ilr set(o) success at cardiff

[palaremzi]

tier 2 visa since Sep 2009, same employer. standard and straightforward in person application. went in at 9:30, went out at noon.

cardiff, compared to my visa extension experience at croydon two years ago, is pretty quiet and not busy at all. no queue, no waiting in a line etc.

only thing to add: my wife had esol entry level certificates from a local college. about 30 mins before getting our results, the case worker wanted to talk with my wife in person to verify the legitimacy of the certificate, asking some trivial questions like when did you start the course, where was it, etc.

guess the news of fabricated esol certificates are pushing the agency to take some internal measures and we've encountered one such case.

anyhow, pretty happy now.

[Viewpoint]

Congrats palaremzi for your ILR success.

What answer did you fill for the below question and in the table.

7.12 Please state what ties you have with:
• The country where you were born.
• Any other country whose nationality you hold.
• Any country where you have lived for more than five years.
You should tell us about any family, friends, or other connections with that country.
Country: Social Cultural or family ties:

[palaremzi]

thanks
i just stated my home country and the US where i got my phd and still maintain some ties. did not provide any more details; just stated the facts and that was it.

[Viewpoint]

Thank you so much for your reply.

[Subbs]

hi palaremzi

Congrats for your ILR.

i am on same case and have appointment on Sept 2.

Can you please confirm, did you submitted absence letter from your company ?

Regards,
Subbu

[palaremzi]

No I did not submit a letter from employer. HR manager wrote me that from past experience she knows that the agency does not ask for a letter and that my explanations would suffice (turned out to be true)

just in case I printed out that email, but I did not include it in the file-- kept it with me in case they'd ask, they did not.

my absences were pretty vanilla though; total 150+ days, summer vacations, no continuous absence more than 37 days etc. i printed out the e-tickets of those trips to back up the dates in the file (thanks to gmail i delete nothing, so it was fairly straightforward to dig up the e-tickets).

our cards arrived today, btw. we applied on friday, cards arrived on tue. pretty impressive. we paid around £1200 extra for the in person service (myself and two dependents), but it's worth every penny. no hassle, no waiting, same day decision and you get your brp cards within two days.

[Subbs]

Thanks a lot, I have only 94 days absence in 5 yrs and not more than 33 days one time. my HR is saying they will give absence letter next week . Let's see how it goes.

Regards,
Subbu