ILR granted at crodyon 15/05/12. good experience.

[medous]

i would like to share with you my experience today at croydon, hoping that it will help others.
my main general advice to you guys is prepare well and organise everything end expect everything.

my appointment was for 15/05/12 at 11:10 i first came at 09:30 and security asked us to go back till 30 mns before my appointment. we went to grab a drink and came back at 10:30 we went through security similar to airports one. i must say the security were really friendly. after that we went to this desk in the ground floor where a lady asked for the application form, she took her time as she was explaining to some trainee the process, she then put a stamp on the application and gave us a ticket our number was 134. then we went to the 1st floor where we had to make the payment , the guys here was so miserable, no smile. then we we headed to a large room where we had to wait for our ticket number to be called to some desk where a lady took our application and passports and she kept typing on her PC for sometime then gave us application back no questions asked at this point. so far everything went well. then we were told to wait for the biometrics finger prints that was done by 14:00the guy there was so nice too. after that we had to head off to the 2nd floor where the case workers are to decide on the applications. that is where the waiting was so long in large room similar to the first floor one . we had to wait until 16:00. our number was called to the desk where we had a lady , she asked for all the documents , both originals and photocopies she was extremely nice. she asked us to go back and have a seat until she call us if she needs us. i said to her that i have some more documents on me if she needed more i have them , she said i will call you if i need anything, we took a seat by this point i was extremely nervous and so worried as i knew that it is the big moment ,, we waited about 40 mnts then our number was called . and she told our that i was granted ILR , she said i will receive my BRP by post within 7 days.
now i would like to mention the documents i provided with as much details i can give

-the application form filled by hand
- life in the uk test
-our passports
2 photos of me.1 for my partner
- 4 recent bank statements for me and 3 recent for my partner
-civil partnership certificate
-my recent 9 payslips
- 2 P60 documents and 1 P45
-covering letter explaining why we couldn't give letters from 3 different sources
-letter from our landlady saying we live in her house because we don't have a tenancy
-2 letters from 2 relatives stating that we have lived with them for sometime with the details needed.
-my medical card
-council tax in both our same
- tv licence invoice
-thames water bill
-sky bill
-orange bill
-bank statement
-DVLA letter
-2 letters from my company one of them is employment letter
- Vodafone bill
- t mobile bill
- NHS letter
- tenancy agreement for my previous address
sometimes i gave them 2 or 3 from each of these bills/letters
the total letters i gave her to prove cohabitation is 29 letters
i thought that will give them the chance to pick what they want, and it worked.

i organised my documents the following order
i put the passports first on the top
then application form then life in the uk test certificate
then civil partnership then the pay slips then bank statements
then cohabiting evidence put the most recent on the top
remember guys that me and my partner lived in four addresses over the last four years however we managed to give letters from all the addresses and we lived with one family member for 5 ,moths then moved in with another relative for a month before we moved to our own place that was due to some financial hardships we face
for those of you who are worried about the money it may help you if i say we have no savings, in fact my partners last three bank statements did not show more then £1000 income each month, while mine showed an average monthly income of £1900 . we are nowhere near rich hhhh but still went well

[linkers]

Congrats medous and thanks for sharing your success story !

[singhmohit]

congrats medous, thanks for sharing the exp (esp cryodon)
mohit