Post
by the_seeker » Wed Oct 16, 2013 11:24 am
Dear all,
Thank you for the wealth of information on this forum, and special thanks to Amber, for your responses on my posts.
The result: My ILR was approved at Croydon PEO.
The experience: My appointment was at 9:30 AM, so we travelled the previous night to Croydon and stayed at the Premier Inn. A lot of people seem to do this, because I saw at least three families at breakfast whom I also saw at the Home Office waiting area.
We reached a few minutes before 9 AM and the guard asked us to join a queue for security check. Like an airport check – we emptied jackets, pockets and belts into the trays and then collected them across the X ray machine. We were led to a desk where they were screening for payments. An official asked for my application form, looked at the payment section. It was blank because I had made payment and did not want to put card information on it. I showed him the receipt for online payment, and he stamped it and gave me a slip with my token number on it.
9:15 AM: Climbed up three floors and was shown into a café, there are helpful officials who offer explanation on what will happen. The numbers were being called out – there is no particular order and it is based on who has made the payment online and who is making the payment on the date (it seems!).
9:20 AM: Our number was called into the screening area and a lady asked for my application and checked the payment page again. She also took our passports and BRP cards, scanned our photos and pressed a lot of ‘Tab’ and ‘F9’ on her keyboard. After 15 minutes of data entry, she asked for supporting documents. I told her that I have attached only what the application asked for, but I have further documents. She just asked for what is needed on the application. All originals went into one folder; all copies went into another folder. Then she asked us to take a seat and wait for biometrics. She also returned one set of photographs back to us.
9:40 AM: Called for biometrics and landed in front on a desi guy. He was very matter-of-fact and scanned passport and went “left hand – right hand – thumbs – camera” for me and wife. He called another lady to take a photograph of my child. Then we were asked to go back to café area and wait for about 2 hours.
11:00 AM: Although our number had not moved to ready for collection on the screen, they called it out loud to a counter. When I went there, a lady returned all documents to me and said ILR was granted.
The list of documents submitted:
1. SET (O).
2. Passports, BRP cards and photographs.
3. Birth Certificate.
4. Council Tax Bill (last 2 years), Water Bill (latest) – these both had joint names.
5. Life In UK certificates.
6. Payslips – 3 months
7. Bank Statements – 3 months
8. Letter from employer for SOC, rate of pay and absences.
9. Original Work Permit and COS for each renewal.
10. Copies of all above. Every single document, every page.
The list of documents returned:
At 9:20, they returned one set of photographs.
At 11 AM, they returned all originals except letter from employer (see #8) and BRP cards. They also returned the copy of my SET (O) form and kept all other copies.
I took cartloads of other proof just in case, including
· Finances - Company attested payslips for rest 9 months, bank statements for rest 9 months, original P60 for 6 years.
· Cohabitation - NHS and school records, wife’s bank statements for last two years.
· Personal history – Court order, rehab completion certificate, re-issued driving licence.
As per advice on the various posts I had copies of everything (who knows when they might ask for a copy), and I highlighted relevant sections on original as well as copies – salary lines on bank statements, address lines on cohabitation documents, name and net salary on payslips (they compare this with salary credit on bank statement) etc. Also, I had filed them in separate transparent folders as per document section guidance – for e.g. My first folder was (ORIGINALS for Section 11A) and had birth certificate, LIUK certificate and cohabitation documents, second was (ORIGINALS for Section 11A) and had payslips and bank statements, third was (ORIGINALS for Section 11P) and had letter from employer, and previous FLR/renewal documents. Similar arrangement for copies.
It was back-breaking to haul everything across London Underground, but all ended well. Thank you guys, and see you in the naturalisation section in about a year’s time.
