Got ILR at PEO Birmingham

[srmbuddy]

First of all thanks to all you guys. This forum provides very valuable information and keep up the work.

My experience at PEO B'ham:

I was on a HSMP visa (granted in March 2006) initially for 1 year and then for 4 years.
Thanks to the HSMP ILR judicial review , me and my dependents (wife and baby) became eligible for ILR in 4 years i.e Mar 2010.

My appointment was at 9.45 AM on24/5/2010 at PEO B'ham.
The PEO is just near Solihull Citi centre. We reached Solihull at around 8.00 AM and there are plenty of parking spaces available at the PEO and in teh town centre.
At around 9.10 AM I entered the PEO and the security staff checked me in, scanned my bag and my wife's bag and we were given a token no.
There were 2 tokens ahead of ours so we had to wait for around 15-20 minutes.
At around 9.35 we were asked to go to counter No. 3.
Seeing my wife and my 6 month old baby the officer asked me if I was the main applicant. I said yes and he informed me that my wife and the baby are not required to be present at the counter and they could be seated in the reception. t was so kind of him as my baby was a bit restless in that room.
He asked my application first. the first thing that he saw was the immigration history and asked my how many days I was out of the UK in the last 4 years.
I didnt have the count of the no. of days and hence I said that I was out for less than 180 days and all my visits were short trips of max 20 days except for one when I initially came to the UK for 4 days and left to India and then came back after 2 months.
He asked me for the letter from my employer , 6 months payslips and recent P60 document.
I submitted 8 months' payslips and he returned the 2 payslips.
He went through the application, canned the photos and after 10 minutes he asked me to pay the fees at counter 6.
I asked him if I should submit my Bankstatements, marriage certificates etc but he said that he had already made the decision on my visa.
He politely informed me that I could either wait in the reception or go out and come back as it would take 2 hours to get the passport back.

It didnt occur to me then to ask him but then I asked the cashier who collected the fees that if I was granted the visa. Her response was 'I think so ..' .

Just a bit of a history - My son was born in India and I applied for his visa last month with all bankstatements and other documents. I "guess" that was the reason the officer didnt ask me those again.

We then decided to go to the towncentre which was just 5 minutes away and came back at 11 AM. The reception staff then informed us that there was some technical glitch and hence it is taking more time than usual and asked us to bear with the inconvenienc.
After a 90 minute wait we finally got our passports at 12.30 PM.
We verified all the names and DOB in the visa and everything was correct.
On the whole it was a pleasant experience with friendly staff at the PEO.

My only tip is - try to be early ( earlier than 30 minutes) to the PEO as they call the applicants by the token no. that they issue.

Good luck to all you guys.

PS: just opp. to the B'ham Solihull PEO there is an Indian+Thai+chinese restaurant called Jimmy Spice. The food there is fantastic and at a very reasonable price. It is definitely worth a try.

[geriatrix]

Had your spouse completed 2 years in UK as your dependent on the day of ILR application (24-May)

I understand from your earlier posts that you had applied for your newborn's EC from VFS Chennai in March 2010 (granted 20-Apr-10). So, he just been in UK for approx. a month (or less) before being granted ILR.


regards

[srmbuddy]

yes that's right.. my new born has been here just for over 2 weeks.
As i was the main applicant the dependents will have no criteria.

the criterias for getting ILR is only for the main applicant. Dependents get the ILR automatically when the main applicant gets it.

[geriatrix]

yes that's right.. my new born has been here just for over 2 weeks.
As i was the main applicant the dependents will have no criteria.

the criterias for getting ILR is only for the main applicant. Dependents get the ILR automatically when the main applicant gets it.

I am aware of that.

But you'll surprised to know that UKBA staff at different PEOs seem to have different opinions on the issue (eligibility of dependents). Hence, the question.


regards

[1664]

Congrats firstly mate.

Has your wife been in the uk for less than 2 years or more?
Do you know if she was a Tier 1 dependent or a HSMP visa dependent?I assume the latter.

[srmbuddy]

My wife was on HSMP dependent visa. She was here in the UK for 10 months and then went to India for delivery and is back here earlier this month.
SO overall she has been here for less than a year.

The application form and also guidance does NOT state any criterias for dependents. One of my other friend ( similar case where dependent is here for less than 2 years) has also got his visa in Sheffield 3 weeks back.

[geriatrix]

If you remember, did your spouse apply for EC using VAF2 form?

And what did the EC vignette state in your spouse's and child's passport - "Tier 1 partner/dependent" or "HSMP partner/dependent" ?



regards

[srmbuddy]

Yes my wife did use VAF2 form when she applied for dependent visa in India.
Her visa shows HSMP Dependent.
We used VAF2 for my child as well ( last month) and the visa stamp shows HSMP Child.

Hope this helps.

[1664]

That explains it..
My wife had tier 1 dependent on her visa stamp..
Having said that the hsmp jr doc should still be referred to by ukba when looking at cases.