Post
by girishm » Sat Jun 18, 2011 10:58 pm
Many Thanks for the help I have got from this forum. It has been very useful and informative. I have received my ILR on 15th June at Croydon.
Following are the steps I had to go through on that day:
1) Airport style security check
2) Preliminary check with an officer whereby they alloted a number for my case after checking the form SET(O) and passports. He asked me the following:
a) You applying on Tier 1?
Yes
b) Where is your Dependant?
She is at home with the baby
c) So your child is not applying with you?
No
d) Did your salary go up/down?
It went up.
I told him I had to declare a driving Penalty charge notice, which he said is okay as long as I did not go to court.
3) Then I was told to pay at the counter on the first floor.
4) After the payment, I was told to take a seat in the waiting area whereby they announced my no. after about 30-40 minutes. It was around 11:30 am. The case worker asked the following:
a) Can I have your form and passports?
I gave him these docs.
b) So you are applying on the basis of HSMP?
No, I am on Tier 1 General
c) Okay, can I have your last 12 months bank statements and payslips?
I gave him the same
d) Employer letter?
Furnished.
e) I will be dealing with your case but will go for lunch. Could you come at 1:30 pm again?
Okay.
5) Left the PEO and came back at 1:30 pm and I was told to sit near the customer desk. Not sure of what was going on, I went to the customer services desk and explained that I was asked by the case worker to come back at this time. The customer services advisor asked me the counter no. at which my case was being dealt with. She went to the counter and spoke to the case worker, came back, and asked me to go the counter again. Here is the conversation with the case worker (By this time I think my application result had already been decided):
a) Could you take a seat while I am dealing with your documents?
Okay
I asked do you not need the cohabitation documents?
He said yes, could you show me those docs. After seeing the docs, he asked if I had some photocopies of the cohab docs and included them in his case file. That was it.
He said your application has been successful and that I should wait for a few minutes to get the passport with the ILR stamped near the customer services desk; which I did.
So in summary following documents asked:
1) Passports
2) Set(O)
3) Past 12 months payslips
4) Past 12 months bank statements
5) Employer letter (I had 2, one from current and the other from precious employer)
Documents I took along and weren't asked:
1) Cohabitation documents (3 council tax letters, 3 water bills, 2 tenancy agreements addressed to both in past 2 years)
2) Covering letter
3) Degree certificates
4) Past 5 years Bank statements and Payslips
5) Employer contract letters
6) Driving Penalty charge notice and payment reference for it
7) E-ticket for one of my journeys for which I couldn't find the stamping in the passport
8) 4 P60s, 1 P45 and a letter from HMRC detailing my tax summary for past years
9) Marriage certificate
What I learnt from this experience is that you have to be prepared with all the documents that they can ask, and have to fill all the gaps in your application as much as possible. Although they did not ask me for a lot of docs, I extensively read through various cases from this forum to prepare for my application. Many Thanks again for the info.