Hi everyone - I'd like to thank all the knowledge and help that I have received from this forum. Today, I received my ILR despite some quite worryingly high absences.
Further details to my case can be found here.
A. Today's events and questions asked (as it is, without any interpretation on my part):
1) Security check
a) a lady checked for correct form version, i.e. in my case SET(O) 10/2012
b) asked about mode of payment
2) Preliminary application check
Q 1) "Does your basis for 5 year qualifying period include a work permit? If yes, what document are you providing to support period covered by that?"
A 1) She wanted to hear P45/P60 I had the latter
Q 2) "Do you have all the documents like LIUK?"
A 2) Yes
3) Payment
Q 1) "How are you planning to pay today sir?"
A 1) Visa Debit Card
Note: payment went through smoothly, I had called the card company yesterday (as per the advice from this forum, thanks!) and kept my TPIN handy.
4) Detailed application check (by Case Worker)
[...I was called to a specific counter and a lady asked for the form SET(O) and passports, and started to ask the following questions after about 30 seconds of glancing]
Q 1) "Are you saying that you have absences of 300 days? Do you know that the limit is only 190?"
A 1) Yes, I know the limit, it's 180 I think but I don't have any unpaid absence, all absences are either paid vacations or business travels
Q 2) "Do you have letters to support that?"
A 2) Yes, and provided her with the same.
Q 3) "Do you have photocopies of anything?"
A 3) Yes, provided her with the same.
My Q 4) "can I please ask that, since my absences are only paid vacations and business travels, as per the guidance there can be a discretion applied?"
Her A 4) "Yes, but I have to report this to a senior officer and will have to wait to see what they say"
My Q 5) "Is the senior officer available today?"
Her A 5) "Yes"
My Q 6) [...after about 10 min or so of doc checking...] "Do you see any issues overall?"
Her A 6) "Yes, and I will have to refer to a senior officer"
Q 7) "I need 2 Photographs"
A 7) Provided her with the same.
Q 8 ) "Do you have any other documents that you'd like to submit?"
A 8 ) "Should I just give you all of them together?" She said, "Yes". So I gave her, P60s, HMRC Tax history letters, Work Permit approval letters.
My Q9 ) "Excuse me, I also have bank statements and pay slips for the entire 5 year period, should I provide those as well?"
Her A9 ) "No, I don't need them". I asked this as I had kept these separately, it being quite a fat and bulky bundle.
After this I was told to go and wait and she literally rolled the shutter down on her counter window! I went out and came back after roughly an hour to the counter and she told me that the application was approved and returned the originals.
5) Vignette stamping and passport collection
Nothing to add here, just a bit of wait that's all.
B. My interpretation - IMHO
1) Absences are clearly still the most controversial topic. I can confidently say that the CW, at no point until she told me about approval (which was at the very end of the process), was very non-committal in her body language and tonality. In other words, she completely let the senior case worker take the call on this and it seems it could possibly have gone either ways. I'm not trying to make people worry unnecessarily (trust me I know how it feels!) but just trying to say like I saw it. I provided 2 strongly worded and detailed letters one for paid vacations (briefly including the vacation policy of my company itself) and one for business travel (endorsing each trip, emphasizing my need to be there and the fact that at no point was the salary and tax payment moved away from UK). Please make sure these letters are good quality and as detailed as possible if you have >180 days absences.
2) P60 are equally important, at least based on my experience today. The good thing is that HMRC tax history letters are easily obtainable and recognised in case you're missing any of the P60s so nothing to worry on this one.
3) Strangely, she didn't ask much about anything else while she was conversing with me. For instance, I was expecting that she would:
a) check the salary slips, bank statements, etc. at least for the past 1 year
b) do some sort of checks (PNC checks, past Visa checks etc)
c) absences reconciling with my list
...am sure she must have done the due diligence, but just not in front of me! Also, when she was looking at the SET(O) form, she simply got stuck on the absence sheet and glanced over the rest of the form rather quickly without any questions whatsoever!
In any case, am not being cynical or anything just glad about the final outcome and very thankful to god and this forum. If I can answer any questions for anyone with a similar situation please let me know. Thanks!
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You must have felt the need for that. My opinion is that you should only speak when asked because, your questions may trigger doubt in the caseworker's mind.