I had a 9AM appointment but only got out of there at 15:45 due to IT issues that they were having.
This is my story:
08:20 Arrive at Lunar House
08:23 Go through Airport style security - to be safe - I took off my belt, watch and anything metallic. I had no issues. <RANT ON>The strange thing is some people are so 'thick' they don't pay attention to the people in front of them. So they ask the obvious questions "Must I take my belt off?", etc. Utter idiots. What was more alarming was the couple in front of me had a proper Spam knife and a fork in their bags, which the security confiscated" Some people don't think! </RANT OFF>
08:35. Went through basic check and got ticket stub
08:45. Paid of £2025 for me + wife on card. No issues. At this point, I thought this is brilliant!
09:10 - I don't get called yet higher numbers than me are being called. Just wait
10:30 Finally an announcement is made saying there are issues with the IT system. Everything is running 2 hours late.
11:00 Called to counter. Businesslike lady asks to see application then passports. Then asks for documentation. I mentioned which order she wants it, and she says she wants everythign in one go - this was annoying to me since I had spent a lot of time seperating and classifying all my documents. I mentioned I had copies, to which she replied that she would see the originals first and then ask for the copies later.
I gave her:
7x payslips (only 3 are actually required)
7x P60s (including the 2 P60s from my working holiday visa)
3x passports (1 was expired and held the original work permit visa)
4x bank statements with rent + salary highlighted
4x Cohab documents for the last two years (2010-2011). In my case, I mainly provided HRMC documents (P60s and tax code notices for my wife) which were dated and had either the address of my wife or me since we don't really have anything else. For backup, I had some letters dated in 2008 and 2009 if she wasn't happy since we have lived at the same address for the last 7 years.
2 x Life in the UK Pass Certificates
1 x Employer letter in the same format as the 'sticky' post on this forum with the SOC code most closely matching my actual job responsibilities and not the job title. This letter also included the business absences that I made outside the country.
1 x absence spreadsheet that I created in Excel which included all my personal + work absences out of the country. Each absence listed reason for absence, duration (excluding travel dates) and also included the appropriate reference to the stamps on the passports. I only had a total of 125 absences in the last 5 years with the max personal absence being 30 days.
11:10 She was happy and then took all the copies and told me to take a seat. She said she would call me if she needed anything else.
11:50 She said everything was fine to her but now was just waiting for the checks to come back but due to the IT problems could take 3 hours. Asked me to come back at 1PM and she would give me the status update.
13:20 Still no news
14:20 She calls me to say it is approved but still waiting for their checks to come back. Said if I want to go home I can, they can post my passports back to me via recorded delivery or I could come to collect tomorrow. I said I would wait since I had nothing else to do.
14:35 All checks are OK. ILR is granted. Wait for passport.
15:40 Passports received. I am a happy customer even though it took way longer than it should have.
My tips:
* Learn from the people ahead of you. From the forum, we learn from everybody that applies for their ILR. Also see what the people in queue ahead are doing ahead of you and act accordingly - I think it makes a difference or it could be that I am just 'OCD'.
* I think if you go with a well filed system + copies - it makes their life easier (and yours indirectly)
* If travelling by car, I recommend the Whitgift NCP car park which is directly opposite Lunar house. The SATNAV code is: CR0 1UP, Wellesley Road, Croydon. It cost £10.30 for 6 hours.
* Take food (but no knives or cutlery!) and a book - it could be a long day.
Thank you for reading and to every contributor but especially the FANTABULOUS moderators of this board. Now I will be lurking on the citizenship forum for the next year
