ILR Success at Croydon

[genuflexion]

Hi All,

Thanks alot for all your contribution without which perhaps I would gone with a solicitor and paid £1K.

There were alot of people that helped m, can't name them all, however, cs95tdg & uksettlement were always there when I needed them.

Lets come to the point;

3 Applicants: Me, Wife and Child Dependant -overseas born (although I took the other two ukborn children as well- both under 5yrs, had to patient with them)
Appointment Time: 11:05am
Parked at Whitgift: £5 All day (just before NCP Car park, there is another car park)
Checked In: 10:15a.m (15mins early than required), went through airport style security, queued then was called inside at the counter on ground floor (the guy checked the passports and email confirmation and the payment form, gave me a token, I went to the first floor to payment counter alone, the woman asked for the token and asked if I am paying by card and asked for the credit card (I pinned in and all ok). She asked me to go and wait in the lounge as soon as I approached the lounge, my number was called out and I went to the desk alone and the lady asked me for application form and token. She then entered our details on to the system, took the pictures out, looked at payment confirmation and she really took her time. By the time she finished it was 11:20a.m and I was instructed to wait for Biometric call, called out after 5-6mins. There are 5 biometric booths, we gave our biometrics one by one after fill out a form.

By 11:45a.m, I was done with security, payments and biometric. Now a long wait until 1:45pm. Name called out, I went to the desk alone, it begins;

CW: Show me your ticket
Me: Sure
CW: You have application forms and all documents
Me: I do, I directed him to my folder and said let me briefly explain what I have;
Passports, Biometric cards (I'd to apply for second xtension), Payslips, Bank Statements, Child Birth Certificate...
CW: By this point he said slide it in and wait in the lounge outside
Me: Sure

At about 03:00pm called in, again went alone, he made me sign 3 forms and asked to check all the details on each of the 3 forms (never gave me a copy of these forms though). Note I signed on behalf of my wife and child. I went through it, it said something about settlement/indefinite leave to remain and expiry dates, DOB, Names etc.

CW gave me another letter that says biometric cards for myself and dependants will be issued within 7 days. However, not a single mention of Indefinite leave to remain approval etc (WEIRD).

CW said I will keep existing biometrics and your new visa card will be with you within 7 days. Travel with those cards etc. Annoyed a bit, I said to him, this means my application has been accepted to which he said 'Yes'.

I said thanks for that and I left the building at 3:15pm/3.20pm.

Question; Is this how ILR approval is given, please share your experiences. At start, I was a bit worried that whether or not he has given me the right visa .... since he called it "New Visa Cards will be with you within 7 days". I would have loved, had he said ILR (funny).

Btw, I originally booked Liverpool for today but on Wednesday morning at about 1:15a.m I got lucky with an appointment at Croydon, so I swapped it from Liverpool to Croydon.

Good luck guys and please comment on my question above?

[Kevin24]

Congratulations. Well done. This is why that you should do it all by yourself ,rather than depending on a solicitor.

[genuflexion]

HOW CAN I FORGET YOU, WHY DID NOT MENTION YOU!

KEVIN24.....thats so true...

If IT WASNT FOR HIM (LADIES AND GENTLEMEN), I WOULD HAVE BEEN £1K POORER : (

CHEERS KEV

[Kevin24]

ENjoy your ILR with your family. I am very happy for you. Saved Solicitors fees, you could Have big party.

[genuflexion]

Sorry, I just checked again...there is another approval letter inside.

Perhaps, it slipped in while talking to CW and went unnoticed.

Poor guy did give me a confirmation for ILR.

Cheers All!

[cs95tdg]

Congratulations!

[stokbrig]

Sorry, I just checked again...there is another approval letter inside.

Perhaps, it slipped in while talking to CW and went unnoticed.

Poor guy did give me a confirmation for ILR.

Cheers All!

Congratulations,
Why did you swap it from Liverpool to Croydon? and do you recommend Croydon? thanks

[antouk]

@genuflexion : Congrats. Yes it was a similar experience for me. But the case worker explicitly said my application was successful.

[uksettlement]

congrats!

[techie_09]

Sorry, I just checked again...there is another approval letter inside.

Perhaps, it slipped in while talking to CW and went unnoticed.

Poor guy did give me a confirmation for ILR.

Cheers All!

Is this ILR approval letter is signed by case worker? Or is it just in question answer format?

Regards

[wpilr_nov12]

Congratulations.

Now you can afford to be a busy man again.

[19star79]

Hi All,

Thanks alot for all your contribution without which perhaps I would gone with a solicitor and paid £1K.

There were alot of people that helped m, can't name them all, however, cs95tdg & uksettlement were always there when I needed them.

Lets come to the point;

3 Applicants: Me, Wife and Child Dependant -overseas born (although I took the other two ukborn children as well- both under 5yrs, had to patient with them)
Appointment Time: 11:05am
Parked at Whitgift: £5 All day (just before NCP Car park, there is another car park)
Checked In: 10:15a.m (15mins early than required), went through airport style security, queued then was called inside at the counter on ground floor (the guy checked the passports and email confirmation and the payment form, gave me a token, I went to the first floor to payment counter alone, the woman asked for the token and asked if I am paying by card and asked for the credit card (I pinned in and all ok). She asked me to go and wait in the lounge as soon as I approached the lounge, my number was called out and I went to the desk alone and the lady asked me for application form and token. She then entered our details on to the system, took the pictures out, looked at payment confirmation and she really took her time. By the time she finished it was 11:20a.m and I was instructed to wait for Biometric call, called out after 5-6mins. There are 5 biometric booths, we gave our biometrics one by one after fill out a form.

By 11:45a.m, I was done with security, payments and biometric. Now a long wait until 1:45pm. Name called out, I went to the desk alone, it begins;

CW: Show me your ticket
Me: Sure
CW: You have application forms and all documents
Me: I do, I directed him to my folder and said let me briefly explain what I have;
Passports, Biometric cards (I'd to apply for second xtension), Payslips, Bank Statements, Child Birth Certificate...
CW: By this point he said slide it in and wait in the lounge outside
Me: Sure

At about 03:00pm called in, again went alone, he made me sign 3 forms and asked to check all the details on each of the 3 forms (never gave me a copy of these forms though). Note I signed on behalf of my wife and child. I went through it, it said something about settlement/indefinite leave to remain and expiry dates, DOB, Names etc.

CW gave me another letter that says biometric cards for myself and dependants will be issued within 7 days. However, not a single mention of Indefinite leave to remain approval etc (WEIRD).

CW said I will keep existing biometrics and your new visa card will be with you within 7 days. Travel with those cards etc. Annoyed a bit, I said to him, this means my application has been accepted to which he said 'Yes'.

I said thanks for that and I left the building at 3:15pm/3.20pm.

Question; Is this how ILR approval is given, please share your experiences. At start, I was a bit worried that whether or not he has given me the right visa .... since he called it "New Visa Cards will be with you within 7 days". I would have loved, had he said ILR (funny).

Btw, I originally booked Liverpool for today but on Wednesday morning at about 1:15a.m I got lucky with an appointment at Croydon, so I swapped it from Liverpool to Croydon.

Good luck guys and please comment on my question above?

how did you go about booking the appointment, did you get the ILR for your ukborn child/children

[genuflexion]

techie_09

Yes it is signed by the CW. It advises about rights for ILR holders (no restriction on work/self employment, if visiting overseas, no prob if returning within 2 yrs - returning resident).

Second letter says, Biometric will be with me within 7-10 working days and what to do with it (travelling), what to do if you lose it and some mention about Police Registration (which is not required for most applicants).

wpilr_nov12

Hahahahaha you're making me crack....you think I need to visit Family Planning (remember reading about it in Life in the UK Handbook)

19star79

No I didn't apply for ukborn children. Even though one of them has an expired LTR. However, I will do MN1 for both of them.

[genuflexion]

Stokbrig

Mate, to be honest to me 4 hours drive plus hotel plus petrol costs plus 5 of us so extra fatigue for Liverpool. wpilr_nov12 will agree and does have sympathy with me.

Anyways, therefore, I tried to reschedule and luckily got it for Croydon (much easier and convenient to get to with good facilities).

19star79

You have to be patient and I have discovered keep trying 5mins before and after 12:00am, atleast until 2:00am. Also between 10:00am - 11:00am and even through out the day if you get time.

If you have dependants, just take the pain of getting yourself booked any date and after that you'd be able to swap/reschedule easily.

[mianrmm]

hey congrats for getting your ILR ...
Just one quick question.

do they stamp anything on Passport about ILR ?
i mean in case not, then after holidays abroad how do we come back to UK as airlines , security do check that you have visa when booking up the flights.

[genuflexion]

Hi mianrmm

Thanks.

They don't endorse passports anymore, instead, they send biometric cards (look like provisional/full UK driving license).

You carry it for travelling purposes and show it to relevant airport authorities with your valid passport.

[techie_09]

techie_09

Yes it is signed by the CW. It advises about rights for ILR holders (no restriction on work/self employment, if visiting overseas, no prob if returning within 2 yrs - returning resident).

Second letter says, Biometric will be with me within 7-10 working days and what to do with it (travelling), what to do if you lose it and some mention about Police Registration (which is not required for most applicants).

wpilr_nov12

Hahahahaha you're making me crack....you think I need to visit Family Planning (remember reading about it in Life in the UK Handbook)

19star79

No I didn't apply for ukborn children. Even though one of them has an expired LTR. However, I will do MN1 for both of them.

Thanks for clarification.Yesterday I also got my application approved and received same set of documents. From your post I got the impression you received different letter