process will be kicked off and should take 24 hours. I would allow up to three days and if you’ve not heard back by then you can call UKVI.

Preparation for the Appointment

The preparation before the appointment is just ensuring that you have your application completed, booking confirmation, checklist and all the documentation prepared. Make sure have certified translations of any documents that are not in English or Welsh.

With the new service you will be told what you need to bring to your appointment when you submit your application, this will include:

• appointment confirmation
• passport or travel document
• supporting evidence (bring the originals to the appointment)

When I submitted mine there was no electronic way of uploading the information, so I brought mine all neatly separated into different files and categories to make it easier for the caseworker. It was all just placed in one folder, so it wasn’t necessary to prepare this. I would still put the documents in order as per the checklist to make it easier when someone is reviewing your case if you are bringing physical documentation.

I’ve read horror stories with the new appointment service that their paper scanners didn’t work. Upload all the docs *before* the appointment and take the original documents to the appointment. No need to take photocopies of docs or passport photos.

What to Expect During a Premium Service Appointment at the Visas and Immigration

Since my appointment, the process has changed (I have included that below), the new process will be:

• show your appointment confirmation (you will get this as an email containing a QR code) and ID documents to confirm your appointment – even if you pre-upload the documents you still need to bring the originals to the appointment.
• enrol your biometric information (fingerprints, photograph) and digital signature
• submit your supporting evidence (unless you choose to self-upload this)
• show your passport or travel document and have your identity checked
• speak to a member of staff who will check that your biometric information has been successfully enrolled and your passport and supporting evidence has scanned correctly

Afterwards you are supposed to get an email confirming you’re biometric was enrolled but I’ve never received any confirmation stating this.

Later, depending on the service you choose you should get a letter from the Home Office on that your application was approved or denied. If approved then you will receive by post your BRP and approval letter.

Useful Links

• UKVCAS
• Immigration forums on people’s experience – Post 1 and Post 2

Video Update on UK Visa Premium Service Appointments

Video on the UKVCAS Biometric Appointment

More UK Visa Articles

• A Helpful Guide to Applying for UK Citizenship by Naturalisation
• A Guide to Applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain (Via UK Ancestry)
• Everything You Need to Know About the Life in the UK Test

Let me know of your experience in the comments below!

Moving to the UK

By Kat · Sat July 2018, my sister 2020

Somewhere on your settlement or citizenship document list it says Life in the UK test. Twenty-four questions, 45 minutes, 18 right to pass, £50 a go. You sit it once. The same pass covers indefinite leave to remain (ILR) and citizenship, so it’s one test, not two.

The irony is that British people fail it. Two thirds of the 270 people the University of Essex put through a version of it in 2021 failed, most of them UK citizens who’d done the history at school. The questions are that nuanced. Which cricketer did what in 1950 isn’t in most people’s heads.

I sat mine in Croydon on 3 July 2018, a couple of weeks before my ILR application went in. I gave myself a month to study and did it in three days on practice tests. I still remember three of the questions. My sister sat hers in 2020 and had her result by email before she’d left the building. Both of us passed first time.

Here’s what I’ll take you through, in order:

• booking it and the name rule that gets people turned away at the door
• what the questions are like, with the three I still remember
• how I studied in three days, what I’d buy and what I wouldn’t
• the day itself, from the security guard to the result
• what a pass looks like now and how you use it twice

Booking the test

You book on the gov.uk test page. It’s £50, you have to book at least three days ahead and there are over 30 centres, so pick the one that’s least faff to get to. I chose Croydon because it was closest to where I lived.

The ID you can use, per the gov.uk list:

• a valid passport, which is what I used
• a valid national ID card from the EU, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway
• a photo travel document, not an emergency one
• a biometric residence permit (BRP) or card, as long as your test is within 24 months of the expiry printed on it and before 31 December 2026
• your eVisa, shown with a share code

Bring the original. A photo of it on your phone doesn’t count and they take your photo on the day too. The ID you booked with is the whole list now. No proof of address. I used my passport both times I needed ID for this and I’ve never had an eVisa, so I can’t tell you what the share-code check looks like at the desk.

Cancelling. You get the £50 back if you cancel at least 72 hours before. Inside three days you get nothing, whether you cancel or rearrange.

Who doesn’t sit it. Under 18, 65 or over, anyone with a long-term physical or mental condition that stops them (there’s an exemption form or a doctor’s letter) and anyone who’s passed it before. Australians don’t skip it. The English test you’re exempt from. This one you’re not.

What the questions are like

Twenty-four questions in 45 minutes. Some are true or false, the rest are multiple choice with four options. Every one of them comes out of the official handbook, the Guide for New Residents. You need 18 right to pass.

The three I still remember, years later:

• What year was the Great Fire of London? 1666. I’d walked past the Monument to it so many times on the way to work that this one was free.
• What was the name of the cloned sheep? Dolly.
• What was moved from Hyde Park after the Great Exhibition and where did it go? The Crystal Palace, to Sydenham. I was living in Crystal Palace at the time and had been to the little museum there, so I knew it. The palace reopened on Sydenham Hill in 1854 and burnt down in 1936.

The rest I don’t remember, which tells you something. I got very good at guessing which of four answers looked most like a handbook sentence.

You don’t get told your score. You either pass or you don’t. Mine was a receptionist calling my name. My sister’s, in 2020, was an email.

How I studied in three days

My study tactics are terrible. I’m notorious for last-minute cramming, it’s how I got through school and my teachers always said I’d have done better with more time. Probably. But by how much?

What I did in those three days was the online practice tests, over and over, until I’d memorised the answers. I read the handbook at points, but the tests are what got me through. My sister, who is not one for pub quizzes or general knowledge, did the same method for a couple of weeks and passed first go.

What to buy. One book and the online tests. That’s it.

• The handbook. Life in the United Kingdom: A Guide for New Residents is the only thing the test is drawn from. It’s also on.
• The online practice tests. I used lifeintheuk.net, which was £6 for a year when I paid. The official shop now sells its own practice app and an e-learning subscription too. I never used those, so I can’t tell you which is better. The £6 one did the job for both of us.

I bought three books: the handbook, the official practice questions and a study guide. Two of them sat on the shelf. Buy the handbook and pay for the tests.

The day itself

Mine was 10am on a Tuesday, 3 July 2018, at the learndirect centre in Croydon. I got there 15 minutes early.

• The door. A security guard took my name and asked if I wanted the bathroom first. I was confused until he explained: once you’ve checked in at the desk you can’t go, presumably so no one’s hiding in there with the answers. Go before you check in.
• The sheet. I was handed a laminated sheet telling me to allow an hour and a half to two hours. It was nothing like that. About 45 minutes door to door, unless you need help, say if English isn’t your first language. They let me in at my slot and not before. Someone walked me through the rules first.
• Check-in. After about five minutes the receptionist called me up and checked my first and last name, birthplace and nationality against my passport. This is the moment the name rule bites.
• The locker. Everything went in a locker except my passport.
• The room. The supervisor checked my ID again and logged me onto a computer. There was a headset if you wanted the questions read to you.
• The test. Four practice questions first, which don’t count, then the 24 and the 45-minute clock. My screen froze a few times and I had to hit F5 each time, convinced I was about to lose my answers. I didn’t. Without the freezing I’d have been done in ten minutes.
• The wait. Back to the waiting room, bag out of the locker, sit. Tapping my foot, waiting for my name, the way you wait for an exam result or at the doctor’s. The most stressful ten minutes of the whole application.
• The result. The receptionist called my name and handed me a pass letter to sign. The woman next to me didn’t pass. She was bawling her eyes out in the lift and I’ve never forgotten it.

What’s different now, from my sister’s sitting in 2020: they take your photo on the day and the result comes by email, within about ten to twenty minutes of finishing. No receptionist, no waiting room theatre. You can rip the Band-Aid off sooner, which is kinder. I’d still have been tapping my foot, though.

What the pass is and how you use it twice

Pass today and you get a reference number, not a certificate to lose. It goes into your ILR form and later your citizenship one. The Home Office checks it against the test provider’s records.

Mine was a paper letter, signed on the day, because I sat it before the switch to reference numbers in December 2019. Here’s mine.

I put that letter in with my ILR application a couple of weeks later and attached it again for citizenship in August 2019. No one has asked to see it since. It lives with my ILR evidence and I’d keep yours the same way, number or paper.

If you don’t pass. You can rebook as many times as you need and you pay £50 each time. There’s no waiting period between goes any more, but you’re still looking at the three-day booking lead and whatever slot the centre has.

Learning it by going out

Honestly, most of what I knew walking into that room came from weekends, not the three days.

The Monument, by the Tube station of the same name, is the Great Fire, 1666. The daffodil is Wales and the thistle is Scotland, which you pick up on a walking tour without trying. In Cambridge I learnt how Henry VIII came to found Trinity College. The Crystal Palace museum is a small place in south London and it answered one of my 24 questions.

I’d been everywhere from Northern Ireland to Scotland to Wales by the time I sat it. The castles and the museums are the handbook with the walls still standing. If you’ve got a spare Saturday before your test, Stonehenge and the British Museum’s Roman rooms are where a lot of the early chapters happened.

Where this sits

The pass from this test goes in with indefinite leave to remain and comes up again a year later on applying for British citizenship, which is the order mine went. Get it done and both of those pages get easier.

If you’re further back than that, start at moving to the UK from Australia: the visa, the money before you’ve earned a pound here and the Australian admin. The test is a long way down that road, but it’s the one bit of it you can get out of the way years early.

FAQ

The whole process, on video