Here are my details:
Entry Clearance date (HSMP) : 19-Oct-2007
Entered UK : 25-Oct-2007
Switched to Tier1 ( Extended visa ) : 19-Oct-2009
Have been in permanent employment since coming into UK and with the same employer.
Booking an Appointment Process:
1. Calculated the earliest date which I could attend the appointment which is 28 days before my first entry date. This was coming to be 27th Sep. But I chose to go there on 01st Oct.
2. Calculated 42 days before the desired date of appointment. This was coming to 20th August.
3. Midnight of 20th August 00:00 I logged on to UKBA's website and kept refreshing the page for booking an appointment.
4. At 00:10am appointments were available and was able to book for my desired date of 01st October (I think it takes 10 - 15 mins for the server to refresh and show available appointments for the 42nd day)
On the day of appointment:
1. Appointment at Croydon : 12:00 PM
2. Reached at: 11:35 AM
3. Security check done at : 11:40 AM
4. Card payment done at :11:50 AM
5. Basic checks on passport and Data entry: 12:15
6. Biometric done at : 2:10 PM (For my 2 year old only photograph was taken and no biometrics)
7. Called by the caseworker : 4:00 PM
8. Case worked approved ILR : 5:00 PM
At point 5 and point 7 above no questions were asked at all.
Documents submitted:
Application Form
Photographs
Appointment Letter
Life in the UK Test
HSMP Approval
TIER-1 Extension Application letters received
Co-Habitation Proofs - Council Tax (5 years), Tenancy Agreement (last 2 years), Bank Statements (Last 2 Years)
Marriage Certificate
Birth Certificate Long
Graduation Degree Certificate (Even though these were not required)
English Letter
Official Transcript
12- Months Payslips
5 Years P-60
5 Years P-11D
12 Months Bank Statements
Letter from employer
Travel Details (In and Out from UK - on a spreadsheet printout)
Passports
Photocopies of every document listed above including every page of passports (Current and previous for all applicants)
Application form specifics:
1. Only checked 11A and 11L
When Case worker called us at 4pm she asked for application form, passports, all originals, photocopies and just asked us to take a seat. She spent 1 hr looking at our documents. After that she called us and handed back all the originals with a letter stating ILR had been granted. Now I am just waiting for my Biometric cards to come.
Piece of advice: It will take a minimum of 4 hours to process your application. So ensure you have your smartphones or tablets fully charged to watch some movies or read some books
Please let me know if anyone has any questions.