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Hi All,
I would like to thank this forum and all the members for their great help. This is an excellent forum. I got my ILR approved with one dependent (my wife) yesterday at Croydon PEO.

Documents provided:
cover letter, Bank statements, payslips, Life in UK test results for me and my wife, initial HSMP approval letter, Tier1 extension approval of my wife and myself, cohabition proof (utility bills, council tax bills, marriage certificate), absences proof (letters from employer for work-related stuff and personal letters for personal holidays). Forgot to give them all the photocopies. They did not ask me to give these.

I had 313 absences (mostly work-related but none above 180 days in one year), so I provided employer letters as the proof. My experience has been pretty smooth. Appointment at 08-50AM. Got there at 08-20AM. Got through the security checks and paid the fee. Then one fine lady asked me to provide the documents, she glanced at them and complemented by saying 'nicely organised' I did mention to her that my latest bank statement hav not arrived yet as it arrives on 6th/7th day of every month. So I had to go to bank and got a statement printed/signed and stamped by the bank. She was OK with that. She took the documents and asked us to wait for the biometrics. Then, we were called for biometrics in next ten minutes. It took arnd 15 minutes for the biometrics. Then they asked us to wait in the cafe. It was a wait for almost 1 hour and 30minutes. After which they announced to come to the counter to collect the documents (looks like they dont ask any questions if they dont have to). We went there and another nice lady returned us the documents and shared the good news that we had got the ILR. We went in at 08-20AM and were out by 11-45AM. Overall a pleasant experience. No surprises or hiccups.
Let me know if you need any help.
Cheers,
Ali

divisionbell wrote:Hi All,
I would like to thank this forum and all the members for their great help. This is an excellent forum. I got my ILR approved with one dependent (my wife) yesterday at Croydon PEO.

Documents provided:
cover letter, Bank statements, payslips, Life in UK test results for me and my wife, initial HSMP approval letter, Tier1 extension approval of my wife and myself, cohabition proof (utility bills, council tax bills, marriage certificate), absences proof (letters from employer for work-related stuff and personal letters for personal holidays). Forgot to give them all the photocopies. They did not ask me to give these.

I had 313 absences (mostly work-related but none above 180 days in one year), so I provided employer letters as the proof. My experience has been pretty smooth. Appointment at 08-50AM. Got there at 08-20AM. Got through the security checks and paid the fee. Then one fine lady asked me to provide the documents, she glanced at them and complemented by saying 'nicely organised' I did mention to her that my latest bank statement hav not arrived yet as it arrives on 6th/7th day of every month. So I had to go to bank and got a statement printed/signed and stamped by the bank. She was OK with that. She took the documents and asked us to wait for the biometrics. Then, we were called for biometrics in next ten minutes. It took arnd 15 minutes for the biometrics. Then they asked us to wait in the cafe. It was a wait for almost 1 hour and 30minutes. After which they announced to come to the counter to collect the documents (looks like they dont ask any questions if they dont have to). We went there and another nice lady returned us the documents and shared the good news that we had got the ILR. We went in at 08-20AM and were out by 11-45AM. Overall a pleasant experience. No surprises or hiccups.
Let me know if you need any help.
Cheers,
Ali

Congratulations Mate,on getting your ILR.. How did you manage to impress the lady with "nicely organized" documents. What's the secret??

Congratulations Ali and many thanks for sharing your experience.
couple of questions please;
1-Can you advise on the best method for filing documents and what kind of folder should be used.
2-I've had only 7 days outside UK during Christmas holiday in 2009,what should I do?

Thanks in advance

stokbrig wrote:2-I've had only 7 days outside UK during Christmas holiday in 2009,what should I do?

take more holidays

Kevin24 wrote:

divisionbell wrote:Hi All,
I would like to thank this forum and all the members for their great help. This is an excellent forum. I got my ILR approved with one dependent (my wife) yesterday at Croydon PEO.

Documents provided:
cover letter, Bank statements, payslips, Life in UK test results for me and my wife, initial HSMP approval letter, Tier1 extension approval of my wife and myself, cohabition proof (utility bills, council tax bills, marriage certificate), absences proof (letters from employer for work-related stuff and personal letters for personal holidays). Forgot to give them all the photocopies. They did not ask me to give these.

I had 313 absences (mostly work-related but none above 180 days in one year), so I provided employer letters as the proof. My experience has been pretty smooth. Appointment at 08-50AM. Got there at 08-20AM. Got through the security checks and paid the fee. Then one fine lady asked me to provide the documents, she glanced at them and complemented by saying 'nicely organised' I did mention to her that my latest bank statement hav not arrived yet as it arrives on 6th/7th day of every month. So I had to go to bank and got a statement printed/signed and stamped by the bank. She was OK with that. She took the documents and asked us to wait for the biometrics. Then, we were called for biometrics in next ten minutes. It took arnd 15 minutes for the biometrics. Then they asked us to wait in the cafe. It was a wait for almost 1 hour and 30minutes. After which they announced to come to the counter to collect the documents (looks like they dont ask any questions if they dont have to). We went there and another nice lady returned us the documents and shared the good news that we had got the ILR. We went in at 08-20AM and were out by 11-45AM. Overall a pleasant experience. No surprises or hiccups.
Let me know if you need any help.
Cheers,
Ali

Congratulations Mate,on getting your ILR.. How did you manage to impress the lady with "nicely organized" documents. What's the secret??

Thanks Kevin,
Appreciate your help and of all members who are all very helping.

No secret. Just used a documents folder with multiple sleeves. Had tags on each sleeve about what document was inside that sleeve. Kept all the documents separately in these sleeves. For example, Set (o) form in one sleeve, passports in another sleeve, Life in UK in another, absences record letter alongwith letters from employers in another sleeve and so on. Had paper clips in case of multiple documents for example, paper clip on bank statements, another paper clip on payslips and so on. Yet with all of this, I forgot to pass the photocopies of all the documents to that lady. I had all the photocopies together in the last sleeve
Cheers

stokbrig wrote:Congratulations Ali and many thanks for sharing your experience.
couple of questions please;
1-Can you advise on the best method for filing documents and what kind of folder should be used.
2-I've had only 7 days outside UK during Christmas holiday in 2009,what should I do?

Thanks in advance

Thanks Mate,
Would suggest a folder that has separate sleeves and a tag for naming each sleeve. From the tag, you will instantly know which document is in which sleeve and wont get confused. Also, I would suggest using paper clips to keep one type of documents tied together for example, one paper clip for all bank statements, one for salary slips and so on. I did not fill the set (o) form by hand. Filled it with Acrobat Writer software. It looks quite professional if you can get hold of acrobat writer and fill it this way. BUT there is no compulsion. It just looks neat.
For your personal holiday of 7 days, I think you will be fine with a personal letter mentioning your holidays and the dates in and out of UK.
Good luck!
Cheers

stokbrig wrote:Congratulations Ali and many thanks for sharing your experience.
couple of questions please;
1-Can you advise on the best method for filing documents and what kind of folder should be used.
2-I've had only 7 days outside UK during Christmas holiday in 2009,what should I do?

Thanks in advance

I will be commenting on the 7days holiday, if ILR approvals are based on days of absences in UK,definitely out of the first fifty approvals,yours will be between number 1-10 .

On serious note and specifically commenting on your concerns , you are perfectly in order with or without a letter from employer regarding it. I can understand your worries, i was in the same situation days prior to my appointment date of 17th April in Sheffield. I had 32days of absence and my employer had refused to give me a letter.Their reason , they dont want to set a precedent for other, as if i was asking for money.

I explained the situation to my lawyer who accompanied me .He said there was no reason to have asked my employer for such letter and that the NEW rule regarding absence is strictly meant for those who exceeded the 180days RED LINE a year . He went through my application and used tipex to cancel a box i had ticked. The box was that am providing a personal letter to explaining my absence ( SET (O)-APRIL 2013 Version ) .

In Sheffield,The documents were submitted and NO QUESTION(S) asked regarding any absence from UK and everything went fine.

If you are still doubtful or a for a peace of mind ,if your employer refused to give you a letter , write a personal letter and explain your circumstance, and keep it with you as part of your back up documents


Best of LUCK