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Hi,

I applied in person at the Croydon PEO and thought I'd share my story.

My situation was this

Work Permit 01/05/2006 to 01/05/2011 entered country on the 02/05/2006
Passport expired and replaced with new one in Feb 2008
Teir 1 (General) 18/08/2008 to 18/08/2011 (Bachelor degree claimed 30 points, 45 points for salary, 5 points for UK experience and 5 points for age)
Changed jobs in August 2008
Applied 14 days before my 5 years in the UK

My biggest issue is that sometime over the last 2 years I had lost the passport which had my initial work permit entry in it.

I took the following documents with me
- Current Passport
- 13 Months bank statements
- 49 payslips (All 12 for the last 12 months but I was missing a number from the previous years including my first 3 payslips)
- 5 P60's
- Letter from my current employer stating I was still required and what my current title and salary are.
- Letter from my previous employer stating the period I worked for them and my final salary (Unfortunatle it didn't state that I took no unpaid leave and how many trips I took out the UK)
- Letter from the Australian Embassy after I reported the loss of my passport
- Original Work Permit letter stamped when I entered Heathrow on 02/05/2006


I arrived at the PEO at 8am 1 hour before my appointment time.

Got through Security to the document checking desk by 8:40

The man at the document checking desk was concerned about my missing passport and asked me how I was going to prove that I wasn't out of the country for more than 3 months at a time or 180 days in total. I showed him my letters from the employers plus my payslips. He was still concerned as the letter didn't specify when my holidays were and the payslips had some gaps. I was told that he could send me upstairs but they may require more information to be sent in by post. I decided to take the risk.

I went upstairs paid and was waiting to see a caseworker by 9am. Less than 5 minutes later I was sitting with a caseworker. I explained my situation and handed over all of my documents. The caseworker said that because of my lost passport she would try to work out how me days I was out of the country from the information I provided and their information on file. As it wasn't straight forward she told me to come back at 11:30 and she would let me know if they had any news.

At 11:30 I returned and the caseworker waved me over. She told me that it had to be passed to a senior caseworker for approval and that I could wait around or come back later. I said I would wait. About 20 minutes later I see that the caseworker had been handed my documents. I was called over and told that it was approved and that I could collect my passport from counter 22 in about 20 minutes. about 12:30 my number was called and I had my passport back with the ILR stamped in it.

I must say that the people I dealt with at Croydon were really nice and seemed to want to be able to help. I was really afraid that with the new crack down on immigration they would be looking for any excuse to refuse an application.

I hope that helps other people in a similar situation.

Congrats!! Mate,

Could you please explain the 5 points of age?
have you got the points as per your age at the time of initial Tier 1 or as per your present age? As i believe in the guidance it specifically ask about the age at the time of initial tier1.

Cheers,

vik_mad wrote: Could you please explain the 5 points of age?
have you got the points as per your age at the time of initial Tier 1 or as per your present age? As i believe in the guidance it specifically ask about the age at the time of initial tier1.

I claimed for points at the age I was when I made my initial Tier 1 (General) application. They didn't ask me any questions about the point scoring criteria except to ask if I am getting paid more now than when I first applied for T1G. I actually got paid about £600 less for the period I quoted in my form but still fell into the same points band

I forgot to add that I also gave them my Life in the UK test pass letter. At the time of checking my documents I was asked if I'd like to know my results. I got 24/24 so that made me smile for a little bit before the nerves about the missing passport kicked back in.

Congrats bmowen and thanks for sharing your experience. Regarding previous employer's letter, were you asked for it by the caseworker or you carried it to show your 'presence' in the UK (due to lost passport)?

kunald wrote:Congrats bmowen and thanks for sharing your experience. Regarding previous employer's letter, were you asked for it by the caseworker or you carried it to show your 'presence' in the UK (due to lost passport)?

I was asked for letters from all of my employers during my time in the UK. I'm not sure if it was because I was missing a passport or just a general requirement. In my opinion it's better to be safe than sorry. If you can get a letter then do it. They also wanted it to show when I was away on holidays and whether I had any long period off as unpaid leave. Unfortunately my letters didn't show this which meant it wasn't as straight forward to work out my absences from the UK. Again I think this was because of my missing passport.

bmowen wrote: I was asked for letters from all of my employers during my time in the UK. I'm not sure if it was because I was missing a passport or just a general requirement. In my opinion it's better to be safe than sorry. If you can get a letter then do it. They also wanted it to show when I was away on holidays and whether I had any long period off as unpaid leave. Unfortunately my letters didn't show this which meant it wasn't as straight forward to work out my absences from the UK. Again I think this was because of my missing passport.

Thanks bmowen. In my case the company that sponsored me (on WP) wanted me to continue working with them after my initial contract of 2 years were up with them. In the mean time I switched to Tier-1 and started working for another company who offered me higher salary (but I did wait to complete my contract with my first employer). Obviously they were not too pleased with my leaving. Now I am in two minds whether to contact them again for a letter which I am sure they won't refuse.

I have all payslips / P60 to prove continuous employment with them. Just wondering about the contents of the previous employer's letter and whether it can be avoided by way of providing other documents like paylsips, P60, P45 etc?

Kunald

I'm not sure if it a general requirment for all WP to T1G ILR applications to require a letter from your previous employer. Mine was a unique circumstance due to the lost pasport.

All my letter stated was the period of my employment and my final salary.

thanks for the details

i am on similiar case with you and will apply IRL soon

very helpful

bmowen wrote:Hi,

I applied in person at the Croydon PEO and thought I'd share my story.

My situation was this

Work Permit 01/05/2006 to 01/05/2011 entered country on the 02/05/2006
Passport expired and replaced with new one in Feb 2008
Teir 1 (General) 18/08/2008 to 18/08/2011 (Bachelor degree claimed 30 points, 45 points for salary, 5 points for UK experience and 5 points for age)
Changed jobs in August 2008
Applied 14 days before my 5 years in the UK

My biggest issue is that sometime over the last 2 years I had lost the passport which had my initial work permit entry in it.

I took the following documents with me
- Current Passport
- 13 Months bank statements
- 49 payslips (All 12 for the last 12 months but I was missing a number from the previous years including my first 3 payslips)
- 5 P60's
- Letter from my current employer stating I was still required and what my current title and salary are.
- Letter from my previous employer stating the period I worked for them and my final salary (Unfortunatle it didn't state that I took no unpaid leave and how many trips I took out the UK)
- Letter from the Australian Embassy after I reported the loss of my passport
- Original Work Permit letter stamped when I entered Heathrow on 02/05/2006


I arrived at the PEO at 8am 1 hour before my appointment time.

Got through Security to the document checking desk by 8:40

The man at the document checking desk was concerned about my missing passport and asked me how I was going to prove that I wasn't out of the country for more than 3 months at a time or 180 days in total. I showed him my letters from the employers plus my payslips. He was still concerned as the letter didn't specify when my holidays were and the payslips had some gaps. I was told that he could send me upstairs but they may require more information to be sent in by post. I decided to take the risk.

I went upstairs paid and was waiting to see a caseworker by 9am. Less than 5 minutes later I was sitting with a caseworker. I explained my situation and handed over all of my documents. The caseworker said that because of my lost passport she would try to work out how me days I was out of the country from the information I provided and their information on file. As it wasn't straight forward she told me to come back at 11:30 and she would let me know if they had any news.

At 11:30 I returned and the caseworker waved me over. She told me that it had to be passed to a senior caseworker for approval and that I could wait around or come back later. I said I would wait. About 20 minutes later I see that the caseworker had been handed my documents. I was called over and told that it was approved and that I could collect my passport from counter 22 in about 20 minutes. about 12:30 my number was called and I had my passport back with the ILR stamped in it.

I must say that the people I dealt with at Croydon were really nice and seemed to want to be able to help. I was really afraid that with the new crack down on immigration they would be looking for any excuse to refuse an application.

I hope that helps other people in a similar situation.

guys couple of post i have noticed that they r focusing on >90 days absence.

any idea why they are looking deeply into it.

Because it (can) reset the ILR clock, unless you can prove otherwise.

sushdmehta wrote:Because it resets the ILR clock.

100% agree on your reply. but if ILR CLOCK reset then there should be no discreition. I mean you want to say clock reset is not a rule its in CW hands ?

there are 2 things now.

1 ILR clock reset.
2 CW discretion.

Both apply on same >90 absence rule. doesnt make sence to me.

It is possible, depending on circumstances, to prove that continuous residence was not broken despite the single long (90 days) absence from UK.

Hence, the element of discretion.