Indefinite Leave to Remain.

Rosey's been here for approaching two years and it's time to take the next step on our journey towards normalisation. Tomorrow we go to the UK Border Agency centre at East Croydon to apply for her Indefinite Leave to Remain - in other words, permanent residency. It's taken a lot of form filling, collecting documents such as bank statements and other official letters, not to mention a hefty fee. I'm only thankful that we got in before the rule changes that would have made it more expensive and the criteria more difficult to meet.

Other than having the right to be here indefinitely without worrying about whether the government thinks we are able to support ourselves "without recourse to public funds", this means that Rosey can now live off benefits provided by the taxes of "hard working families" as we all know immigrants are wont to do. She will also be able to bleed our education system dry by only paying home students' rates.

The process itself should be quite simple. We've opted to pay the extra £500 for the face to face interview and same day decision as things are wont to get lost in the post or stuck at the bottom of a bureaucrat's in tray. This means that we go to the UKBA office, no doubt go through everything in triplicate, answer some probing questions worthy of an outstanding investigative journalist and then leave with a yes or no answer.

By this time tomorrow we will know whether we can move on, or rapidly have to come up with a Plan B - which I have no conception of at this time.

Here goes.