A quick advice on PEO applications

[M.Ham]

I had my ILR granted on the 11th of July in Liverpool PEO and I have the following notes:
- Unlike what I read in a post in this precious board, application forms have to be filled by hand, i.e., not using a Pdf editor.
- Everyone gave the advice of keeping the file simple, this is a great advice, BUT file organisation is equally important. Make the caseworker life easy in building his own file about your case to support his decision.
- I had very few absences from the UK (55 days over 5 years). The case worker barely looked at the dates I listed. I was so stressed about this as I did not have the accurate dates of when I traveled abroad.
- I thought that the way it works is that the case worker will ask me for documents one by one. However, they took the entire folder from me. They gave me the time to remove documents if I want, but you don't want to be removing documents from the folder and wasting time.
- Keep the file simple, and have with you extra support and evidence documents. Tell the caseworker if anything is missing I have extra documents that I can provide. Don't overwhelm him.
- I was also worried about the cohabilitation evidence as we moved house recently and I destroyed all old letters. I have printed online electric bills, individual letters from NHS, even letters from Optimax. Case worker just skimmed through them and accepted all documents. So if you were desperate like me use printed bills as it went through this time. Yet, I printed a coloured high quality copies.
- The timeslot you book doesn't mean a lot. I arrived 40 minutes early and they let me in.
- Staff were friendly, but spend a lot of time chatting to each other, eating, etc. :-O

This forum has been great help. I think you should allow people to donate money if they want to support the excellent work and introduce new services.

Best of luck to everyone.

[UKBALoveStory]

Thanks but why do you say this?

Unlike what I read in a post in this precious board, application forms have to be filled by hand, i.e., not using a Pdf editor.

[hsr1972]

Congratulations for your ILR. So you are telling even though you have specified the dates in the form of table IN and Out and reason of absence, caseworker is not bothered to look into it and also he din't ask for any evidence? If you are within 180 days of absence do we need to provide any evidence ? Have you submitted any absence Evidence Letter from your Ex-employer or old employer ? Kindly revert back to me.

cheers
-hsr_72

[M.Ham]

Thanks but why do you say this?

Unlike what I read in a post in this precious board, application forms have to be filled by hand, i.e., not using a Pdf editor.

Some users have suggested to use tools such as xchange pdf to complete the application form on the computer, then print it out. In the booking confirmation email it says clearly that application form have to be filled by hand. When I went to my appointment I asked the caseworker whether she wants the computer filled application and she said no, she took the hand filled.

[M.Ham]

Congratulations for your ILR. So you are telling even though you have specified the dates in the form of table IN and Out and reason of absence, caseworker is not bothered to look into it and also he din't ask for any evidence? If you are within 180 days of absence do we need to provide any evidence ? Have you submitted any absence Evidence Letter from your Ex-employer or old employer ? Kindly revert back to me.

cheers
-hsr_72

The caseworker was very quick in processing my application because:
- I scored top points in all categories (tier 1 general)
- I've been with one employer (big organisation) for 5 years
I had the letter from my employer listing all my absences, including paid annual leave, in an envelope in the big folder that I handed to the caseworker. The envelope wasn't open by the caseworker and the letter photocopy was not taken by him. Even if you are within the 180 days, you still need to provide the letter. I was expecting a lot of focus on this part of the form, but the case worker just skimmed through that page. My expectation was that they will match what I wrote on the form with the data they have on their system. But they seem to just use the data you provide (based on my observation, I was sitting opposite to the caseworker and observing her every move

[hsr1972]

Oh ok Nice Experience .... but in this forum i read mix opinion form the people saying as long as you are within 180 days you are OK , It is really not necessary to provide evidence ....only thing if you have letter you can keep it handy unless CW asks for the letter . Just a simple spreadsheet of absences is sufficient. If it is a business trip then yes you need absence evidence letter.

-cheers

-hsr_72

[UKBALoveStory]

[Quote]
I was sitting opposite to the caseworker and observing her every move
[Quote]
One more question I thought now they have changed the process and case workers work in the background and you only interact with them if they need to ask you any questions?

[M.Ham]

I was sitting opposite to the caseworker and observing her every move

One more question I thought now they have changed the process and case workers work in the background and you only interact with them if they need to ask you any questions?

Yes, they take the documents and ask you to wait; however, the office is open plan and caseworkers sit facing the waiting area. It happened that I was waiting in the corner as I had a baby with me and the person who sits on the desk opposite to me processed my application. My folder was yellow so it helped me to track it But I can assure you, in Liverpool you can see everything they do and you can hear anything they say.