Application details:
No of applicants: 1 (Main applicant) + 1 (Dependant)
Visa Type: 5 years Work Permit (same employer)
For my 10am appointment, I arrived to PEO at 09:30 with my wife and a child in the pram though, I hadn’t included my UK born baby in the application. First, we waited in the waiting area for about 20 minutes and then there was airport style security. By 10:15, we were asked to pay for our application in the payment area. After payment, we were sent to 1st floor where a very polite caseworker entered some details from our passports into computer and scanned our photos. She then sent us to second floor for our biometrics to be taken. This roughly took about 30 minutes and by 11:10 we started our wait for the caseworker to call our ticket number. At 11:25, our ticket number was called and we went to our counter where the caseworker straightaway asked for application form, photos and all passports. The first thing that he checked in the application form was absence sheet in sec 6. After counting manually my absences, he asked me about the total annual leave that I am entitled to and I said 30 days. Although, I had absence letter from my line manager but since he didn’t say anything, I was also quiet.
Next was employer letter that he demanded. My employer letter had specifically mentioned my SOC code and per annum salary and that was the area that he was interested in. (WP holder – Make sure you include appropriate SOC code and salary details for your role in your employer letter). The caseworker then spent long time on entering details into computer. He then asked for any photocopies of our recent passports which I gave to them. He disappeared a couple of times for 5 -10 minutes during this whole process (possibly for checks etc) and in exactly an hour time, he came back with two letters which was saying that our application for indefinite leave to remain had been approved.
To my surprise, the caseworker was least interested in my original documents. All he was asking for was only photocopies which he quite happily kept.
The documents that I carried with me:
Set (O) form + Photographs
5 years P60
12 months payslips
12 months banks statements
Employer letter
Absence letter: 190 days (all of which were paid annual leave)
Life in the UK Certificate (me & dependant)
Passports (current & previous)
Initial Work Permit letter
Cohabitation documents:
Provisional driving license
2 years council tax bills
NHS letters in my wife’s name
Banks statements (15 months)
Documents that the caseworker asked for: (all photocopies)
Set (O) form + Photographs
5 years P60
Only last 3 months Payslips
Only last 3 months bank statements
Employer letter
Life in the UK Certificate
Passports (current & previous)
Cohabitation documents:
He asked for any proof of cohabitation and I passed on all above documents to him which he took.
One of the very few things where I feel myself very lucky was that there were no IT issues at all and it all went extremely smooth. After reading a number of posts on this forum about IT issues mainly at the Croydon PEO, I was a bit tense about that as I had not booked a back-up appointment and really wanted everything sorted in this appointment.
(*Today was the last Friday of Ramadan and being a Muslim, I really wanted to go for my prayer. I was glad to see that my whole case was done and dusted by 12:30 and the next moment we were out in the street and looking for a mosque)
Once again, many thanks for all your valuable support.