ILR success at PEO Croydon - thanks for all the help

mama · Post by **mama** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:16 pm

Hi,
My husband, son and I just got the ILR stamped today at the PEO Croydon.
I just wanted to thank everyone for all their help and suggestions on this forum without which we would have probably not had it easy.

Will share our experience in detail with the rest of the members over the weekend.

snow · Post by **snow** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 1:41 am

Hi

Mama congratulation please confirm the absences is 225 (100% sure )
becoz mine is 208 (personal holidays ) but consistent with annual paid leave .

Thank You.

mama · Post by **mama** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:43 pm

So here are the details of our experience at PEO Croydon yesterday.
I applied under the WP holder category for ILR with my husband and one-year old son as dependants. I didnt take my son along but my husband did accompany me.

We reached the office at 1.45 for 2.30 appointment. After the security checks, we were shown to a counter where the initial checks happenned. The person at the counter here asked for application form, passports, Life in UK test certificates, letter from employer, 3 months bank documents, 3 months payslips. He checked everything and asked us to go pay on the 1st floor. After payment, we went and sat down in the first floor to be called by one of the case workers. This was at 2.30.

Until 4pm noone called us and we were beginning to get quite worried. However they soon called us to the customer service desk and asked us to go to the second floor since there were 1 1/2 hours of delays on this floor due to operational issues! Whatever that meant!

Anyway, on the second floor we got called immediately. The case worker was really friendly. He took the same documents as the person on the ground floor. And told us to relax! He said he will take a lot of time to type in a lot of info. So then it was just a waiting game.
Occasionally, he would ask us something but other than it was just him and the papers.

I was on maternity leave from July 07 to Aug 08 but that didnt seem to matter at all (I was worried coz my july salary was Â£0!)

He then looked at my absences list since I had a fair amount of short business trips and a few personal trips. I had put all the trips and duration on an excel sheet. He then started going through each and every single trip on the computer. He reassured us that I was well under the 225 days but he still had to verify the exact number of days I was away. He said that I had overcounted for some of my trips. He clarified that they do not count the day you leave and sat/sun/bank holidays. They count the days in between that are working days and the day you return to the UK as also being outside UK. My total count was 135 according to me but he recalculated it to 114. He also said that even if the trips were for business reasons, he would need to count them.

So I can confirm that the caseworker who saw me definitely was referring to 225 days but whether all caseworkers also referred to 225, I obviously cant guarantee!

This is what took about 40 minutes. By around 5.15, he said that our application was successful and that in around 15 minutes, we would get our passports. At 5.30, we got our passports with the ILR and we left.

So it took the entire afternoon but the experience wasnt half as daunting as we thought it would be. I would definitely recommend those who can afford to, not to small children along since the wait is quite long.
We need to now start looking at registering my son as a British citizen. Hopefully that is also easy.

I hope this is of use to those going to apply. Thank you once again for all those who helped us with their suggestions and help.

netacct · Post by **netacct** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:55 pm

He clarified that they do not count the day you leave and sat/sun/bank holidays. They count the days in between that are working days and the day you return to the UK as also being outside UK

mama,
I did not know that they count only weekdays and not weekends.
I came to UK on 08 Jun 2003 on WP1.

However, I was in India from 06 July 200 2004 to 23 Oct 2004.

If I just count Weekdays between 06 July and 23 Oct, its definitely less than 3 months.

I know that you CAN NOT have more than 3 months gap in one go, what you think will they consider it less than 3 months gap if they only count weekdays?

Thanks in advance.

snow · Post by **snow** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:55 pm

Congratulation Mama

Please if you can post me the excel spread sheet and template of employer letter please.

Thank You

alina76 · Post by **alina76** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:12 pm

Hi Mama,

congratulation.

did you actually give all the documents which you had posted earlier in your other post. (All p-60s,all pay slips and bills for 5 years)?

was he actually wanted all the p-60s from you as I have to go for my ILR next month and I ven't got all the documents (p-60s,payslips for my first year)I have all the papers for 4 years.

do we need to take bills (council tax, and gas etc) etc.

thanks,

KUMARVK · Post by **KUMARVK** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:39 pm

Hi Mama, Please give details of the docuemnts submitted.

mama · Post by **mama** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:19 pm

Hi,
I took document for all 5 years but all they wanted to see was:
1. Life in UK test pass certificate for me & spouse
2. work permit documents
3. passports of course
4. birth certificate of my son
5. marriage certificate of me and my spouse
6. payslips for last 3 months
7. letter from employer
8. absences sheet (this i had taken separately since i had quite a few business trips)

The template for the employer letter was:
This is to state that Ms.<name> has been on permanent employment with <company name> since <date><year> as <occupation>. She continues to be in permanent employment with us under the same job role.
Her current annual salary is Â£12345 per annum.

And the excel sheet just had the following columns:
Depart UK date, Arrive UK date, duration, place of travel, reason for travel
Hope this helps.

mama · Post by **mama** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:21 pm

oops sorry..forgot
they also wanted 3 months bank statements..

global gypsy · Post by **global gypsy** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 10:32 pm

Mama - thanks for the info.
Did you also include letters from your employer to verify the dates for your business trips abroad? How else could you prove this?

samkma · Post by **samkma** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 5:59 pm

Congrats on the ILR success. I appreciate that you came back and took time to explain your experience as many are never seen back here after they have won

If lost they are all back here

usemobile · Post by **usemobile** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:45 pm

Excellent Mama

Your experience confirms me that , Home Office Count only working days for absences in the UK .

I was outside the country from 105 days during year means if they count weekdays then it should come under 90 days only.

Good news to me.....

Any one know - when we can go to ILR means 5years from Date of stamping or Date of Entry to UK.

Because SET(0) saying Grant of Entry....

Waiting for some reply...

RK

republique · Post by **republique** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:07 pm

usemobile wrote:Excellent Mama

Your experience confirms me that , Home Office Count only working days for absences in the UK .

I was outside the country from 105 days during year means if they count weekdays then it should come under 90 days only.

Good news to me.....

Any one know - when we can go to ILR means 5years from Date of stamping or Date of Entry to UK.

Because SET(0) saying Grant of Entry....

Waiting for some reply...

RK

That does not mean that they will not consider your continuity broken. The noncounting of weekends may be for shorter duration absences or to make allowances for weekend trips.

mama · Post by **mama** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:32 pm

Hi,

I did get a separate letter from my employer saying that I have travelled on many business trips and that the details were enclosed.
But the caseworker told me that even with that letter, they need to add the business trips to days outside the country.

I think republique is right in terms of absences. I am not sure if you have 3 months continuous absence from the UK if the caseworker will discount weekends.

Thanks

xyz1234 · Post by **xyz1234** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 12:19 pm

netacct wrote:
He clarified that they do not count the day you leave and sat/sun/bank holidays. They count the days in between that are working days and the day you return to the UK as also being outside UK
mama,
I did not know that they count only weekdays and not weekends.
I came to UK on 08 Jun 2003 on WP1.

However, I was in India from 06 July 200 2004 to 23 Oct 2004.

If I just count Weekdays between 06 July and 23 Oct, its definitely less than 3 months.

I know that you CAN NOT have more than 3 months gap in one go, what you think will they consider it less than 3 months gap if they only count weekdays?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Thanks to mama for the valuable information he shared with us.
But netacc, did you apply for PR? my case is as follows and i am going to apply in Jan, 2009

Date of entry : 23-Feb-2004
Gap: 02-July-2004 to 03-Oct-2004 - CONTINOUS 92 days

I have totally outside UK for 120 days including the above 92 days.

My employer has confirmed by issuing the letter that this is the business trip.

I am little worried about 92 days; will they remove the week ends as happened in mama?. Please comment your own experience.

Thanks for your inputs

Regards
xyz1234

netacct · Post by **netacct** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:45 pm

But netacc, did you apply for PR? my case is as follows and i am going to apply in Jan, 2009

I have not applied yet but planning to apply in couple of months time.
Its worth trying rather than waiting for rules to change and miss it forever.
What is worst case? It will be rejected and loose some money.
I would suggest you go ahead.

global gypsy · Post by **global gypsy** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:22 pm

mama wrote:I did get a separate letter from my employer saying that I have travelled on many business trips and that the details were enclosed.
But the caseworker told me that even with that letter, they need to add the business trips to days outside the country.

Hmm, what is the purpose of the employer's letter then? I would have thought the number of days one was outside the country on work would be excluded from the total.

snow · Post by **snow** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 11:22 pm

Hi

Even personal short paid holidays are excluded as well . short holidays means 1 week 2 week or 1 day or 3 days .
please someone answer this .

Thank You.

xyz1234 · Post by **xyz1234** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 10:09 pm

Netacc,thanks for your response.please share your ideas when you apply for; i am going to apply only after 5 months

xyz1234 wrote:
netacct wrote:
He clarified that they do not count the day you leave and sat/sun/bank holidays. They count the days in between that are working days and the day you return to the UK as also being outside UK
mama,
I did not know that they count only weekdays and not weekends.
I came to UK on 08 Jun 2003 on WP1.

However, I was in India from 06 July 200 2004 to 23 Oct 2004.

If I just count Weekdays between 06 July and 23 Oct, its definitely less than 3 months.

I know that you CAN NOT have more than 3 months gap in one go, what you think will they consider it less than 3 months gap if they only count weekdays?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Thanks to mama for the valuable information he shared with us.
But netacc, did you apply for PR? my case is as follows and i am going to apply in Jan, 2009

Date of entry : 23-Feb-2004
Gap: 02-July-2004 to 03-Oct-2004 - CONTINOUS 92 days

I have totally outside UK for 120 days including the above 92 days.

My employer has confirmed by issuing the letter that this is the business trip.

I am little worried about 92 days; will they remove the week ends as happened in mama?. Please comment your own experience.

Thanks for your inputs

Regards
xyz1234

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ILR success at PEO Croydon - thanks for all the help

ILR success at PEO Croydon - thanks for all the help

Re: ILR success at PEO Croydon - thanks for all the help