Hi Guys,
I want to share my experiences of my success yesterday at the Glasgow office.
I just like to warn people of postal applications as they are inconvenient and it’s not worth you sending essential documents which in the end not exaggerating can cause a marriage fight and tensions within family as well as lost documents unrecoverable.
Night before we vigorously checked our application forms and documents I strongly advice you do triple check your docs and also get someone else to check them as we checked them many times then we found 1 page missing! and 1 box unticked. I am unsure if the officer lets you know and make amendments when your there.
So, we set off an hour early giving that it’s only a 10 mins drive. We found parking in a residential area not on that road as it was quite busy. It took us 10 mins to get there lucky we bumped into a security guard at the gates picking up cones for cars to get by staff car park. And told him where reception is for ILR applications and lucky he told us its the 3rd small building near the end as we would of been confused and ask 3 different people 1 by 1. So we got to the doors and was early and was told by the booking agent not to go in more than 30 mins before appointment so we waited and then security guard came out and said what are you doing waiting there come on in. So, we were told to remove any jewelry, mobile phones switched off gave us 2 plastic tubs to put them into and gave us a token number and told us we would get it back when we leave just keep your token number.
Security asked for ID passport or driver’s license now what I would of done if I know if keep it physically on me rather than keep you and your partners separately as security looked strange why I had no ID on me rather than my partner giving me ID seems fine with me but not them.
We then got told to remove any metal coins, badges, jewelry before going through the metal detector I had 5p coin in my pocket and I got through without detection! My wife the alarm sounded as she had jewelry on which she WASNT asked to remove also they don’t put their hands on you to search. They use a hand metal detector too after the bigger machine if the alarm sounds. I was surprised they never asked for a booking ref number after getting several txt messages about the appointment and to quote it.
They gave directions to the reception window when we went in it was PACKED couldn’t find a seat! Must of been because it was Christmas and New Year with no appointment’s. The place was crawling with kids shouting and screaming and people looking tense bored asleep much like an airport with a delayed plane. So, we went to the counter window and the nice lady was friendly and we told her we had an appointment and out names were so and so and she DIDNT ask us for a booking ref number either she said were quite busy today so I will come and give you a token number.
Our appointment was delayed by 30 mins and she came after 30 mins to give token we waited 45 mins to be called by the voice above and they also have LCD screens airport like to tell your ticket number and counter number to go to.
So, after much wait wondering if we would spend the night here and sitting next to a girl who kept asking us why they taking so long we were called. The seats at the counter are bad and they are chained! So u need to basically hop over the chain and watch you don’t fall over or gets caught with you bag!
So, my wife sat left and me right as she was the applicant I thought she would get majority of questions how wrong was I! It started friendly and told him we live 10 mins down the road turns out he used to live further down the street a few years ago!
I think he asked me majority of questions as I had the local accent and also good English. My wife was shocked as so was I after it as you would imagine the applicant would be asked all the questions, but I think it’s how the person feels on the day!
So, we were about to open our large zip folder when the officer said just give us the whole folder that was nice of him to check the documents we had rather than ourselves as we would of made a huge mess.
Before he opened the folder to check our documents he explained the criteria the home office requires to get ILR if I can remember it was maintence and accommodation was a big one, life in the UK test letter, 6 letters joint or single spanning over the last 2 years my jaw dropped! From both of you! He asked us do you pay rent/mortgage we lived with parents and my mind went zero. He said do you have a letter from your parents that they give you permission to live there after dithering I said I think so. It was there it was the first thing he looked at over anything else! And my parents mortgage statement and bank statement which were online statements not originals or certified! Which had me terrified. So, he looked through the income and asked me how much we paid in mortgage, interest only or fixed was terrified I said it’s on the statement as my parents deal with that. I told them we paid x amount per month like rent to help out on bills. Then next he was impressed by the number of documents my wife had but unimpressed with my documents as they were less and only last years and not the previous 2-3 years! We luckily included a doctors letter by the NHS back in 2009 which helped enormously I would personally take every document you have to them as the most unlikely document will see you through.
He hardly looked through the application form just a skim through and he seemed more interested in the page numbers?? He separated all docs out especially employers letter, passports, life in the UK test, my wage slips and bank statements. Know what your submitting he asked if I had such and such asked what documents I had from 2 years ago!
So, he finally said I am happy with the documents but I don’t make the final decision its gets passed on to another caseworker who makes the decision based on what I have submitted so he told us to wait 10-15 mins and come back so he could see if he could submit any stronger docs we had.
Called back after 15 mins and told us everything seems okay think they checked the application form thoroughly now and said if we would like you submit any further docs we feel is necessary I thought I had nothing else but I would check again said that if the documents come back or need more we would get a refund and they would make another appointment!
So gave us the payment page back and we took in to the payment counter last counter and they have a computer/payment glitch I was like oh no this is not gonna be our day! Especially, as we wanted to make a debit card payment! We had to wait 15 mins standing and wondering and worrying then there was a Muslim lady working alongside learning the ropes they took the payment page and wrote a reference number on the top of it and asked for debit card she hardly looked at the page and put it through for processing usual pin enter no problems printed off 2 receipts and we went back to our counter and gave the page and receipts he said it will take about 1 hour to get back to us it took 2 hrs 30 mins and it was the worst time ever we were so tense and worried that we didn’t have the sufficient documents that we would have to come back and that my parents mobile phone are always off and they are asleep! Make sure if your living with your parents or relatives or friends to keep their mobiles on and tell them they may get a call from immigration to confirm they are living at that address, how there related to you.
So, after 2 and a half hours of tense waiting and praying our number came up on the voice and lcd screen we were called to another counter than original one and another person as we passed the original caseworker which I was really nervous now and the lady didn’t look too happy we sat down and she said I had some information for you gave us a letter I quickly sensed were not getting it until I glanced over to the right and said oh there the badge! It looks strange but has the shiny silver hologram on it I was shocked literally shocked. Then she gave us our documents back and the letter the letter stated we are returning your documents and extending your stay?? What did this mean so vague?? And gave us our passports at the end and said is this ILR lol! Yes, it’s indefinite I was like a residence permit is that was it usually says! I was looking for an expiry date I was like how long is this for ferrying back to the letter she was like indefinite. We got it we got it couldn’t believe it and we walked down the isle of desks in delight and everyone else faces lite up! I almost forgot my PASSPORT it was still lying at the desk! Dumbed and confused don’t know how we got it but God works in mysterious ways we got there in the end I said to the others waiting good luck hope it works out for you guys.
So we left and the security guard first thing he said was are you’s coming back I said hell no were off to celebrate. Gave the token back and got our mobile back soon as we left the office turned on my mobile I get 10-15 txt messages about my ILR appointment booking reference lol
In the end we left after 3 and a half hours and it was a relief to finally to get it all done especially after the home office rejected our postal application and lost half my documents and we had 2 days to go till spouse visa expired!
So, I took an hour to write this! And hope this will come in handy for everyone if they apply in the same situation as me. Please take documents dating back 2-3 years if possible and let your parents, relatives, friends know if you live with them keep their mobiles phones on. Also, the letter from your parents, relatives, friend your living with in my opinion is more important than passport and application form.
Thank you for reading and feel free to comment ï
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