Tr1boy

This is just a fyi post really but thought I'd lob it up here anyway.

Glad to report Mrs TB passed her test today

Some info that might be helful to others. You have to book online, there is a help line number but they will not book a test for you. When you apply to book online you just enter you address and postcode, this has to be genuine as you must prove this later at the test centre.

Online you will be given a choice of the 6 closest test centres closest to you and you must choose from one of those. (I thought ours would be Reading, but it threw up London centric ones). Some centres are open Saturdays and some aren't. We wanted one that did and you can check the opening hours from the 6 choices before committing. We only had one choice out of our 6, which was Hounslow.

You must pay online £50 when booking your test. They say you cannot book more than one test at a time, we were going to test this theory but didn't try it in the end. To get a Saturday test slot at Hounslow, I would suggest booking with about 10 days notice at least. We booked about 15 days in advance and pretty much had the choice of slots. The system shows you how many places are available at any particular slot at any time. We chose 11.30 so we wouldn't be in a panic getting there early.

There are 6 chapters in the book, but you are only tested on 4 and I'm pretty sure the test info tells you which 4 chapters you will be tested on. We bought the Life in the UK (Journey to Citizenship) text book (2nd Edition), and the Life in the UK, Official Practice Questions and Answers test booklet as well. Text book was £10 and the Test booklet £6, well worth the money IMO. They were readily available at WH Smiths.

The test must be completed in 45 mins, and you must arrive 30 mins before your test with ID. Mrs TB took her passport, Council Tax bill and bank account statememnt which showed her address obviously.

Test is computerised, and you can go back and review/change any question at any time. There are 24 questions and yiu must get (I think) 75% right for a pass. Mrs TB did not get a score, just that she'd passed. She did the test in about 15 mins. She got her certificate from the test ctr whic is stamped. It is valid for life so if she gets ILR and then goes for Citizenship there is no further test to take.

It's hard for me to see how anyone could take this test whilst temporarily in the UK as so much ID is needed to prove a residential address, so that makes it's hard for to see how anyone could take advantage of the '4 yr marriage outside of the UK' requirement to go straight to ILR. But maybe I'm missing something there.

Anyway, now she's passed, we'll probably go for full ILR rather than extend her Settlement Visa as it gives us more peace of mind when deciding our future moves. Hope this helps.

manny1980

Thanks for the detailed procedure of LITUK. My wife and I are in the latter situation where we are married for 4+ years and moving to the UK in couple of months. I believe beside the passport the only evidence LITUK requires is UK residential address which can be proven with any official document addressed in the UK residence in the name of the applicant which could be either a bank statement, electricity bill, council tax etc. This is a little stressful for us too but I am hoping getting her name in the electric bill should be relatively simple.

Brigette

Congratulations to Mrs TB for passing the test. I'm sure it puts your mind at ease. Thanks for the detailed info. I know many will find it helpful

Pollyana

Thanks for the info - and congrats to Mrs Tr1boy

Alfresco

Congrats to you and the Mrs.