Success. My experience. ILR (WP - PEO Croydon)

[anpal]

Just thought I'd write my experiece for everyone's benefit. Applied for ILR under 5 years WP at PEO Croydon.

Appointment at 10am. reached at 9.15 with dependent. airport style security check. then onto an area with lots of counters, where they checked the application, life in UK test (they can tell you your score here too), pay slips, employer letter. then they issue you with a ticket number. you go to the 1st floor where you make payment, and await for the main detailed interview. our number was called whilst we were in the line making payment.

take care to listen to the numbers called out, as there is no display to recheck if your number is called or not. I went upto the counter and told the lady that we were still waiting to make payment, and will take a few minutes.

paid the fees and went to the interview window.

application form, photos, all passports. then asked for employer's letter, pay slips, bank statements. i had 3 WP over the last 5 years. she checked that they were all continuing WP without any gaps. then she counted the holidays taken (counted nights away only) - and completely discarded the business trips. I had taken employer's letter for the business trips, otherwise she would counted those too.

my first WP was in old passport, she told I should have got that transferred to the new passport. i told her i wasn't aware of that. my current WP was in new passport.

she then asked for current WP letter.

everything HAS to be in original.

she then said she's going to update the computer. then went to photocopy the documents. came back and told us we need to wait for 1 hour and we'll get our passports back.

---------------------------------------------

Points to be noted :

1) you can email the home office and ask whatever questions / clarifications you need. the email address can be found in the contacts page in ukba website. I asked a few questions, and got a reply within 3-4 days.

2) keep your cool. your nerves can go in overdrive because the interview does last 1 hour or so. organize / file your papers well - so you can hand them over with efficiency.

3) i made a detailed excel table of my absences with business reasons. she just saw this and didn't bother checking the passports for stamps.

4) she only asked us for the above papers, but she could have asked for anything. i took a whole bag full of papers, plus some blank letterheads.

5) Employer letter & pay slips & bank statements for 3 months is very very important.

---------------------------------------------------------

Good luck.

[senthil78]

Just thought I'd write my experiece for everyone's benefit. Applied for ILR under 5 years WP at PEO Croydon.

Appointment at 10am. reached at 9.15 with dependent. airport style security check. then onto an area with lots of counters, where they checked the application, life in UK test (they can tell you your score here too), pay slips, employer letter. then they issue you with a ticket number. you go to the 1st floor where you make payment, and await for the main detailed interview. our number was called whilst we were in the line making payment.

take care to listen to the numbers called out, as there is no display to recheck if your number is called or not. I went upto the counter and told the lady that we were still waiting to make payment, and will take a few minutes.

paid the fees and went to the interview window.

application form, photos, all passports. then asked for employer's letter, pay slips, bank statements. i had 3 WP over the last 5 years. she checked that they were all continuing WP without any gaps. then she counted the holidays taken (counted nights away only) - and completely discarded the business trips. I had taken employer's letter for the business trips, otherwise she would counted those too.

my first WP was in old passport, she told I should have got that transferred to the new passport. i told her i wasn't aware of that. my current WP was in new passport.

she then asked for current WP letter.

everything HAS to be in original.

she then said she's going to update the computer. then went to photocopy the documents. came back and told us we need to wait for 1 hour and we'll get our passports back.

---------------------------------------------

Points to be noted :

1) you can email the home office and ask whatever questions / clarifications you need. the email address can be found in the contacts page in ukba website. I asked a few questions, and got a reply within 3-4 days.

2) keep your cool. your nerves can go in overdrive because the interview does last 1 hour or so. organize / file your papers well - so you can hand them over with efficiency.

3) i made a detailed excel table of my absences with business reasons. she just saw this and didn't bother checking the passports for stamps.

4) she only asked us for the above papers, but she could have asked for anything. i took a whole bag full of papers, plus some blank letterheads.

5) Employer letter & pay slips & bank statements for 3 months is very very important.

---------------------------------------------------------

Good luck.

Hi Anpal,
Congratulation. Just a small query, I understood from your post, you had a continuous WP for 5 years. Did you have any gap in your visa?.

Thanks

[anpal]

no gaps in visa. the lady did check for gaps. she couldn't find one WP, so asked us to show the FLR for that period. i then showed her the stamp she had missed seeing in the passport.

[joh]

Hi,

Congrats on your ILR. Many wishes. did you get paid during your business trip.Did they ask your payslip duirng your business trip?

Thanks
Joh

[abroruzb]

Hi Did the case worker ask for any documents from the previuse employers like years old p60s, previouse employer pay slips?
I have had two employers and I have not have a gap either.
Many thanks

[hsmp_indian]

Hi Anpal,

Thanks for information on ILR..I have couple of queries..Please reply if you can..

I finished 5 years UK in 2 different WP last month.

1. How to start process of ILR..?
2. Should i straight away seek appointed at croydon now or I need to send FLR application first to HM...?
3. What stage i need to take "living Uk test"..? . before Croydon appointment or during appointment..?
4. Is this Online test..?
5. How important is salary slip as I am getting it as Email only not in any letter pad. will that do..??
7. I do have banks a statements correctly...I haven't told my employer that I am going for ILR, should I give employer phone number etc in which case I have to in form my employer as well.

Please let me know..

[joh]

Hi ,
Did you have more than 90 days absence?

I am going to apply for ILR (0) in PEO,birmingham on march 23. I have got a gap of 91 days in my first year of stay. No employer change and

no visa gap during the period. During the absence, i was working for the same company in India and then continued to work for the same

company in uk for another 4 years. When i resigned six months ago, I got a letter from my employer saying that i had been on business trip

to india for those 91 days. However, thing to worry is that i did not get my salary in UK but however, i got paid in india by the same

employer as this was on inter company transfer.

My questions are:

1.Is only the employer letter is enough?
2.Shall the visa officer ask for the payslip as well?. However,i have got my indian slips signed and stamped.
3.I got the letter from my previous employer dated 6 month ago when i resigned from the company. As this letter is dated six months agao,

will it be a problem?
4.In birminghtam, is the payment taken before the decision took?

Please answer my questions.

Regar

[anpal]

Job -
1) i think you need a total of less than 180 days in 5 years, with no one long absence (exact days I forgot. see the ukba website. it mentions it quite clearly.)
2) i also think that employer letter has to be recent, less than 1 month old.
3) if you were paid in india (i.e you did not pay UK taxes) then I'm not sure how the case worker would interpret that.
4)payslips - last 3 months UK payslips in original.
5) payment taken before you see the caseworker. so no refund.

hsmp_indian
2) you need to have a valid stamp in your passport. if your WP stamp is still ongoing then you do not have to apply for FLR.
3)life in uk test - the appointment lady asked me if i had passed the test before she gave me an appointment. she didn't ask me for the pass number though. i had taken it before i made the call.
5) last 3 months salary slip in original very important. you can print the slips off your email, and get your company HR to stamp it. also i suggest take a letter from your employer saying they give email salary slips, and these are authentic. the caseworker also checked our bank statements for the last 3 months to see the salary entry in it.
7) you need current employer letter saying you are still required in your job - so i guess you'll have to let them know.

abroruzb - i had letter from previous employer giving my employment dates and certifying my absences as business visits. that letter was enough, no salary slips or P60 asked for.

job - i did get paid during business trips and i took letter from employer giving my exact dates of business travel, reason for the travel, and saying i was paid with taxes deducted as normal. this was enough to discard the dates. no salary slips asked for, for that time. if i didn't have the letter, she would counted the dates.

[teekay_tk]

just a quick question...is it cumpulsory for the dependants to attend?

[joh]

Hi,

I have got a recent letter from my current employer which is one month old and that is no problem.

My question is that hope that you got a letter from your previous employer justifing your trip outside uk is business. What is the date of the letter?

Thanks in advance.

Regards
Joh