Hi guys,
Got back two days ago from Croydon office where my wife, daughter and I got ILR stickers. I wanted to thank Tamzin who started the tread and all the others who joined in the meantime for posting so much valuable information. This thread has been very useful source of information during my preparation for the interview, therefore I will try to add my small contribution which may help some new candidates.
In my case, it was a straightforward application for ILR on a basis of continuous 5 years spent in the UK as a work permit holder. Booked this appointment on 27th of October (3 weeks in advance) for 16th of November by following suggestions from this thread and calling from two-three phones at the same time between 8:55am and 9am. Got an answer on one of the phones around 8:59am and was asked for my name, date of birth and mobile number. They allocated appointment for 4pm on 16th of November.
On the day, we went together to the Lunar House and once we got there around 3:15pm couldn’t see any queue in front of the building. Must be it was too late. They let us enter the building straight away and after passing through airport-like security checks one of the clerks checked our application. He asked for application form, passports, Life in the UK certificates for me and my wife, bank statements and work permit before writing down two additional forms and giving us everything back with the ticket number. He told us to go to the first floor to pay. He was very polite and didn’t ask questions, just checked details in his computer and our documents.
Not much to say about paying, 950 has gone in a matter of seconds
.
We moved onto the second floor where our number got called in next 5min. A very nice case worker asked for the following:
- Two additional forms prepared by clerk from the ground floor
- Ticket number
- Application form with pictures
- Passports
- Life in the UK certificates for me and my wife
- Bank statements or payslips (had both so handed over all of them)
- Company letter
Although not required by the application for work permit holders, he also asked for original and translated version of our marriage certificate and my daughter’s birth certificate because of my wife having a different surname than me. Once all that was given, he was happy with everything and started typing something into his computer which took another 10 mins. I was not asked anything at all during all this time and couldn’t see whether he was checking my absence days or not. After he finished typing, we were told to wait for 10-15 mins before passports arrive and were handed back all our documentation. To our surprise passports arrived in like 3-5 minutes.
All in all a very easy process which was expected considering a fee of almost a grand
. I brought much more documentation just to cover all possible angles, which I suggest to all of you who want to go there.
Vasa
