Update on my application

[Pete249]

Dear all,

As posted on 13/11/2013, I applied for for ILR usinf SET(LR) form on 5/11/2013. My application was received and payment taken out my credit card on 7/11/2013 after which I received acknowledgement letter on 13/11/2013. I was expecting to receive biometric letter fairly soon afterwards as some people have received biometric enrolment letter after a week of payment clearing. However, this is where the shoe pinches.

I rang the UKBA on their 0870 number on 25/11 and 4/12/2013 to check on how soon I could get the afore-mentioned letter but to my surprise I was told that my application has not been uploaded on their system. On both occasions, I provided them with UKBA reference number provided on acknowledgement letter, Royal Mail Special delivery tracking number (which shows that my application was received on 6/11/2013), Date of birth, Nationality and even previous UKBA reference number but all to no avail. They could not confirm that my application has been received even when I told them that it surely must have been received for them to have taken the money from my credit card. Anyway, the officer I spoke to on 4/12/2013 eventually told me after more that 20 minutes on the phone and several times being put on hold to make checks; that they were dealing with August applications and that I should just wait as they guideline states that it takes up to 6 months for a decision to be made. I was confused and a bit upset but I had to let go as I needed to go to work. But after reflecting on the whole situation, I decided to call again yesterday and this time, I told the officer on the phone that I understood that they well publicised guide line says that decision is provided within months or what have you but my query was not about a decision being made on my case but rather that I found it strange that I made an application using the right form and sent it to the right address and subsequently had fee taken out and acknowledgement letter sent to me since 13/11/2013; only to be told that none of their own activities (fee taken and acknowledgement letter) could be found on their system. Again i provided the officer in a calm manner all the details including Royal Mail SD number. At the end he agreed that there was something amiss and took a contact number stating that he would raise a query with the correct department and that someone would be in touch with me with 48 hours to let me know what is happening with my application.

I received a call this morning form another UKBA Officer who was very apologetic and stated that my application has now been uploaded on their system and that a biometric enrolment has been sent to me this morning and that I should receive it within next few days. I asked what had happened and the Officer stated that it was something to do with change made from 28/10/2013 which has affected their internal processes... I'm not sure if I was much convinced but the main thing for me is that my application is at last uploaded on their system and the biometric letter is on its way to me. This is a big relief to me as I am expecting to go for a few job interviews and new employer would have to made checks with UKBA as my passport is not with me at the moment and imagine UKBA telling them that actually we cannot see anything on our system...

I thought I should share this with you in case others finds themselves in this awful situation.

PS: In my original post, I stated that I have been in the UK since June 2003. This is an error as I have been lawfully in the UK since June 2002.

[meb4ne1]

Thank you for sharing, we have a quite a few people waiting for BRP letter since October, this explains it! I've shared your posted in the main thread.

[chowkal]

Thanks for sharing your experinence. And good luck mate

[kamransh]

Hi Pete,
Did you get any further with your application? I will be applying for ILR 10 years with 2 years as a family member of EEA national so just wanted to know what documents you submitted with your application..

thanks