I had come to UK in July - 2007 on HSMP. Visa was valid from June 2007
Applied for Tier 1 General in 2009 in April and got approval till June 2012.
Driving offence IN10 in April 2009 and sentence from court in November 2009. I had accepted guilt but went to court to explain my case. Court gave £350.00 fine and 6 points on new licence ( as I had passed exam till then) but did not ban me form driving.
Got married in Nov 2009. Applied from Wife's entry clearance Visa in April 2010. Wife came to UK in May for first time.
In April 2011, UKBA changed rule for ILR and added unspent conviction criteria which was going to affect my possible ILR application in 2012.
I spoke with ICS Legal - Immigration law firm over phone. I paid £20 for one hour consultation. They advised me to keep extending Tier 1 till I cover 5 year period for unspent conviction which would be Nov-2014 for me.
Thats why I applied for Tier 1 extension in Feb 2012 for myself and dependent( wife ). I did disclosed my offence in application. Got approval in May 2012 and BRP cards and it got extended till June 2014.
On 22 November UKBA again changed the rule for conviction and they lowered the period form 5 years to 2 years for ILR and 3 years for Citizenship, with effective form 13 December.
I was completely unaware about this. I was under the impression that I need to still extend my Tier 1 to cover period till Nov-2014. So I applied for again Tier 1 Geneal in end of January 2013, this time only for myself as wife was away for holiday. Got approval and BRP cards at lighting speed in just 20 days. Again I had disclosed about offence in application properly.
When I got approval in Feb 2013 one of very close friend point out this forum about rule change by UKBA.
Again I called ICS Legal paid £20 to confirm. They said I can apply for ILR now anytime as long as I pass "Life in UK Test". That means my money for both extension application in 2012 and 2013 was wasted. A huge loss of money.
Me and wife book for Life in UK exam and pass by 15 March. Mean while very luckily got Croydon appointment of one of the day between 20 - 25 march. Appointment was booked by myself not any agent and we went ourselves not through agent.
I had almost all document ready because of my Tier 1 extension application done in Jan-2013.
Me and wife went to Croydon on day of application.
and submitted :
[I am salaried person so straight documentation for me ]
1) 12 months pay slip and letter form employer about current job
2) Bank statement
3) Savings account statement for finance
4) House agreement
5) P60 and P45 for 5 years
6) Co habitation proof -
a) All bank statement of joint account since my wife came to UK
b) NHS Card, prescriptions, reports
c) Letters form Utility company and online bills of Utility company which
was on wife's name
d) NI Number letter form Job centre plus for wife
e) council bills with wife's name
f) Driving licence
g) Marriage certificate
UKBA took b,c,d and e only.
7) Absence 121 days in last 5 years and 135 days since i came to UK
Disclosed about driving offence and attached documents like court fine letter, driving licence counter part with fine.At PEO things happened in this order :
1) Security checking
2) Appointment verification
3) Token issued
4) Payment page verification, Appointment and Token number verification and then payment
5) Token called after 30 mins form payment. Basic check on Form, Payment, Photos
6) Called for BRP in 15 mins
7) Entire application file was with us only uptill now
After that in 1 hour called again took application form and whole file9) Asked us to give 1 hour time. Allowed us to go out if we want but to make sure about token as with out we wont be let in.
10) We waited for for 2 and half hour after file submission
11) They called us and gave Letter for approval, along with file and passport.
They said BRP card will come in 2 to 5 working days.
Letter on 2 nd page says ILR application is now approved.
Letter on 1 st page it says BRP will come in 2 to 5 working days.
So in end for ILR at around 5 years 7 months instead 4 years 11 months i.e. 8 months late and wasting lot of money in extension applications
In entire ILR process UKBA did not ask any thing.
PEO at croydon was good overall but most of applicant with Agents. In fact I could see only 2-3 applicant alone like us rest all had agents for them, so no wonder we do not get any appointment.
I hope this will help for any Tier 1 General applicant going for ILR and specially who has Driving offence like IN10.
This forum has helped me lot so I thought to put my case for any one's help but I would not like to take any question related to my offence as i have provided most relevant information already.
I am happy to take any other question related to documentation or any general question.
Some info related to exact timing of events is slightly altered for the purpose to maintain anonymous status. But sequence of event are 100% correct
Wish you all best luck and thanks again to all who run this forum and contribute to it.
Regards.
