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Just wanted to share recent personal experience, which may help others.

Had my ILR prepared by Mulberry Finch immigration laywers.

Very straightforward application, except that my original passport used to enter UK was stolen after 9 months of entering.

An so begins my PEO experience in Croydon...

My application was checked on the ground floor, by a sour cow. She did not even try to hide her contemp. As soon as she saw some paperwork in the application regarding stolen passport, she told me I had to get a letter from my employer, confiming any absenses from the UK for the period covered by my lost passport.

I told her that this sort of evidence would be impossible to obtain from 5 years ago, from an employer with whom I no longer have a relationship.

She argued. I stood my ground. She said I would have to apply by post. I told her I am not f*cking applying by post (without the f*cking), because I already paid my immigration laywer, who incidentally never raised this as an issue (because it isn't a f*cking issue). I asked for the manager. The manager said that my application may not be considered upstairs on the spot and I may have to apply by post. I said I'll try my chances.

I went upstairs, got my prints taken. Went up some more stairs, submited documents. Waited for an hour, did some work. Got my ILR approved and went home.

Moral of the story - UK immigration is like IT support, as long as you can get past level 1, you are OK.

-- ab1

Interesting.. so anyone who has more absences and do not qualify for ILR.. can now just claim passport stolen!! I am really surprised that they decided it on the day- A stolen passport will always mean a Postal application because of the number of checks that are required to verify the absence..

You are really lucky and should appreciate UKBA rather than abusing here (it is another fact your language just sucks and highly inappropriate anyway)!!

congrats for the same day


i was in same situation as urs, i went directly though and was not aware tht it wud be an issue. i went to solihull peo but they didnt take my case forward at all...and i had no choice but to apply through post

i m waiting since then,,,,

ab1 wrote:Just wanted to share recent personal experience, which may help others.

Had my ILR prepared by Mulberry Finch immigration laywers.

Very straightforward application, except that my original passport used to enter UK was stolen after 9 months of entering.

An so begins my PEO experience in Croydon...

My application was checked on the ground floor, by a sour cow. She did not even try to hide her contemp. As soon as she saw some paperwork in the application regarding stolen passport, she told me I had to get a letter from my employer, confiming any absenses from the UK for the period covered by my lost passport.

I told her that this sort of evidence would be impossible to obtain from 5 years ago, from an employer with whom I no longer have a relationship.

She argued. I stood my ground. She said I would have to apply by post. I told her I am not f*cking applying by post (without the f*cking), because I already paid my immigration laywer, who incidentally never raised this as an issue (because it isn't a f*cking issue). I asked for the manager. The manager said that my application may not be considered upstairs on the spot and I may have to apply by post. I said I'll try my chances.

I went upstairs, got my prints taken. Went up some more stairs, submited documents. Waited for an hour, did some work. Got my ILR approved and went home.

Moral of the story - UK immigration is like IT support, as long as you can get past level 1, you are OK.

-- ab1

akash08 wrote:Interesting.. so anyone who has more absences and do not qualify for ILR.. can now just claim passport stolen!! I am really surprised that they decided it on the day- A stolen passport will always mean a Postal application because of the number of checks that are required to verify the absence..

Not quite. You've just made a number of assumptions and we have to untangle them for the sake of others reading this forum.

The relevant authority (UKBA) has records of people leaving and entering the country (I know, hard to believe!), besides those which are stamped in your passport. In any case, your passport is probably the least authorative place for this sort of information, because:
- stamps are often missing/difficult to read and/or correlate
- it does not account for electronic means of entry, such as IRIS

Actually, I would say the least authorative place for this sort of information would be your employer, from 4-5 years ago. They would certainly not be able to corroborate your presence or absence in the country in any meaningful way.

Should you decide to loose your passport after spending years out of the country and then apply for the ILR, the authority would check their electronic records and tell you (quite rightly) where you can go.

However, in a case where a passport is legitimately lost, and there exist other supporting documents, which corroborate time spent in the country, then there is no reason to obstruct the application.

To summarise, a "lost passport" does not "always" mean a "postal application".

And finally, on a more personal note: (a) get a sense of humour; (b) try not to assume; and (c) take it easy!


-- ab1

Not quite. You've just made a number of assumptions and we have to untangle them for the sake of others reading this forum.

The relevant authority (UKBA) has records of people leaving and entering the country (I know, hard to believe!), besides those which are stamped in your passport. In any case, your passport is probably the least authorative place for this sort of information, because:
- stamps are often missing/difficult to read and/or correlate
- it does not account for electronic means of entry, such as IRIS

Actually, I would say the least authorative place for this sort of information would be your employer, from 4-5 years ago. They would certainly not be able to corroborate your presence or absence in the country in any meaningful way.

Should you decide to loose your passport after spending years out of the country and then apply for the ILR, the authority would check their electronic records and tell you (quite rightly) where you can go.

However, in a case where a passport is legitimately lost, and there exist other supporting documents, which corroborate time spent in the country, then there is no reason to obstruct the application.

To summarise, a "lost passport" does not "always" mean a "postal application".

And finally, on a more personal note: (a) get a sense of humour; (b) try not to assume; and (c) take it easy!


-- ab1

seems like you are working for UKBA otherwise how do you know that"(I know, hard to believe!)"???[/quote]

ab1 wrote:Just wanted to share recent personal experience, which may help others.

Had my ILR prepared by Mulberry Finch immigration laywers.

Very straightforward application, except that my original passport used to enter UK was stolen after 9 months of entering.

An so begins my PEO experience in Croydon...

My application was checked on the ground floor, by a sour cow. She did not even try to hide her contemp. As soon as she saw some paperwork in the application regarding stolen passport, she told me I had to get a letter from my employer, confiming any absenses from the UK for the period covered by my lost passport.

I told her that this sort of evidence would be impossible to obtain from 5 years ago, from an employer with whom I no longer have a relationship.

She argued. I stood my ground. She said I would have to apply by post. I told her I am not f*cking applying by post (without the f*cking), because I already paid my immigration laywer, who incidentally never raised this as an issue (because it isn't a f*cking issue). I asked for the manager. The manager said that my application may not be considered upstairs on the spot and I may have to apply by post. I said I'll try my chances.

I went upstairs, got my prints taken. Went up some more stairs, submited documents. Waited for an hour, did some work. Got my ILR approved and went home.

Moral of the story - UK immigration is like IT support, as long as you can get past level 1, you are OK.

-- ab1

LOL... awesome! good for you mate that you kept your foot down... people tend to walk all over you if you dont ... nice post and congrats mate...

I lost my passport and i have applied ILR with PEO and they asked to submit a letter from previous employers confirming no absences for 3 or more months during my tenure.

I worked for 2 employers during my stay here and i can get the letter from both of them. Unfortunately i am un-employed for 6 months in between the jobs which i cannot get any letter.

I can't even get any council or utility bills for that period as i stayed in a sharing accommodation that time. So how to prove that i am not away during the time i was un-employed

manasa wrote:I lost my passport and i have applied ILR with PEO and they asked to submit a letter from previous employers confirming no absences for 3 or more months during my tenure.

I worked for 2 employers during my stay here and i can get the letter from both of them. Unfortunately i am un-employed for 6 months in between the jobs which i cannot get any letter.

I can't even get any council or utility bills for that period as i stayed in a sharing accommodation that time. So how to prove that i am not away during the time i was un-employed

i don't know...but will bank statements able to approve that you are staying in the uk？ if there are list of your activities like shopping in the supermarket etc

Many Congrats AB1

Point well made. UKBA CWs might not have all the info, and from recent posts I see here can give misleading info...

We should all go well prepared with all Info that CWs SHould KNOW and argue if we get rubbish, "if its not on the shelf, then we dont stock it" kind of answers!