PEO Croydon success - FLR(M) to ILR

[anniecc]

Got my ILR successfully on 21 March. Arrived at 8:45am for a 9:20am appointment and was finished by 10:45am.

I noticed that my application was processed more quickly than other people applying the same day (you can tell this because you're given a number when you register, and there are screens showing where each application is in the process). Perhaps this was simply because my case was a straight-forward one, but I also took great care to present my documents in a way that would be convenient for the case officer - I used plastic document folders to organise the supporting documents into categories, with labels on each one - applicant's finances, sponsor's finances, cohabitation evidence etc. I would recommend to all applicants that they try this approach - I did the same thing when applying for FLR(M) by post and my application was also processed relatively quickly then.

In general I found the PEO process really user-friendly and all the Home Office staff were professional - compared to the anxiety and waiting of a postal application I'd say this was £375 well spent. I still think it's a shame that the Home Office can't provide the same sorts of status updates for the postal process as they can at the PEO - so you could log on to their online system and see if your application was under consideration, awaiting checks etc. This would have saved me some grief with my first Tier 1 out-of-country application, where all my documents got lost in the post and I had no idea my application had been approved until several months after the fact!

One other thing to be aware of is that the HO confiscates your old BRP as part of processing your application, even if it is still valid for a few weeks as mine was. As the new BRP is delivered by courier and can take a week or so, this means that you won't be able to travel until the new BRP is received.