Thanks bergdorf. Have read it can still be a gamble, but am relieved to hear ppl are getting approved in the same situation. The guy I'm dealing with at 1st Contact assured me I'm fine and so far I can thoroughly recommend using these guys. Stephen Atkinson is the person working on my case.
A couple of things worth mentioning as an outcome of my investigation over the last week:
- Calling the work permits help number 0114 207 4074 from both a landline (work phone) and mobile phone resulted in me being put on hold for a while, but then being disconnected after a number of minutes. This happened about 10 times in total before I gave up. Has anyone else had this problem?
- I eventually got the direct number of an HSMP case worker and spoke to someone there. She said that the case workers are NOT experts in all the rules and rely on ppl who work at that helpline number above for clarification on things.
To me that is ridiculous and suggests mistakes must be occurring on the processing of applications. It really inspires very little confidence to know the most knowledgeable ppl are not processing your application, and I would certainly encourage ppl to get decisions reviewed if they don't seem right.