ECS and foreign passport return from HO

[JimmyR]

Hi All.
All my previous extensions I had been made through immigration lawyer. However my current extension I had to do it independently due to my financial position.
The Fee waiver was successfully and I made my extension application online in Sept 2021 followed by submitting documents and fingerprints a week later. But I have not received any update yet.

I’m aware of waiting time but I have applied for jobs and they were successful. However when I mentioned to the employers about my visa extension application and I requested them to check with the HO. They appeared not keen but they agreed to do so. However I have been chasing the employers and they have been saying that they are still waiting a response from the HO.

This is very frustrating, I’m out of money and in debts including my rent. I might be in the street at the end of this month and I can’t claim any benefits.

Any idea what I should do apart of contact local MP?

Also I have read that the HO is normal returning a foreign passport via Royal Mail 2nd class. I’m living in a big share accommodation and it is very easy for the documents to get lost. Do they informed the decision by email as well?

[vinny]

I suspect the HO is swamped with the Ukrainian applications at the moment and may be slower than usual. Why did they require you to send your actual foreign passport when they normally accept copies?

[JimmyR]

@Vinny thank for the response.

About the foreign passport copy. Are you talking about employer or HO?

If you are talking about employers, after the interview was successful. You have to meet the requirement team to see your right to work documents and other stuff. When you inform them that you have an extension application at the HO and ask them to check it. They normally agree but you can tell by their faces they are not happy about it.

They can easily lie to you afterwards that they have been chasing it up( one staff when I mentioned ECS, he didn't know what it meant) or probably it is true the HO has not responded to them yet, and if they want someone to fill the position immediately it will prompt them to offer the position to someone else.

[vinny]

Also I have read that the HO is normal returning a foreign passport via Royal Mail 2nd class. I’m living in a big share accommodation and it is very easy for the documents to get lost. Do they informed the decision by email as well?

I was asking why the HO has your foreign passport?

[JimmyR]

@Vinny

Sorry for a late response.

My previous two applications I did through an immigration lawyer. On both occasions, she requested original passport and biometric card and returned the passport after the decisions with other documents. Hence I was under impression those two ''Mandatory documents " have to be original.

Also I have read somewhere on this forum, some people are complaining that the HO has not returned their foreign passports.

I uploaded all the supporting documents online but I took with me my passport and old biometric card during the biometric appointment at Croydon office and she kept them.

Now I'm very frustrating now. My foreign passport was lost before by a company, it took me time and money to replace it. What is your advise I should now now?

[vinny]

I uploaded all the supporting documents online but I took with me my passport and old biometric card during the biometric appointment at Croydon office and she kept them.

If this was before 5 November 2018, then they may have kept your passport for submitting to the HO. Else, after that date, I think you should have kept it. But perhaps the fee waiver had made a difference? Though I don’t see why it should? When leave is granted, I don’t think that they would endorse a passport. Instead, they would give you a BRP. Now, they are planning to scrap issuing BRPs.

They should normally return your passport after a successful grant of leave.

[JimmyR]

@Vinny

The previous two applications I used immigration lawyer were before 2018.

But the current application I did my self on Sept 2021. It was the one, I uploaded all the supporting documents online but during the finger prints appointment at Croydon, HO staff kept my passport and old biometric. I didn't ask as I was expecting her to do that, I was not aware they don't keep the foreign passport anymore.

I'm living in a big share accommodation and it is very easy to lose letters. Because my previous applications they used recorded delivery to returned the passport and other documents. I thought they will use the same method to return it. But recently, I read somewhere that HO is using 2nd class royal mail to return foreign passport. There is somewhere I can check if HO is still have and it is safe?