We booked our appointment exactly 28 days before our work permit expired and we paid the full fees online. We stayed at the Landsdowne hotel the night before our app which was walking distance to the Home Office. Got a really great deal online (£57) which made a fuss free morning.
We arrived at 8am and made our way through security. At the reception desk our documents were checked and we were given a personal number for the day. The agent commented that we made his job easier as all our documents were in order. We had in order 1. The appointment confirmation 2. Payment confirmation 3. Application form 4. Passports 5. Life in the UK pass notification letters. In a separate folder we had all supporting documents with photocopies including: 1 month payslip, 1 month bank statement, lease, utility and council tax bills, letter from employers in the same format as the sticky note, all the details surrounding my husband's conviction. To strengthen our case if the conviction was a problem, I thought it wouldn't hurt to add all my details as his dependant and these included: my payslip, bank statement, letter from my employer and my UK masters degree certificate.
At 8.42 our number was called to register our case. When we got to the desk the lady apologised that we had to wait and said it will take 10mins for her to enter our details on the system. I said we had copies and asked if she wanted them or would she make her own? She said if we had copies this would be helpful so we took all our supporting documents and separated them into 2 piles; originals and copies. When she was finished entering the documents she put the original supporting documents in a folder with our application and in a separate folder, she put the copies. She then told us to have a seat and wait for our biometrics to be taken. At 8.55 our number was called and biometrics were completed in just over 5 minutes. The agent told us they would now consider our case and this would take 1hour 30mins. He said we could leave and they would call us our mobile or we could wait. We decided to wait in the canteen.
On the screen we could see our case was under consideration and by 9.45 this changed to documents to be collected. We thought our case was either straightforward or we were turned down due to the conviction. We couldn't collect the documents until our number was called. Also even though our number was on the screen, other numbers joining the list which were lower than ours got called first. We assumed this was because the HO had set times to complete cases. At 10.30 we collected our original documents and confirmation we were granted ILR.
The whole process from security to collection took 2hr 30mins and we were not asked a single question. Our app was Wed and today we came home to our BRPs.
The UKBA staff were all extremely polite and helpful; we were really impressed by this. We could not fault anyone and everything was like clockwork.
My husband was pulled over during a random police stop and search in May 2012 and was charged with driving without insurance and licence invalid. Our friend, the owner of the car said he was fully comp but this was only for UK licence holders. My husband appeared in court in Oct 2012 was fined and his provisional licence came with 6 points. We submitted this too.
I am sorry for the long story but was trying to not leave anything out. We wish you all the very best and thank you for helping us. This board is an amazing tool.
