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Hi all,

Many thanks for the helpful info on the forum over past couple of days which I've referred to often while sorting out my ILR application.

Happy to report, ILR was approved this afternoon at Croydon (no dependants) and did everything by myself.

Route - HSMP and then Tier 1 (general) valid until 2 May 2013.

Time - 4 hours in total. Things took a bit longer than usual since they had a few minor hiccups after the rebuilt and move, but everything now on one floor and the first few steps went without any problems. The biometric checking took a bit longer, they were having problems with the system.

£100 booking fee - not required since appointment was made before 6 April.

Documents
* Passports and copies of all the back pages and UK visa pages
* 12 Months bank statements and copy for each month
* Earnings letter from employer setting out gross pay, deductions (PAYE & NI) and net pay and all the totals
* Life in the UK pass notification and copy
* Letter from employer listing annual leave taken and total days out of country (none of it was work related) for past 5 years

Overall experience: even though 4 hours felt long everybody was very helpful and friendly.

Happy to answer any questions and repay the favour.

congratulations on your success!
You said book fee is not required, do you need still 1426 pounds or 1326 pounds?

sjj101 wrote:Hi all,

Many thanks for the helpful info on the forum over past couple of days which I've referred to often while sorting out my ILR application.

Happy to report, ILR was approved this afternoon at Croydon (no dependants) and did everything by myself.

Route - HSMP and then Tier 1 (general) valid until 2 May 2013.

Time - 4 hours in total. Things took a bit longer than usual since they had a few minor hiccups after the rebuilt and move, but everything now on one floor and the first few steps went without any problems. The biometric checking took a bit longer, they were having problems with the system.

£100 booking fee - not required since appointment was made before 6 April.

Documents
* Passports and copies of all the back pages and UK visa pages
* 12 Months bank statements and copy for each month
* Earnings letter from employer setting out gross pay, deductions (PAYE & NI) and net pay and all the totals
* Life in the UK pass notification and copy
* Letter from employer listing annual leave taken and total days out of country (none of it was work related) for past 5 years

Overall experience: even though 4 hours felt long everybody was very helpful and friendly.

Happy to answer any questions and repay the favour.

Congratulations.

Could you please explain regarding your absence:

were you employed during these absence and was you on tier 1 while taking these absences?

alanwong wrote:congratulations on your success!
You said book fee is not required, do you need still 1426 pounds or 1326 pounds?

It was £1426, but in one go.

sjj101 wrote:
It was £1426, but in one go.

Thanks for the reply. That is what I expected.

Congratulations.

Could you please explain regarding your absence:

were you employed during these absence and was you on tier 1 while taking these absences?

sheraz_aries wrote:
Congratulations.

Could you please explain regarding your absence:

were you employed during these absence and was you on tier 1 while taking these absences?

I was employed by same company for past 5 years without any breaks (work started 7 days after HSMP visa start date and continued on my Tier 1 General visa).

My boss provided a letter which stated that I had 25 days annual leave, didn't take any extra and never left country for any work related reasons. Together with the letter I provided a list stating all my leave taken (even for a single day in the UK) and if I did leave the UK I provided the full days I was outside UK.

Start date , End Date, Reason for absence, Leave days used, Full days outside country
27/06/2008, 27/06/2008, Annual leave: UK, 1, n/a
25/07/2008, 27/07/2008, Weekend: France, 1, 1
22/08/2008, 25/08/2008, Bank holiday weekend: Czech Republic, 1, 2

I was still under the impression that we weren't allowed to be out of country for more than 180 days over the 5 years, so my total full days outside UK was just under that.

I was a bit worried since I had some stamps missing/unclear.

sjj101 wrote:

sheraz_aries wrote:
Congratulations.

Could you please explain regarding your absence:

were you employed during these absence and was you on tier 1 while taking these absences?

I was employed by same company for past 5 years without any breaks (work started 7 days after HSMP visa start date and continued on my Tier 1 General visa).

My boss provided a letter which stated that I had 25 days annual leave, didn't take any extra and never left country for any work related reasons. Together with the letter I provided a list stating all my leave taken (even for a single day in the UK) and if I did leave the UK I provided the full days I was outside UK.

Start date , End Date, Reason for absence, Leave days used, Full days outside country
27/06/2008, 27/06/2008, Annual leave: UK, 1, n/a
25/07/2008, 27/07/2008, Weekend: France, 1, 1
22/08/2008, 25/08/2008, Bank holiday weekend: Czech Republic, 1, 2

I was still under the impression that we weren't allowed to be out of country for more than 180 days over the 5 years, so my total full days outside UK was just under that.

I was a bit worried since I had some stamps missing/unclear.

4 days out of UK in five years!!!! kudos..who else will get the ILR if not u loooool!!!

syed_ILR wrote:

sjj101 wrote:

sheraz_aries wrote:
Congratulations.

Could you please explain regarding your absence:

were you employed during these absence and was you on tier 1 while taking these absences?

I was employed by same company for past 5 years without any breaks (work started 7 days after HSMP visa start date and continued on my Tier 1 General visa).

My boss provided a letter which stated that I had 25 days annual leave, didn't take any extra and never left country for any work related reasons. Together with the letter I provided a list stating all my leave taken (even for a single day in the UK) and if I did leave the UK I provided the full days I was outside UK.

Start date , End Date, Reason for absence, Leave days used, Full days outside country
27/06/2008, 27/06/2008, Annual leave: UK, 1, n/a
25/07/2008, 27/07/2008, Weekend: France, 1, 1
22/08/2008, 25/08/2008, Bank holiday weekend: Czech Republic, 1, 2

I was still under the impression that we weren't allowed to be out of country for more than 180 days over the 5 years, so my total full days outside UK was just under that.

I was a bit worried since I had some stamps missing/unclear.

4 days out of UK in five years!!!! kudos..who else will get the ILR if not u loooool!!!

No, it was just example, I wasn't going to provide 30+ lines. As I said, I aimed to be out of the country just under the 180 days which was the guideline when I started out.

Ps: You need to work on your maths, 1 + 2 = 3 days out of the UK

Congrats !!

No, it was just example

Bad maths can still get me the citizenship mate! may be you need to improve your written English. loooooool!

Jokes apart! Congrats and have fun while I study mathematics

Congratulations ....

Kindly tell me if the CW specifically asked for absence letter or you just provided from your side. Did she looked into the letter? Do you think if the absence letter is missing then ILR will be rejected. Please share your experience ...

Thank you for sharing!

Did you list ALL annual leaves including Holidays taken inside the UK or just oversea/outside UK absences?

Many Thanks!

sjj101 wrote:Hi all,

Many thanks for the helpful info on the forum over past couple of days which I've referred to often while sorting out my ILR application.

Happy to report, ILR was approved this afternoon at Croydon (no dependants) and did everything by myself.

Route - HSMP and then Tier 1 (general) valid until 2 May 2013.

Time - 4 hours in total. Things took a bit longer than usual since they had a few minor hiccups after the rebuilt and move, but everything now on one floor and the first few steps went without any problems. The biometric checking took a bit longer, they were having problems with the system.

£100 booking fee - not required since appointment was made before 6 April.

Documents
* Passports and copies of all the back pages and UK visa pages
* 12 Months bank statements and copy for each month
* Earnings letter from employer setting out gross pay, deductions (PAYE & NI) and net pay and all the totals
* Life in the UK pass notification and copy
* Letter from employer listing annual leave taken and total days out of country (none of it was work related) for past 5 years

Overall experience: even though 4 hours felt long everybody was very helpful and friendly.

Happy to answer any questions and repay the favour.

GenX wrote:Congratulations ....

Kindly tell me if the CW specifically asked for absence letter or you just provided from your side. Did she looked into the letter? Do you think if the absence letter is missing then ILR will be rejected. Please share your experience ...

When my case was registered the gentleman didn't even look at my documents or ask for anything specific. He just took the pile of documents I handed him (including my letter from employer) and put it in the envelope. I then took the envelope with me to the biometrics area and the lady who did the check took my envelope, again without even looking at the documents.

I think with the new set-up at Croydon the people who register the cases might not be the actual CWs who look at your documents since somebody else called me up to give me the results. Since I wasn't present when my case was evaluated I have no way of knowing what they looked at, but the letter wasn't returned therefore I assume they used it.

I don't know if ILR will be rejected if the letter is missing, but since I could provide one (relatively hassle free) I included it to comply with section 6.3 in the Set(O) document -

6.3 What evidence has been provided to support the reasons for all absences from the UK?

Letter(s) from employer(s) detailing reasons for work-related absences including
periods of paid annual leave from the UK?

ldbright wrote:Thank you for sharing!

Did you list ALL annual leaves including Holidays taken inside the UK or just oversea/outside UK absences?

Many Thanks!

I listed ALL my leave, inside and outside the UK. The reason for doing so was that I still have my leave cards and wanted to make sure the list I provided matched up with the leave cards in case they ask for further evidence.

Thanks for the reply, then the letter must be quite long!

Is it necessary to provide UK leaves as well? And what is a leave card?

Thank you very much again!

sjj101 wrote:

ldbright wrote:Thank you for sharing!

Did you list ALL annual leaves including Holidays taken inside the UK or just oversea/outside UK absences?

Many Thanks!

I listed ALL my leave, inside and outside the UK. The reason for doing so was that I still have my leave cards and wanted to make sure the list I provided matched up with the leave cards in case they ask for further evidence.

ldbright wrote:Thanks for the reply, then the letter must be quite long!

Is it necessary to provide UK leaves as well? And what is a leave card?

Thank you very much again!

Leave card - a company form stating annual leave days allowed, days carried over from previous year, the leave taken for that year with the relevant dates and number of days, and if you have any left at end the of year, how many you carry over to next year.

I don't know if you need to list UK days, but I figured that my boss would know more about my leave dates (since they've been recorded in the system) than my weekends away to Europe.

It was a looooong list since it contained all the info, but I was hoping that they'll rather just use that then go to my passports to look at the stamps which are a mess. I think it worked since the time my case went in for evaluation to them calling out my ticket was relatively quick compared to the other people around me.

Hi All,
Do the UKBA stamp on the passport when you left UK?

I do not have any. So, how can we provide the evidence when we actually left the UK?

Thanks

tanvirni wrote:Hi All,
Do the UKBA stamp on the passport when you left UK?

I do not have any. So, how can we provide the evidence when we actually left the UK?

Thanks

No the UKBA doesn't stamp on exit, but all the countries I've visited have stamped my passport on entry and I think most of them also provide a stamp on exit as well and those are the stamps I believe they look at.

Thank you for the quick reply!

So you provided UK leaves because of the leave card and you want to keep documents consistent. Not because it is a mandertory requirement of UKBA. Is this the case?

I don't have a leave card, don't know whether it is enough just provide oversea absences.

sjj101 wrote:

ldbright wrote:Thanks for the reply, then the letter must be quite long!

Is it necessary to provide UK leaves as well? And what is a leave card?

Thank you very much again!

Leave card - a company form stating annual leave days allowed, days carried over from previous year, the leave taken for that year with the relevant dates and number of days, and if you have any left at end the of year, how many you carry over to next year.

I don't know if you need to list UK days, but I figured that my boss would know more about my leave dates (since they've been recorded in the system) than my weekends away to Europe.

It was a looooong list since it contained all the info, but I was hoping that they'll rather just use that then go to my passports to look at the stamps which are a mess. I think it worked since the time my case went in for evaluation to them calling out my ticket was relatively quick compared to the other people around me.

ldbright wrote:Thank you for the quick reply!

So you provided UK leaves because of the leave card and you want to keep documents consistent. Not because it is a mandertory requirement of UKBA. Is this the case?

I don't have a leave card, don't know whether it is enough just provide oversea absences.

I provided as much as I could since I had no idea what the UKBA actually wanted. While I was sorting out my application the topic "Actually, a very bad news for Tier 1 general holders" was in full swing and I wasn't sure what was actually required and I was very confused. I figured I'd provide as much I can, but make sure that I've got the documents (such as leave cards) to back it up. The tactic obviously worked in my case.

Thank you for the reply.

For people who do not have something like the 'leave card', will the employer's letter alone be enough?

As least you had personal holidays outside the UK and it is not considered as breaking up the continuity.

sjj101 wrote:

ldbright wrote:Thank you for the quick reply!

So you provided UK leaves because of the leave card and you want to keep documents consistent. Not because it is a mandertory requirement of UKBA. Is this the case?

I don't have a leave card, don't know whether it is enough just provide oversea absences.

I provided as much as I could since I had no idea what the UKBA actually wanted. While I was sorting out my application the topic "Actually, a very bad news for Tier 1 general holders" was in full swing and I wasn't sure what was actually required and I was very confused. I figured I'd provide as much I can, but make sure that I've got the documents (such as leave cards) to back it up. The tactic obviously worked in my case.

Many thanks

sjj101 wrote:

tanvirni wrote:Hi All,
Do the UKBA stamp on the passport when you left UK?

I do not have any. So, how can we provide the evidence when we actually left the UK?

Thanks

No the UKBA doesn't stamp on exit, but all the countries I've visited have stamped my passport on entry and I think most of them also provide a stamp on exit as well and those are the stamps I believe they look at.

ldbright wrote:Thank you for the reply.

For people who do not have something like the 'leave card', will the employer's letter alone be enough?

As least you had personal holidays outside the UK and it is not considered as breaking up the continuity.

Just to confirm, they never actually asked for the leave cards, they just took letter from employer which effectively was a summary of the leave cards plus all my weekend trips, but I took leave cards along as back up.

Also, in case it helps, my longest continuous holiday outside the UK was 22 full days and most days out of UK in a year was 44 (9 trips in total).

Can we use these stamps (leave and enter) on passport as our UK absent evidence?

tanvirni wrote:Many thanks

sjj101 wrote:

tanvirni wrote:Hi All,
Do the UKBA stamp on the passport when you left UK?

I do not have any. So, how can we provide the evidence when we actually left the UK?

Thanks

No the UKBA doesn't stamp on exit, but all the countries I've visited have stamped my passport on entry and I think most of them also provide a stamp on exit as well and those are the stamps I believe they look at.