Success ILR - HSMP JR - BIRMINGHAM - SOLIHULL PEO
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:55 pm
Success ILR - HSMP JR - BIRMINGHAM - SOLIHULL PEO
To All Forum Members,
I would like to say thanks to all the members who have posted their experience or answered questions regarding ILR. It has indeed been very helpful to me.
I thought I should post my experience and hope it helps someone.
I had come to UK as my husband's dependant in 2005 but shifted to HSMP in Feb 2006 + Entered UK again on this visa in March 2006 , applied for 4-year Extension in Feb 2007 --> so applicable for ILR in Feb 2010 under HSMP JR.
Getting an PEO appointment was really difficult. After calling up the Home Office continuously at 9:00 am for more than 2 weeks I got an appointment for myself + 2 dependants for the 18th feb 2010 at Solihull PEO. I had also been checking online appointments regularly but never managed to find a family slot. I had wanted Solihull as I had read that in this PEO you pay after your case has been reviewed.
My case was pretty straight forward. I have been in continous employment with the same employer since the last 4 years. The only concern in the back of my mind was that I had been on statutary maternity leave for 9 months when my daughter was born in 2008 and was paid statutory maternity pay. Although maternity pay is not a public fund, i had still had taken a printout of the article from the home office site where it states that statutory maternity pay is not a public fund. And also that I had recently reduced my working hours to help me take care of my child better.
My husband and I drove down to Solihull and parked at John Lewis car park which is just 2 minutes from the PEO. We decided not to take our 18 months old daughter. I had earlier called up the home office to confirm this. After security checkup we were given a token number and asked to wait.
In about 20 minutes our number was called and we went to our designated counter. The lady was very polite and friendly. First she asked us to hand over our application form and passports (3 in my case). She checked the existing visas and the application form. Then she asked me for the birth certificate of my daughter. She said that it is necassary to verify that. Then she asked me for proof of my economic activity and asked for just P60s (for the last 4 years) and last 3 months salary slip.
After that she turned to the page with absences. I had 175 personal days out of the country from the first entry clearance date and none of those days out were more than 90 days at one go. As I had previously read in some posts in the forum, I had prepared a spreadsheet with all the absences, their dates of exit and entry ,passport stamp page no and number of days. I handed this over to the lady and i think it saved her the task of having to calculate it herself.
She then told us that she needed to check some information and went away for 5 minutes. When she returned, she told us that everything was fine and asked us to go to another counter to pay the visa fee and asked us to come back in about 2 hours to collect our stamped passports.
We paid the fee and went out. We came back after 2 hours and had to wait another hour before our number was called. Our stamped passports and the submitted documents were retuned to us. We were asked to check our names and date of birth on the stamped visa. We were really happy to get our visas without any hurdles
The list of documents that I had taken along with me are(the bold are the ones that were asked):
- P60 (last 4 years)
- Salary Slips (only last 3 months asked but i carried last 4 years with me)
- Bank Statements (last 12 months)
- Letter from employer
- My child's birth certificate (she was born in UK)
- Photographs taken a few days ago
- Address Proof- council bill
- Marrige certificate
- 1st HSMP letter and the extension letter
- spreadsheet with absences from UK
I am grateful to all friends on this and other forums for their support and guidance and wish all those waiting for their ILRs all the best in their applications. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need more information on the subject.
Regards
angelfire123
To All Forum Members,
I would like to say thanks to all the members who have posted their experience or answered questions regarding ILR. It has indeed been very helpful to me.
I thought I should post my experience and hope it helps someone.
I had come to UK as my husband's dependant in 2005 but shifted to HSMP in Feb 2006 + Entered UK again on this visa in March 2006 , applied for 4-year Extension in Feb 2007 --> so applicable for ILR in Feb 2010 under HSMP JR.
Getting an PEO appointment was really difficult. After calling up the Home Office continuously at 9:00 am for more than 2 weeks I got an appointment for myself + 2 dependants for the 18th feb 2010 at Solihull PEO. I had also been checking online appointments regularly but never managed to find a family slot. I had wanted Solihull as I had read that in this PEO you pay after your case has been reviewed.
My case was pretty straight forward. I have been in continous employment with the same employer since the last 4 years. The only concern in the back of my mind was that I had been on statutary maternity leave for 9 months when my daughter was born in 2008 and was paid statutory maternity pay. Although maternity pay is not a public fund, i had still had taken a printout of the article from the home office site where it states that statutory maternity pay is not a public fund. And also that I had recently reduced my working hours to help me take care of my child better.
My husband and I drove down to Solihull and parked at John Lewis car park which is just 2 minutes from the PEO. We decided not to take our 18 months old daughter. I had earlier called up the home office to confirm this. After security checkup we were given a token number and asked to wait.
In about 20 minutes our number was called and we went to our designated counter. The lady was very polite and friendly. First she asked us to hand over our application form and passports (3 in my case). She checked the existing visas and the application form. Then she asked me for the birth certificate of my daughter. She said that it is necassary to verify that. Then she asked me for proof of my economic activity and asked for just P60s (for the last 4 years) and last 3 months salary slip.
After that she turned to the page with absences. I had 175 personal days out of the country from the first entry clearance date and none of those days out were more than 90 days at one go. As I had previously read in some posts in the forum, I had prepared a spreadsheet with all the absences, their dates of exit and entry ,passport stamp page no and number of days. I handed this over to the lady and i think it saved her the task of having to calculate it herself.
She then told us that she needed to check some information and went away for 5 minutes. When she returned, she told us that everything was fine and asked us to go to another counter to pay the visa fee and asked us to come back in about 2 hours to collect our stamped passports.
We paid the fee and went out. We came back after 2 hours and had to wait another hour before our number was called. Our stamped passports and the submitted documents were retuned to us. We were asked to check our names and date of birth on the stamped visa. We were really happy to get our visas without any hurdles
The list of documents that I had taken along with me are(the bold are the ones that were asked):
- P60 (last 4 years)
- Salary Slips (only last 3 months asked but i carried last 4 years with me)
- Bank Statements (last 12 months)
- Letter from employer
- My child's birth certificate (she was born in UK)
- Photographs taken a few days ago
- Address Proof- council bill
- Marrige certificate
- 1st HSMP letter and the extension letter
- spreadsheet with absences from UK
I am grateful to all friends on this and other forums for their support and guidance and wish all those waiting for their ILRs all the best in their applications. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need more information on the subject.
Regards
angelfire123