Firstly, there isn't much documented about Belfast PEO anywhere, not on this forum or on the internet. So, I was a bit skeptical fearing that they will defer the decision for the shortage or inexperience of staff. But, I was pleasantly surprised to see the professionalism and down to earth attitude of each and every member of Office.
My experience -
My appointment was @9.30 in morning, got there around 8.45. Took a bus to forestside shopping center and the office is literally 2 minutes walk from there.
I was asked at the gate what time was my appointment and then asked to go at the small security reception where the guy asked for my name and cross checked with the one in sheet. Then there was a proper airport style security (infact more rigid than that). They took the laptop, mobile and all keys from me but told me to come and see them if I needed to use phone.
I was then told to sit in the waiting area and was then handed over the coupon (please see they did not charge me the fees yet).
My ticket number was then called, the caseworker was a middle aged lady and I was a bit scared going by my past experience at solihull. But she was very very sweet (I guess that's the case with all the people in Belfast
). She took my entire folder and told me that she'll need to go through all the checks and will take probably 10-15 minutes and asked me to wait in the waiting area. I told her to call me in case she needs any clarification, to which she very politely said yes.I was waiting nervously at the waiting area, just chatting with the guys around. There were couple of guys who flew from England to attend interview.
One main thing which impressed me the most with Belfast PEO was the fact that in case if your application is incomplete or missing any documents, they do give applicants time to either complete the application or get them within the same day. And this thing is well written on their walls. I just heard a case worker asking another applicant to get the latest bank statements and told him to try and get them before 2.30 in afternoon.....I was just awestruck with this.
Well in the meantime I was waiting nervously in the waiting area and I could see the case worker flipping the documents and checking them...and then nearly after 15 minutes she called me and said all's fine and asked me to go and pay at the counter 1 and wait in the waiting area to be handed over your passport with endorsement.
I was just thrilled and just couldn't believe .. no questions asked, no more documents asked ... she just took the set of documents with her ( I believe for copying).
While I was waiting for my passport to get back to me, I saw the caseworker passing the guys applications who flew from England for it (one was for PSW and other was for Tier -1 extension).
I hardly waited for another 20 minutes and was again called for my ticket number. The officer handed me my passport and a letter and asked me to confirm if my name and rest of the details are correct. He also asked me to fill up a feedback form which I promptly took from him as I was anyway going to ask for it if not told so.
Belfast PEO is awesome and most friendly PEO you could ever land up with. Agree this is far from England and little off route from there but if got a chance please do grab it.
And yes one more thing - mine was a limited company director applying through Tier-1 (general) route.
Thanks a lot to all the forum members and moderators. You guys really makes this forum a great knowledge base for all people. I've been on this forum for nearly 4 years and have contributed in the past and will try to contribute more in future
... Thanks once again.