Hi All,
First of all a big thanks to this forum which helped me through all my applications. I received my ILR 4 months ago and my wife was in ILR. Now as she finished her 2 years, I applied her ILR too at Solihull.
Preparation Stages:
We booked appointments online 6 weeks (42 days) earlier. There was plently of appointment in every PEO location when you book appointments online 42 days before your appointment date at midnight. I booked one appointment Solihull PEO for ILR
We lived in a single address for 2 years. This time application was more straight foward (compared to my ILR), hence no tense moments !!
Photos: I prepared photos myself a week before. I took photo with my digital Camera and prepared as per this guidance and printed out at boots. Much cost effective and better. (Costed only 25p for 8 photos)
As previously for my ILR documents, I made documents into 3 sets.
(i) Very important documents and mandatory for the applications
(ii) Mostly asked documents
(iii) Rarely asked .. just in case
(i) Very important documents and mandatory for the applications
- Form Set(M)
- 2 Photos for applicant my wife
- 1 Photo of myself
- Passport + Biometric Card
- LIUK result
- Marriage Certificate
- UKBA Appointment letter
- Wife Debit Card
(ii) Mostly asked documents
I took 6 docs per year, because I was confused what 6 documents spanned across 3 years mean!!
- Council Tax document combined in both our names (2010, 2011, 2012)
- Election Document - Combined names (2011, 2012)
- Rental agreement - combined names (From 2011 onwards)
- Bank Statements (2010,2011, 2012) bunch - her
- Bank Statements (2010,2011, 2012) bunch - mine
- Pay slips (2010,2011, 2012) bunch - mine
- GP Letter (2010) - her
- Bank Opening letter (2010) - her
- Car Driving license (2010)with photo - mine
- Car Driving license (2012) with photo - her
- HMRC documents (2010, 2011, 2012) - mine
- National Insurance application document (2010) - her
- UKBA biometric letters (2011, 2012) - her
- UKBA biometric letters (2011, 2012) - mine
- Few other more
(iii) Rarely asked .. just in case
- Gym membership
- Play.com letter for me and her
- Wife UK Naric letter and her degree Certificates
- Credit card bills - mine
- Many other documents.. don't know what all now
On The day:
Ensured phone was fully charged and checked all documents quickly before starting from house.
We arrived at Solihull at 08:45am. The parking lot of UKBA was closed, hence I parked in John Lewis parking.
Security check took 10 minutes, also they checked that application form is the latest valid form. They also gave us a ticket with a number and barcode for biometrics. Don't lose it! You require this all the time. Though only her name was in appointment, they allowed both of us in !!
We were called around 09:15, went to case worker. She asked for the application form. (I had a B&W copy only as my printer ink finished
)She said the form was wrong !! I said, can you please double check as I've checked and it was SET(M) form. She went inside and said, you are right. mmm...She ticked some paper and wrote down something. Then asked for LIUK, which we gave. Then asked for Photos. Then asked for 6 documents. She asked if we can give combined documents first. Gave Council documents (3). Then gave her election document (2011). She asked for a document for 2010 (gave her bank document and my bank document), then a document for 2012 (Which we gave driving license for her and my another bank statement). That's it. So it was 6 documents in total !!
She went inside and did some checks and said your application is granted. She asked My passport + my Biometric card + her biometric card + the above 6 documents. I said last time, the passport was put into archive and I looked bit concerned. She said it should be fine and we should be able to collect before we go.
She asked us to go to the payment area. This time they used the page from application form and not used card. Then we went for biometrics in 30mins. After an hour, we were called and said the payment went fine and gave us all the application including my passport and my biometric and an application success letter.
Went to nearby Subway had a snack and coffee.
Now just waiting for the Biometric Card to come.
All the best for your application.