21st December 2016 marked that day for us.
Here’s my experience of my husband’s ILR attainment which I thought might be useful for all others because of some salient points related to ILR complexities.
Exposition:-
First of all some history
2008 September – Arrival into the UK
2010 to 2012 – PSW Visa
2012 – 2017 – Tier 2 Visa
My husband’s immigration history was clean as a whistle so we were pretty much sure that by the time he would be eligible he would get his ILR easily.
Rising action, or the TWIST :-
But, in July 2015, we received a setback.
He was found speeding, doing 46 on a 40 road which was caught on camera. He was sent a Penalty Charge Notice for the same. I believe the first step in the process of a PCN is the form where a person is asked to identify who the driver was. My husband filled that form correctly, identifying himself as the driver and sent it away. The day he sent it away, the very next day he had to travel. So he left the UK for his holiday of over 4 weeks, joining me in our home country where I was with our new born baby on my maternity leave.
Mistake 1: He should have pre-empted that the next step would have been the forthcoming fine, but he did not or chose to ignore it. If he had taken me into confidence, I probably would have warned him of this, but he thought he wouldn’t incur my wrath (LOL) in our holiday, so he kept mum.
Anyway, we returned back home to the UK in August 2015 and found that there was a PCN in our post with the 28 days given to pay the fine having elapsed.
My husband immediately contacted the Police and tried to explain matters, saying that we would pay the fine immediately but he was told that the matter had already escalated and he would now have to go to court.
So, in effect a simple PCN that we could have paid off quite easily at the first got escalated into a court summon.
In Feb 2016, we attended court where in the mitigating circumstances section my husband gave the details of his circumstances. The Magistrate was very understanding but still fined him a total of £125 and 3 points on his license. My husband asked him if this would mean that there would be a criminal record in his name. To which, the Magistrate replied that there would be none.
Anyway, we were still quite worried about our ILR as a court appearance with fine in some cases meant a conviction.
I had also read that there was still some discretion that the caseworker could use in these cases and I personally felt that our mitigating circumstances were pretty strong – we had all details of the travels, e tickets, posted letters to/from Police regarding our trying to pay back the fine immediately as we got back into the country. So, we thought we would take a chance with the application.
And then, something else happened. In October 2016, my husband asked for employment details from the HMRC. We got the details back from them only to find there was an unknown named company as his employer between 2010 -2014. This company was an events recruiter based somewhere in Carlisle, over 100 miles from where we live.
All the time from 2010 September till now my husband has actually been a full time lecturer at a university! This was a huge shock for us and I was feeling that our ILR application was becoming more and more complex for us.
When the next day my husband called up HMRC to discuss this ‘rogue employment’ which showed 0 earnings and 0 tax amounts against it, HMRC agreed that it looked like a mistake either from their part or some kind of a mistaken identity issue. They agreed to change the records but unfortunately they couldn’t update it for over 4 weeks when our application became due.
Yes, these guys can be S L O W.
My husband also did not have any letter from his employer on his personal absences (which were only reasonable) but it was still a requirement as a Tier 2 visa holder. The employer had certified all his work related absences outside the country though.
Climax :-
On D-Day, we reached the UKVI office at 9 am for our 9.40 appointment and we were allowed in. As usual, we had the security checks and registration done.
My husband’s paperwork with supporting documents were handed over for consideration. And then the waiting game began. He was called for biometrics an hour after registration, so around 10.40 am, although our ticket number was just 104. I felt like they were short staffed, probably because it was the onset of holidays.
Then, at around 11.30 my husband was summoned once again for second set of biometrics as the first time there was a technical failure. Damn! We thought we had a decision, but no! He re-did his biometrics and came back to join me again.
Then after waiting for another one and half hours at around 1 pm he was once again called at the desk. This time he was told that there was some technical delay (Heaven knows what they mean by these terminologies), but he was basically told to scoot off to get some lunch. This was actually good, as we just needed to get out of the place and get some food in our empty stomachs.
We knew the surroundings well (the UKVI office is 2 miles away from our home) so we went to a regular haunt for our lunch. I actually pounced on my food but having sated my hunger with a few bites, I felt like I had lost my appetite all of a sudden. It doesn’t help really, that one’s life is being decided by somebody while you have your lunch. We finished within an hour and by 2.15 pm were back into their office.
Once again the waiting began and at around 2.40 my husband was called again for his GUESS WHAT… 3rd round of biometrics. By then I had this odd surge of hope that they were probably going to approve his ILR.
At 3.30 pm (6.5 hours after entry and by then token 130 were being dealt with), we were once again asked to come to the desk. A very ‘dour’ faced expressionless person, I say that particularly because she not once gave any sign of success as we came to her, told us that his visa had been approved.
There were no questions or issues raised about the concerns that we had making our case somewhat complex.
In the end, our 6.5 hours ordeal seemed small, for the light, relaxed feeling that the ILR brings. It is indeed a huge milestone in an immigrant’s life and I wish you all the success in achieving it.
I will be here for a while though as I still have my ILR and my kids’ registration coming up in the near future. Feel free to nudge me if you guys need any help or have any questions.
