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
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
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
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)