Finally, all the tension is over. My wife got ILR set (m) yesterday at Croydon PEO. I would like to thank all on this forum for helping me out with my questions and would also like to express my appreciation for all the posters. Information has been very valuable.
Our experience was slightly different to the many other posted on the forum, so here goes.
•Arrived at 12:50 for 13:30 appointment
•Friendly security guard checked confirmation email on my phone and directed us towards the airport style x-ray machines and metal detectors. (Requested to remove all metal items, jackets, mobiles, belts etc.)
•2 Minutes later we were advised to walk along a corridor to a counter where my wife’s documents were checked, stamped valid, and were provided with a raffle ticket number. (I later found out that the raffle tickets are temporary, until they shift all operations onto 2nd floor). The gentleman behind the glass advised us to go up to the 1st floor to pay the fees.
•There was no queue at the cashiers so we were able to walk straight up to one of the ladies who were serving. She asked us to provided only the payment page and raffle ticket. Made payment for £1426 (ouch) and was advised to proceed to the other side of the 1st floor where we will need to wait to be called.
•Time is now 13:00, so yes we have been fairly lucky to clear the above stages so quickly. At 13:10 our ticket number was called to the counter, where our photographs were scanned onto the system, passports checked. Lady advised us to proceed to the 2nd floor where we would need to wait for my wife’s biometrics.
•Wife was called for biometrics at around 13:30, which took approx. 5 minutes. We were then advised to report at counter number 44(customer service desk), where the lady only made a note of our ticket number and then we were told to wait.
Wait it was, as we were waiting for 2 hours and 5 minutes. This process was extremely nerve racking. As some of you will know, I was not confident about our co-habiting documents what so ever. We only had one bill on my wife’s name which did not even cover the whole two years. Most of our letters were in all honesty pretty useless. We were unable to sleep the night before and on the train down to Croydon my wife and I barely spoke. This carried on pretty much until the point her application was approved.
•So the moment of truth had finally come, at 15:45 our ticket number was announced. We proceeded to the counter with some sort of tunnel vision, oblivious to what was around us, just wanting to get there quicker than our trembling legs allowed us to. So we take a seat, CW apologised about delay and said if we can give him all the documents.
1.Checked Wife’s passport
2.Checked my passport
3.Checked photographs
4.Skim read first two pages of application form
5.Checked wife’s LITUK Cert
6.Checked Marriage Cert
7.Wife’s bank statements
8.My Bank statements
9.My Invoice and contract (I am self-employed)
10.1st Question – do you have photocopies. Answer- Yes.
11.Takes both passports and comes back with a few papers with UKBA heading. At this point we are really nervous as the following documents in our huge pile are pretty much crap I managed to source over the last few weeks trying to prove that we have been living together, which we obviously have. Most of them were online printouts.
12.He signs one of the papers, takes the photocopies and says – congratulations, your application has been approved.
Unbelievably shocked as none of our co-hab documents were checked. Is it really this easy? Well it does not matter now. We can finally go on our long awaited holiday.
Thank you everyone, keep up the good work.
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