Arrived half an hour before appointment, presented appointment letter to security guy and entered into building. They are running late that morning and it took long to clear security checks. Security assured us then it won’t be a problem with your booking once you are in.
After Security Check, on same floor, initial docs check and issued with Biometrics Token and guided us to go to First Floor for Payment and Biometrics. Proceed to First Floor, where I deposit Fee (no cash deposit allow) from debit card, went through without no problems. On the same floor, waited in the waiting area to be called by a case worker on Window.... here is the confusion starts.... first you will be called by a case worker on window on First Floor, they will enter your details in system and scan photos which you have provided with the forms and enter details from your passport. After that you are ready for Biometrics and then you will be called again to give your Biometrics (usually counter nos from 30 to 34/35).
Once biometrics done, we went to Second Floor for the final stage. Here waiting time is the longest as compared to other areas. Waited around 2 hours to be called and then handed over following docs to a very kind lady case worker.
1- Set O form
2- Photographs
3- Passports (new and old)
4- Life in the UK - Me + wife
5- Tier 1 migrant approval letter ( original for me and all dependents)
6- HSMP approval letter
7- Pay slips for 12 months
8- P60 for last five years
9-Employment History from HMRC (Very easy, just give them a call on Saturday morning after 8am)
10- Letter from Employer (confirming salary and working since date)
11-Another letter from Employer to confirm I am on permanent contract depending on extension of my visa. My HR Advisor provided that himself.
12- Bank statement for 12 months (Highlight my salary by placing a post-note against it)
13-Letter from Account for self-employed
14-Management Accounts (Profit, loss and Balance Sheet)
15-Invoices
16-Business Bank Statements (Highlight deposits/online transactions by placing a post-note against it)
17-HMRC Welcome Letter
18-Direct Debt Confirmation letter from HMRC
19-Spread Sheet explaining my days out (less than 90 in 5 trips, longest one is 37 days, most are paid holidays), with page numbers in passport (she thanked me for this particular doc, case worker are very interested in this and separate this page from your form to confirm it)
20- Cohabitation documents. Case worker don’t care much with that one and usually asked for only the documents which you have on your joint names. I was very worried about it but I submitted following docs which were accepted by case worker and didn’t ask even a single question about it )
• Letter from landlord confirming we are living together for last three years (2010-todate)
• Another Letter from landlord confirming we lived together on his property in year 2009.
• Recent agreement on our both names on it (2012)
• Voter Registration Forms for 2010, 2011, 2012
• My daughter’s birth certificate 2010
• Electricity Bills on both names (2012)
• One family ticket to London attractions in year 2011
• Air tickets for the journey back home all together in 2011
In addition to all these docs I have two separate folders for me and my wife (on individual names) to prove co-habitation and I asked case worker to ask me if she need anything else, she smiled and said “you already have given me too much, it will be all fine”.
She spent hardly 40-45 minutes on it, can see her verifying only few payments from my employment with bank statements, no question asked from self-employed income which was minimal in my case. She printed final letters, went back office for a while and waived her hand to me to come forward. She told me golden words “we are not putting stickers on passports anymore, you will receive your biometrics in 7 working days which you have to take with you while traveling and give you right to work”. I asked so you approved my application and she said with smile “Yes, it’s approved”. A big relief...... Then signed letters one for me, one for wife and one for my daughter, these have our details on it, I think this was the final letter for biometrics cards. One final standard letter, signed by case worker was given to me showing same thing which she told me earlier about biometric cards to be arrived in 7 working days and a leaflet about it. Checked my documents which she returned, only original form and letter from employers have been taken by her and returned all others. I thanked her and left HO happily
. Really a good experience and all is well. Total processing time is around 4 hours. You are most welcome to ask questions about it. Thanks a lot again for all those who are operating this forum and to those who are sharing/answering here to make others life easy.