Tier 1 (General) to ILR - Croydon PEO 1st Aug 2014

[ifeelhappy]

Date of Application: 1st Aug 2014
Date Tier 1 (General) Granted: 27the Aug 2009
Number of applicants: 2 (me and wife, we have a 2 year old son but we chose to not apply his ILR as he becomes eligible automatically for British Citizenship after our ILR)
Nationality: Indian

We went to Croydon PEO today and were successful in our ILR application and we are really pleased with the entire application process. I did read recently someone posted that HO have improved their services quiet a lot and yes we have experienced it today.

Our appointment was at 09:35am, but we went in a bit early and entered the building at 09:00am. After an airport style security check we were escorted to the 3rd floor via secured elevators. We were then told politely to wait in the Cafeteria and go to the token counter at 09:15am. There was no queue at the token counter maybe as it was a bit early in the morning. It started to get busy after 10:30am so I would suggest to get an early appointment. Our number was called almost immediately and we went to another counter where they checked our passports, biometric cards, appointment letter and payment reference. The gentleman then put our passports and cards in a clear folder and put all documents together using a thick rubber band. We were then told to take the Red seats for biometric appointment. The biometric was quick and easy and the gentleman at the counter took all our documents along with the photocopies and asked us to wait in the Cafeteria for our number to be called. We were back in the Cafe by 09:50am. There are screens in the Cafe that tell you the progress of your application at every stage "Awaiting Biometric verification", "Waiting for consideration", "Under consideration" and "Ready for collection". We could see our application was ready for collection at 10:25am but there was only one counter operating for handing out applications so it took half an hour more for the application to be returned. We had our ticket call at around 10:50am and the man at the counter congratulated us and said our application has been successful and told us the Biometric cards will be with us in 5-7 working days. We left the building at 11:00am sharp.

5 STARS to Home Office staff who were so friendly right from the security to collection desk.

Additional Info:

We have a Shared ownership house and we got it 3 and half years ago. We initially were very worried about it as someone told us that we might be claiming public funds. But after some research we found out this was not an issue at all. Our immigration advisor advised us to only mention the mortgage bit in the form (just to keep it simple) but Shared Ownership is really not an issue no matter what people tell you just take it with a pinch of salt

We were also told but the advisor to not include the holiday letters from previous and current employers. I didn't include them but I still got the letters and took it with me just in case the caseworker asked me for it.

Documents List:

1 Application form (no dependent form required for ILR if done together)
Life in the UK test certificates for me and wife
My British Degree certificate
English Language test certificate for wife
Bank statements for 1 year
Payslips for 1 year
P60s for 5 years
Marriage certificate
Cohabitation Documents (Electricity, Gas, Council tax, Bank statements (joint and personal), Water Bill)
Previous Home Office letters
Cover Letter that our advisor provided
Passports and BRPs


*** Good Luck and don't get too stressed, it all works out in the end ***

[aravindb4u]

Congratulations ifeelhappy

I have two questions for you, if you can reply me would be of great help

1. Is 5 year p60 mandatory for ILR while going via 5 year Tier 1 G route?

2. How did you count 5 years period for absences? 5 years counting backwards from date of 5th anniversary? or 5 years counting backwards from date of (5th anniversary - 28 days)? Please can you look here in the link below as how you passed this hurdle?
http://www.immigrationboards.com/indefi ... 69627.html

Thanks

[hsr1972]

Congratulations " Ifeelhappy " for your ILR. Could you please let us know how many days you were absense ? Could you please also tell us do you mean " you don't require any Absence Evidence letter from current or Previous Employer ? Could you also please share the covering letter to us advised by your advisor ?

thanks
hsr_72

[ifeelhappy]

Congratulations ifeelhappy

I have two questions for you, if you can reply me would be of great help

1. Is 5 year p60 mandatory for ILR while going via 5 year Tier 1 G route?

2. How did you count 5 years period for absences? 5 years counting backwards from date of 5th anniversary? or 5 years counting backwards from date of (5th anniversary - 28 days)? Please can you look here in the link below as how you passed this hurdle?
http://www.immigrationboards.com/indefi ... 69627.html

Thanks

Hi aravindb4u, Thanks.

1. We were told by our consultant to get 5 years P60's but I know there is an alternative. You might need to call HMRC and get a letter or a formal document from them outlining your 5 years income activity.

2. Our total absence in 5 years was less than 90 days anyways so we didn't have to bother with this.

Sorry if I haven't answered your questions as you need them but there are a lot of people on this forum that are very experienced with immigration issues. Hope you get yours sorted soon. Good luck.

[ifeelhappy]

Congratulations " Ifeelhappy " for your ILR. Could you please let us know how many days you were absense ? Could you please also tell us do you mean " you don't require any Absence Evidence letter from current or Previous Employer ? Could you also please share the covering letter to us advised by your advisor ?

thanks
hsr_72

Hi hsr_72,

I went out of the country on 4 occasions over 5 year period and total time spent outside was less than 90 days so I was OK in that sense.

My advisor said he has a tie up with HO so he suggested we would be fine if we didn't include Previous / Current Employer letters. I was a bit uncomfortable with that so I still took the letters with me to the appointment but didn't put them in that application file. In the worst case scenario if I was called at the counter by caseworker I would have produced it. Luckily I wasn't asked for anything but I would recommend to get these letters from your previous and current employers. Most of the employers just give it to you.

I don't have a soft copy for the cover letter so can't give you that, sorry.

[hsr1972]

Thanks for answering my query. Even my absence is less than 90 days in 5 years. I was going through this forum most of them went to PEO whose absence is less than 180 days did not asked for any evidence letter , As you advised just keep it handy if you have any absence letter from current and previous employer.

-hsr_72

[hsr1972]

Sorry my last query to you with related to absences ? So what did you filled in the application form for the evidences tick box , Did you left blank in that section ? Which option you ticked for the absences ? Just specifiying only the number of days out of UK with the Date of departure and arrival to UK with reason of absence ? Kindly reply back to me.

-hsr_72

[ifeelhappy]

Sorry my last query to you with related to absences ? So what did you filled in the application form for the evidences tick box , Did you left blank in that section ? Which option you ticked for the absences ? Just specifiying only the number of days out of UK with the Date of departure and arrival to UK with reason of absence ? Kindly reply back to me.

-hsr_72

I just left the evidence section blank.

As for the number of days and absence reason, I just kept it simple with from and to dates and reason was "Holidays".

[hsr1972]

OK thanks for your response to my query. Did you go through immigration consultant ? Kindly share me your consultant email address or website.

-hsr_72

[ifeelhappy]

http://firstmigration.com

[hsr1972]

Thanks a lot ..for your response.

-hsr_72

[aravindb4u]

Thanks a lot for the prompt responses mate.

Have one final question about SET O form.

Section 1.4 asks for full name of main applicant in passport
Section 1.5 again asks for surname.

It makes no sense them asking surname again after we have given full name in 1.4.

So am confused, in 1.4, I should give first name alone? or full name? What did you fill?

For dependants its clear, they just ask in 2.1 partner's full name and thats it.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

[ifeelhappy]

Thanks a lot for the prompt responses mate.

Have one final question about SET O form.

Section 1.4 asks for full name of main applicant in passport
Section 1.5 again asks for surname.

It makes no sense them asking surname again after we have given full name in 1.4.

So am confused, in 1.4, I should give first name alone? or full name? What did you fill?

For dependants its clear, they just ask in 2.1 partner's full name and thats it.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

Don't worry about the form, there are many things in the SET(O) form that don't make sense. I just wrote my first name and middle name in 1.4 and surname in 1.5