ILR success - PEO experience

Hi all

This board has been an excellent source of information for me during my tier1 applications ( twice) and ILR application. So, thought will share my experience which may be beneficial for some of the others.

I had an appointment in Croydon for myself and my wife's ( as my dependent) ILR.
My application was based on Tier1 general. I had entered the country on Tier2 ICT and then changed to tier1 general in 2011.

PEO experience -

1. Our appointment was first of the day but I realised that even if you enter the building on time the actual sequence is not based on the appointment time.

2. After security checks all, waiting applicants were seated in a common area. After the counter for checking the payments opened there was a rush towards the counter and the sequence of your application is actually dependent on the position of one in this queue.

3. The first step is - they check the payment details and issue you with a token number.
4. The token numbers are then called in sequence to get your details registered.
5. After that one gets called to get their BRP done.
6. After the BRP is done you are asked to wait in the waiting area - the status of your application then moves from 'awaiting consideration' to ' under consideration' to 'ready for collection' and then announcement on which counter to collect your application from which is the final step.
7. They try to process applications within 2- 2.5 hours though there may be exceptions ( and obviously they may ask for further information or further checks in which case the application may not be decided on the day)
8. Our application got decided after around 1 hour 45 mins from the time of completion of BRP ( most cases were either taking this amount of time or less).Overall time was 2.5 hours.

The docs I submitted -

1. Payslips and bank statements ( for salary proof)
2. Degree certificate and print of points based calculator ( as proof of claiming English proficiency and points for educational qualification)
3. Wife's trinity college certificate ( for English qualification - though her degree was showing up on the points base calculator did not want to risk as her degree certificate had not previously been submitted for visa processing and there were dates on the certificates which may have confused UKVI)
4. LIUK pass certificates
5. P60s and P45s (proof of UK work experience - I had changed jobs a couple of times)
6. Co-habitation proof ( other documents including our son's birth certificate, our marriage certificate)

Note -I did not have more than 180 days of absence in any year. All my absences were less than 30 days in a year

Best of luck to all applying.

Regards

Congrats!

When did you apply ? and did you not submit a letter of absence at all for yourself even a self attested one ?

It's reassuring to see that you did not submit a NARIC stmt or an English language test certificate (or a letter from university) for yourself and just the PBS printout was enough.

This one is particularly confusing for a lot of applicants given that it states in the UKVI statement issued in October here,

ensuring indefinite leave and naturalisation applicants, who normally rely on an English language qualification, take a secure English language test

in combination with the fact that there is no option to choose PBS summary in Section 4 of the SET(O) application form in pg 15 here.

In spite of pg 33 of the KOLL guidance clearly stating it is enough to submit a PBS printout.

I applied last week.
And thanks as it had been a particularly agonising journey for me having applied for tier1 in 2007 and then deciding (wrongly) to go back to my country. And then applying afresh for tier1 in 2011.

English language qualification -
In my pack where I had the proofs of English qualification for myself and my wife I had attached the printout from the link below as cover page which clearly stated that an original degree together with points based calculator was one of the options -
https://www.gov.uk/english-language/degrees-in-english

For the absences from UK -
I had 3 different scenarios here.
1. Leaves taken in my current employment. I had a letter from the employer as a backup
2. Leaves taken in my previous employment. I had a printout of mail communication where they had stated that they could not provide me with any letter as I was not in employment with them.
3. There was a period when I resigned in UK (after getting a job offer in UK) and took a break outside the country before joining the new organisation. Obviously, the only evidence that I had as backup was the offer letter before I left the country.

I did not want to make it complicated for the case worker and had these as backup documentation in case they raised a query but did not submit them with the original application.

Regards

Nicely done! Cheers and you can now sit back and relax and prepare for the next round of form filling and money shelling in a years time

Congrats and thanks for sharing the experience

Thanks for sharing your experience and accept my hearted congrajulations.

Out of interest How many months of Payslip and bank statements you submitted? Last 6 months?

I had submitted 12 months' payslips and bank statements though I did not need them all to qualify for the required points.

Did you pay any health surcharge for either you or your dependent?

Suleman80 wrote:Did you pay any health surcharge for either you or your dependent?

No health surcharge for ILR applications. Its applicable only for extension applications.

HI

Contg on your ILR,

just wondering have you ever self employed ?

Did case worker or any staff ask you to fill Self Employed of Tax Questionnaire to fill ?

Thanks

Hi Tier1_Again,

Congratulations for your ILR
I am on Tier1 general and booked a PEO for ILR
Couple of questions:
1. I have a Bachelor degree in engineering and my wife has a Masters degree both from Indian universities. We both did submit our degree certs and letters from our respective colleges stating the degrees are taught in english during our extensions, however I am not sure if PEO has kept a track of my wife's documents during tier1 extensions. But I am still planning to take a risk of taking a print out of the PBC summary for her separately in addition to mine. Do you think the risk is not worth?
I spoke to multiple UKBA customer care agents and everyone suggests to take a UK NARIC ELA and SOC, I am not sure why UKVI promotes UK NARIC all the time. Moreover the only options i can see in PBC under qualification dropdown for me is "Professional Bachelor's degree" and for my wife "Masters degree in professional subjects" and I am worried with the wording of KOLL guidance pg 33, which says not a professional qualification as shown below:
"This part of the requirement can be met if the person:
 has an academic qualification (not a professional or vocational qualification), including post-graduate diplomas"
Does selecting some relevant options in PBC would have an impact, as we can't find any exact matches.

2. Do you know any case where the application is rejected if the case worker is not happy with the options selected in the PBC or do u know any case where the application is put on a hold and the case worker requested for UK NARIC letters?

3. I am sorry I know its not the right post, but can someone confirm, if a fixed penalty for speeding is considered as a criminal conviction/offence/civil penalty (Set (O) form sections - 7.3, 7.4 , 7.5)

I am really getting frustrated with this KOL, any help with the above queries would be greatly appreciated

thanks

1. As long as you find the right degree on the PBS that matches your (and your wife's) qualifications that should be fine. It has to match by the year and the degree awarded.

2. During my tier1 extension I found that FPNs were not necessarily convictions and hence did not impact application. My guess will be that it will be the same for ILR as well ( but best read the guidelines).

ILR after 2 Discretionary leave
Peo solihull 9 am
9.15am case worker collected my docs
9.30 am biometrics
9.35 am was told to go hang around and i should get a call in 2 to 3 hours
10.55 am got the call it was approved
Solihull is a nice place friendly staffs and fast..i recommend
Employment letter
6 months payslips
Marriage cert
Passports of my british wife n kids
Tax credit notification
Council tax in my name as wife is doing her masters
Bank statements 6 months
Sky bill for both of us 12 months

I wish everyone the best of luck
Fyi if u r married u dnt need tons of docs the case worker didnt take my tenancy agreement as he said he wz convinced already i think the passports did the trick.