Tier 1 to ILR

[Meesha]

I have come across another user's thread where he mentioned that Sopra asks for proof of address at the time of the appointment though they never mentioned it earlier. Thought worth sharing.

[CULLINAN]

I have come across another user's thread where he mentioned that Sopra asks for proof of address at the time of the appointment though they never mentioned it earlier. Thought worth sharing.

Thank you. I have my UK driving license with me. I just reached at the appointment but mine is after 30 min. I think they are running late and it seems busy. Will update later on about the whole experience.

[Meesha]

Great. Good luck

[bizman]

Great. Good luck mate

[CULLINAN]

Update:

I attended my sopra appointment at London Premium Lounge today. I paid £260 for the appointment as I opted for next day £60 additional charge on top of £200.

Pros: The staff is nice. The place is very clean and comfortable environment. A bunch of refreshments also. Wifi.

Cons: I waited 2.5 hours for my turn. I would expect better service after paying £260!!

I arrived 30 min before my appointment but was made to wait at the reception area. I was let in the lounge only close to my time like 5 min before.

The receptionist checked my confirmation email for the barcode and gave me a token number.
No ID was required for proof of address.

Then I sat for 2.5 hours. There were around 12 private cabins where people were called in turn by turn. But only 6 seemed to be operational. By 4pm the number dropped to 3 operational cabins as other staff finished shifts.

Once called in the cabin:
1. The lady checked my passport and confirmation email barcode again.
2. She then scanned only my current passport on the passport machine scanner machine. She said they have a limit of 15 pages to scan so she will only scan the front pages and any UK, US, Canada or any other random stamps page which she thinks is important. This is just to make sure passport is original.
3. She took my finger prints and photo.
4. Then she went over with me with all documents I had already uploaded turn by turn confirming I have uploaded everything correctly.
5. She asked if I am happy to submit or upload anything else.
6. She submitted my application.
7. I left
8. It took only 30 min in the cabin

a) I asked her what if I had not uploaded the whole current and previous passports myself. She said she only needs the current passport and she would have scanned current & previous passports front pages and any UK USA or Canada visas and stamps then. I told him I already had uploaded myself so she did not have to do it.

b) She did not check any document (original or non-original) except my current passport and BRP. She said only that is mandatory. Rest its good to take all documents incase they cant find it in the system and needs to be uploaded again.

c) I asked her if I will get a confirmation email from sopra. She said no but she confirmed she has submitted and she can she that on the system.

d) The categories I uploaded docs did not seem to be a problem.

e) They did not retain any passport of BRP or any document.

Suggestions:
1. Dont go early for your appointment otherwise you will have to wait anyways.
2. Take all documents with you incase there is a problem although its not required.
3. The staff knows nothing about the immigration rules. Make sure you upload all docs yourself according to the guidance. The staff only checks if everything is uploaded correctly.
4. Upload full passport yourself if you want to send full as they will not scan the blank pages.

On a lighter note: She was going through my documents and would tell me the nature of the document.
So she said “ok so this is your wifes passport copy”
I was like what my wifes? I was confused for a second till she read the name.
I said, its my employee!
So we both had a bit of laugh there.

Proves they know nothing about the immigration rules so do your proper homework before you go.

In short it all went well.

Goodluck all.

& thanks meesha and bizman for the luck and goodluck to you too.

[bizman]

I think so far so good. Let us hope they will send you confirmation email soon and then we see the timeline of the process. And thanks for your best wishes. We will hear your good news soon.

[CULLINAN]

I think so far so good. Let us hope they will send you confirmation email soon and then we see the timeline of the process. And thanks for your best wishes. We will hear your good news soon.

I already have received the HO confirmation email with the case ID today but sopra said i will not receive any email after documents submission.
Thanks

[bizman]

Great. I think the Sopria staff doesn’t even know the workings of the system aside to oversee documentation logistics. That’s a good one mate. keep us posted as things progresses.

[rock05]

Update:

I attended my sopra appointment at London Premium Lounge today. I paid £260 for the appointment as I opted for next day £60 additional charge on top of £200.

Pros: The staff is nice. The place is very clean and comfortable environment. A bunch of refreshments also. Wifi.

Cons: I waited 2.5 hours for my turn. I would expect better service after paying £260!!

I arrived 30 min before my appointment but was made to wait at the reception area. I was let in the lounge only close to my time like 5 min before.

The receptionist checked my confirmation email for the barcode and gave me a token number.
No ID was required for proof of address.

Then I sat for 2.5 hours. There were around 12 private cabins where people were called in turn by turn. But only 6 seemed to be operational. By 4pm the number dropped to 3 operational cabins as other staff finished shifts.

Once called in the cabin:
1. The lady checked my passport and confirmation email barcode again.
2. She then scanned only my current passport on the passport machine scanner machine. She said they have a limit of 15 pages to scan so she will only scan the front pages and any UK, US, Canada or any other random stamps page which she thinks is important. This is just to make sure passport is original.
3. She took my finger prints and photo.
4. Then she went over with me with all documents I had already uploaded turn by turn confirming I have uploaded everything correctly.
5. She asked if I am happy to submit or upload anything else.
6. She submitted my application.
7. I left
8. It took only 30 min in the cabin

a) I asked her what if I had not uploaded the whole current and previous passports myself. She said she only needs the current passport and she would have scanned current & previous passports front pages and any UK USA or Canada visas and stamps then. I told him I already had uploaded myself so she did not have to do it.

b) She did not check any document (original or non-original) except my current passport and BRP. She said only that is mandatory. Rest its good to take all documents incase they cant find it in the system and needs to be uploaded again.

c) I asked her if I will get a confirmation email from sopra. She said no but she confirmed she has submitted and she can she that on the system.

d) The categories I uploaded docs did not seem to be a problem.

e) They did not retain any passport of BRP or any document.

Suggestions:
1. Dont go early for your appointment otherwise you will have to wait anyways.
2. Take all documents with you incase there is a problem although its not required.
3. The staff knows nothing about the immigration rules. Make sure you upload all docs yourself according to the guidance. The staff only checks if everything is uploaded correctly.
4. Upload full passport yourself if you want to send full as they will not scan the blank pages.

On a lighter note: She was going through my documents and would tell me the nature of the document.
So she said “ok so this is your wifes passport copy”
I was like what my wifes? I was confused for a second till she read the name.
I said, its my employee!
So we both had a bit of laugh there.

Proves they know nothing about the immigration rules so do your proper homework before you go.

In short it all went well.

Goodluck all.

& thanks meesha and bizman for the luck and goodluck to you too.

Thank you Tier11417 for giving all this information.

In Your suggestion : Upload full passport yourself if you want to send full as they will not scan the blank pages

I have scanned only 6-7 pages where I can claim my Last 5 year travel history. Shall I upload rest of the pages including Blank one?

And as you said they will scan only current passport . have they scanned your previous passport??

[CULLINAN]

Thank you Tier11417 for giving all this information.

In Your suggestion : Upload full passport yourself if you want to send full as they will not scan the blank pages

I have scanned only 6-7 pages where I can claim my Last 5 year travel history. Shall I upload rest of the pages including Blank one?

And as you said they will scan only current passport . have they scanned your previous passport??
[/quote]

...

Logically what you did makes sense and this is what sopra will do as they will not scan your blank pages only the pages having stamps & visas on.

However, there is a understanding of this board that members are uploading full passports including the blank pages.

I have 7 passports. First 2 are more relevant as they fulfill my 5 years qualifying period. So I scanned them full and uploaded. Rest 5 i scanned front two pages and all pages with any visa or stamps excluding blank pages. I had already uploaded before my appointment.

I would advise you to upload atleast the current passport which fulfills your 5 years qualifying period in full to be on the safe side.

Sopra staff does not know much about immigration rules and are unaware of the 5 year absenses rule. They are more interested in only the current passport. So if you will ask them to upload for you they will only upload what is necessary as per them. But to be on the safe side I think you should upload yourself so they will not have any problems submitting that.

As I said, logically what you did should be enough and sopra states that also but I did what i mentioned above.

[Meesha]

Thanks Tier11417 for sharing your experience. Waiting time looks awful. So even if we upload our current passport, they will rescan it to upload again? I already expected them to be blank regarding immigration rules.
You are pointing to the confirmation email sent by UKVI? I received that on 18th December when i submitted my application but i think application processing starts once biometrics are done?

Hope u get ur ILR soon.

[CULLINAN]

Thanks Tier11417 for sharing your experience. Waiting time looks awful. So even if we upload our current passport, they will rescan it to upload again? I already expected them to be blank regarding immigration rules.
You are pointing to the confirmation email sent by UKVI? I received that on 18th December when i submitted my application but i think application processing starts once biometrics are done?

Hope u get ur ILR soon.

I was going through other posts just now where people have posted about their sopra experience. Majority have experienced delays. However a few are lucky also. So I think its about your luck on that day.
Yes, they will scan your current passport anyways 15 pages on the passport machine reader. That is to check that passport is genuine (atleast thats what she said).
If you already have uploaded your passports they will submit them all.
Yes the email what you receive withe subject “Home office application” and has your case ID and generic which tells it can take upto 6 months etc.
I dont know when the processing time will start before or after bio. But technically they will process it after bio I suppose.
I hope you get urs soon too!

[Meesha]

I believe u will apply for British citizenship soon after ur ILR as ur wife already holds British citizenship?

[CULLINAN]

I believe u will apply for British citizenship soon after ur ILR as ur wife already holds British citizenship?

Not yet, she has ILR but her british application is going next month.

[CULLINAN]

I believe u will apply for British citizenship soon after ur ILR as ur wife already holds British citizenship?

But I believe the same question applies to you as your husband holds BC.

[Meesha]

Yes, i will apply for citizenship after successful outcome of current application. I was thinking we will apply for that application at same time too depending on timeline of ILR.

[CULLINAN]

Yes, i will apply for citizenship after successful outcome of current application. I was thinking we will apply for that application at same time too depending on timeline of ILR.

Probably. Depends when my wifes BC application is back.

[Meesha]

I believe that is quicker than getting ILR as my husband got his BC in 3 weeks last year.

[CULLINAN]

I believe that is quicker than getting ILR as my husband got his BC in 3 weeks last year.

Great. That was quick!

[bizman]

Don’t be troubled Tier11417, you have given the right docs.

[rock05]

Thank you Tier11417 for giving all this information.

In Your suggestion : Upload full passport yourself if you want to send full as they will not scan the blank pages

I have scanned only 6-7 pages where I can claim my Last 5 year travel history. Shall I upload rest of the pages including Blank one?

And as you said they will scan only current passport . have they scanned your previous passport??

...

Logically what you did makes sense and this is what sopra will do as they will not scan your blank pages only the pages having stamps & visas on.

However, there is a understanding of this board that members are uploading full passports including the blank pages.

I have 7 passports. First 2 are more relevant as they fulfill my 5 years qualifying period. So I scanned them full and uploaded. Rest 5 i scanned front two pages and all pages with any visa or stamps excluding blank pages. I had already uploaded before my appointment.

I would advise you to upload atleast the current passport which fulfills your 5 years qualifying period in full to be on the safe side.

Sopra staff does not know much about immigration rules and are unaware of the 5 year absenses rule. They are more interested in only the current passport. So if you will ask them to upload for you they will only upload what is necessary as per them. But to be on the safe side I think you should upload yourself so they will not have any problems submitting that.

As I said, logically what you did should be enough and sopra states that also but I did what i mentioned above.
[/quote]

Hi Tier11417,

Have you paid for Biometric fee ?
Because they told me to go for Self service biometric and did not ask me for payment?
I have chosen only one service which is Document checking service .
Thanks

[CULLINAN]

Biometric fees is already included in the payment. £2389 plus £19.20 (bio) equals £2408.20

[CULLINAN]

Dear Members,

Previously in my thread I struggled to explain how I calculated my hours.

I was going through the forum and infact came across this member’s post and Marnath’s reply which infact has very well described my particular sitauation.

I did the same at extension stage. Just posting so you know what I actually meant. In this case do you think having 120 hours a month for 8 months and 150 hours a month for 4 months will be okay?? I fact they are 30 hours/week but paid like a 4 weekly or 5 weekly.

“memoa wrote: ↑Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:52 pm
Hi marcnath,

Thanks for your reply,

Everyone looks different to the hour's calculation and I believe it also depends on when is the payment made to your employee. Because the timesheet of the payment could start in 1st of the month and in other months could start in the 29th of the previous month.

giving an example of the payment,

Jan 2018 the timesheet of the payment starts from 1st of Jan on Monday until the last Friday of the month which is 26th of Jan ( 4 weeks ). 120 hrs

Feb 2018 the timesheet of the payment starts from the 29th of Jan on Monday until the last Friday of the month 23rd of Feb. ( 4 weeks ). 120 hrs

Mar 2018 the timesheet of the payment starts from 26th of Feb on Monday until the last Friday of the month 30tn of Mar ( 5 weeks). 150 hrs

That is my understanding of the payment, the hours' calculation, and that is what I have done in my 1st extension.

Regards,

Marcnath’s reply:
As I have repeatedly said, the only calculation that matters is 30 hrs/week, which is what is specified in the immigration rules.

The 120/130 hours/month discussion is only relevant when the monthly salary is fixed, which is not your case.“

Thank you

[CULLINAN]

TO: Dear All Tier 1 (Ent) members who have applied via the new system sopra AND already have attented the biometrics appointment AND submitted documents.

Q) Given the above statement is true for you, are you still able to sign in to your UKVI account and see the “further actions” page step 7 (Step 7 that says to download the consent form and book an appointment and gives a link to download your application form)?
Also, can you still sign in to your sopra account?

Thank you

[CULLINAN]

Dear Members,

Please can anyone respond to my post as above given if you have opted for standard service and applied via new system UKVCAS centre in any category?

The application process should be similar for all categories.

I just want to confirm if you are still able to login to UKVI account and view the “further actions” page step 7 & “book appointment” link EVEN AFTER you have attendend appointment and submitted your bio and documents at the UKVCAS centre?

The system is new so I am not sure if step 7 should have been updated or not.

Many thanks for your response.