ILR Success, Croydon PEO, 197 days of Paid Absence,WP+Tier1

[sidshekhar]

Hello,

I got my ILR yesterday. My application was based on Work permit+Tier 1

Work permit –Issued 5/Jan/2006 for 5 years
Tier 1 –Issued 15/May 2008 for three years

I had around 197 days of absence of annual paid leave in 5 years. I booked an appointment for 10/Dec/10 ,26 days before I completed 5 years since qualifying period. The appointment was booked online a month earlier.
In past 5 years I have changed 3 employers. I joined my present employers just 10 days before my ILR application.
On the day I took a train to Croydon and reached Home office at 9AM for my 9.30AM appointment. I was in the queue and seen by initial check worker at 9.46AM who looked at my application and carried certain checks on my application and stamped my application as VALID. I was then directed to first floor where I paid the fees by credit card and waited for my number to be called. I was attended by a case worker at 10.30AM. First thing I provided him was the Application and passport and then he asked for the following

-Five P60s
-Last three months of Salary/pay slips
-last three months of bank statement
-Letter from employer
-Life in The UK pass notification
-Passport
-2xPhotos

He also updated my address on the system as I had relocated since my Tier 1 application in May 2008 and also updated my marital status to Married. He briefly looked at my absences in the form and asked if they were holidays. I informed him that those were ‘Paid Annual leaves’. I emphasised 'Paid Annual Leaves' so that there was no confusion. He did some checks on his computer again for my absences’. I offered to provide him the Absence spread sheet that I had prepared using the template available in these forums but he said it wasn’t required. I kept supplying him the documents he asked for. When he asked for letter from employer I asked him if he wanted to see my job contract. He said it wasn’t required. He also asked if I had brought any photocopies. I said I had no photocopies then he said it wasn’t a problem. He photocopied the document he had taken from me (this added another 10mins to the processing time).
The entire process of checking took around 45mins and then the case worker told me that he was granting me indefinite leave to remain. He then asked to wait in front of counter 22 for my token number to be called out. I did not go out of the building as re-entry would require security checks again. I waited for about 1 hour and then collected my passport with ILR dated 10/Dec/10.

The documents I had taken as backup
-Five P60s
-Five years of Salary slips
-Fiver years of bank statement
-Letter from employer
-Life in The UK pass notification

My overall experience was very positive.

Thanks to this forum for all the guidance and help. Please PM me if you have any queries.

Siddhartha