Hi Everyone,
A sigh of relief after a stressful six weeks considering the ever changing rules and various speculations. I have followed this forum for my Tier1 (main and extension) application and the ILR application. I think the more you say about this forum is less. This is the only forum where you can get any information you need and there are some senior members and moderators (sushdmehta, vinny and others) who are really selfless and contribute to our success.
I was in WP for 1.5 years from Feb 2007 to July 2008. Then I got my Tier1(G) for 3 years and extended last July. I have two dependants (wife and 8 years old son).
It was 10.30 appointment at Croydon. Always wanted my wife and son to accompany me. My son could not join because there is book week at his school and he did not want to miss. Since his school is just 5 min walk from the Croydon PEO, I thought, I can come and take him if required. We walked to the PEO and reached at 10. The initial security took 1 hour due to heavy rush. This is the reason early appointment is better than late morning. You have to take out your wallet, belt and any ornaments for security.
The next step is, we were directed to a counter for initial registration. The lady checks your SET(O) form and passport. She entered our passport details into the system. (This early entry of passport details might retrieve all immigration and crime details for the caseworker when he starts considering the case. This is what I felt.) She also confirmed that I need to pay £2700 and gave me a token number. She also asked me how we arrived at the office since we live nearby. I replied saying that we just walked. She also asked about my son, his age and what school he goes. This discussion relived a bit of pressure since I was a bit stressed in the morning.
We were told to go to 1st floor to pay. I paid using my Amex Credit card. I informed my bank yesterday about this transaction, and no problem in payment.
The caseworkers sit in 1st and 2nd floor. We were allocated to go to 1st floor. We were 5th in queue. The numbers were called one in every 3 minutes. There were around 6 counters for ILR in the first floor. Our number came after 15 minutes. He was a Tamil man (I could make out from his accent). Might be an Indian or Sri Lankan. He looked like Dhanush (Kolaveri D fame). He was very polite and greeted me to begin with.
He asked for my token number and payment slip. Then he asked for the SET(O) form and photographs. He scanned through each page of the form in detail with particular attention to my absences. (I had only 54 days absences in last 5 years, so no problem in that). He then told me to give all the documents I wanted to submit. I submitted the following:
1. Absence list
2. Salary details in a sheet with my net/gross salary for last 12 months (this is for points calculation)
3. Salary slips for last 12 months
4. Bank Statement for last 12 months
5. Employer letter (which I organised from my office)
6. Passports and biometric card for three of us
Then the caseworker asked the following documents specifically:
1. P60s (I don't think this is a mandatory requirement. But he asked for it and I submitted last 5 P60s)
2. Cohab documents (I had my wife's last 24 months bank statements, but since it is a thick booklet, I preferred to submit the following)
i. HMRC letter, which she received sometime ago due to a tax refund
ii. Letter from bank, which she received due to a change in terms & conditions
iii. A letter from gov.uk when she opened an online account sometime ago
iv. SKY utility bill
v. Council tax bill for last 2 years addressed to both of us
The caseworker saw all these documents in detail and kept all. He also asked for any document addressed to me in 2009 and 2010 to corroborate the cohan documents. I submitted my previous bank statements and old council tax bills. I never expected that he would ask for all these and he checked every paper in detail. He then asked for photocopies and I submitted all photocopies. I was a bit worried whether he will return me all the documents (my colour photocopies were also looking like originals). So I noted down all the documents I submitted.
While he checked all the pages of all the 5 passports (one of mine and one of my son's passports were expired), we discussed about our lunch etc. This process took approx 30 minutes. Then the caseworker said that he is happy with the documents and will take another 45-60 minutes to do all verifications. He asked us to wait.
He called us exactly at 12.30 and congratulated us. He returned all the originals (except the employer letter and passports) in a very organised manner and told us to come and collect our passports at 2pm from counter 22.
We went to a South Indian restaurant one mile from there and returned to collect the passports.
Overall, this was a good experience. I was satisfied with the caseworker. He thanked me more number of times than I did. I did not expect this from a desi. But I was well prepared for this, although I thought my case was straightforward.
I will be happy to answer any queries, if I can. Thanks everyone again for the help.
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