ILR Success PEO (Croydon) – 17th October
Arrival: I had an appointment at 10:30 in the morning. We reached at 9:45.
Entrance/Airport style security check: There are two entrances to the Lunar building. One for staff and one for public, hence go for the public entrance. The security officer asked for appointment letter and we showed it to him and he let us in. There are airport style security checks. Hence, you would need to take off your belts, coats, jackets etc to get through. We walked through the detector machine and no strange sound beeped and then we waited for our stuff to come through the scan system. It came fine and we collected the same. I put my watch and belt on and moved further on the floor.
First time document check: There was a queue and then a lady asked us to go to a counter. The person at the counter asked me to handover appointment letter and ILR form. He stamped on a page on ILR form and handed the appointment letter and ILR form back and then asked me to go to first floor.
Payment: We were escorted to the lift and went to first floor. The Home office lady went with us in the lift and escorted to the entrance of first floor. On the first floor, there was a guard outside and he checked our appointment letter and told us to go inside the first floor towards the left and do the payment. My family went towards the right to get a seat and I went towards the left, where there was a queue for payment. I waited for 2-3 minutes and was called to one of the payment counter. I paid there and I was allocated the TRACKING NO and PAYMENT receipt. The lady told me that wait for my TRACKING NO to be called.
Second time document check: I went and sat with my family and waited for my TRACKING NO to be called. The announcement system is not very clear; hence we had to really concentrate to hear our no and which counter we needed to go. Finally after 30-45 minutes our number was called. We went to that counter, where the lady asked for ILR form, photos and passports. She entered something in the system looking at the passports and took 10-15 minutes and then gave everything back and then she asked us to wait for our TRACKING NO to be called again for biometric appointment.
BIOMETRICS: We waited for another 30-45 minutes before TRACKING NO was called at counter 5. Biometric happens from counter 1-5, hence you may want to sit near those counters. In biometric, the person asked for passport. They took passport copy and asked me to keep my right hand four fingers on a scanning kind of device. There was a thin beep, then she asked me to keep left hand four fingers and I did that and then again there was a thin beep. Then she asked me to keep my both hands thumbs a little apart but simultaneously on the scanning device. Again there was a light beep. Then, she asked me to turn right and look at a camera mounted on an adjustable lever. She was controlling the lever from other side of the counter. She said no smile and clicked the picture. Then she took a printout which asked two questions, which we needed to answer yes or no. One asked if we had ever got our biometric done and second one I do not remember. I think it was if first answer was yes, then we need to enter was it done in UK or abroad. If abroad, then we needed to write the country name. Finally, mine and mine family biometric were done. As my daughter was seven, she has to call some other person to enter her authorization password because my daughter was 7 year old. I believe that would be some authorization for a child biometric to be taken. This process was quick, took not more than 15-20 minutes for the whole family (Main applicant + 2 dependants). Then the lady said that we needed to wait outside for our TRACKING NO to be called.
CASE WORKER MEETING: We waited for more than an hour and were called at counter 22. Counter 22 is customer service counter, hence if you have any issues, you can go to that counter. The counter has crayons and drawing paper if you want to get that to keep your kids busy. Anyway, the customer service person asked for our TRACKING NO document and wrote second floor and asked us to go to second floor and stated that there are more case workers on second floor and our no will come quickly. We took the lift and went to second floor. Whenever we were using lift, there was a home office lady who would escort us.
We waited for another 30-45 minutes and then our TRACKING NO was called. There was a Glass window between me and the case worker. The case worker had a speaker to speak to me but I was able to hear her without that. Sometimes, I had to ask her to speak in the speaker as there was lot of noise in the hall and it was not possible to hear the case worker.
- First the case worker asked for the tracking no receipt which I dropped in the BOX which was below the glass window. All the documents were supposed to travel to and fro from the box beneath the glass window between me and the case worker.
- Then she asked for ILR form and passports. I told her that I have all other documents. She firmly stated that she will ask for all documents one by one. She went to the ILR form absence page and checked them against the entry/exit stamps in the passport and ticked them on the ILR form page. I had lost my passport within 4 months when I came to this country and got another passport. I shared the lost passport copy. She asked if I had the copy of the old passport with all entry/exit stamps. Unfortunately, I did not have the copy of entry/exit stamp pages. I asked her if she can check in her system how many times I entered / exited through my lost passport no. She stated that they do not have the system to check that.
- She asked me if I am employed or self-employed. I told her that I am working through my private limited company now but I was working through other company for which I have submitted the earning documents. She then asked for payslips and bank statements. She asked to put the payslips within the bank statement which has the payslip amount entry. I did that and handed it over to her. She verified the payslip amount in the bank statements. She asked if I have copies and I submitted those.
- Then she asked me where I am working currently. She asked if I have any documents to support those. She said that if I have any accountant reference and agency reference letter. I gave her the accountant and agency reference letters. She looked at those and no questions asked.
- Then, she asked about cohabitation documents. I gave her Land registry, mortgage statement, NHS resident and Council issue resident letter confirming date of Voter ID registration. She was happy with those and asked if I have copies. I gave her the copies. No question asked.
- Then, she asked for Life in the UK test and I submitted those. I asked her how much score me and my wife got, which she said she will tell in a while.
- I had my HMRC letter with me. She saw those and asked what those are. I told her that these are SA 302 form confirming my continuous income. She said to give those and copies if any. I handed them. She asked one question that my income in 2012 is not reflected in 2012 issued SA 302. I told her that SA 302 is from April to Mar and income from April 2012 till March 2013, will be reflected in next year letter. She understood and no questions asked.
- I told her if she wanted previous Home Office issued Tier 1 or HSMP letter. She said no and stated they have all those records in the system. She then told me the Life in the UK score. My wife scored 23 and I scored 21. It seems girls always score more.
- She then asked if I have current bank statement. I said no. as I have not received it yet. I had submitted my bank statement till August as I was claiming points from Feb till August. She said ok.
- Then she asked what is name of my current private limited company. I told her the name and she checked it on the system. She asked at which address it is registered and I told her the address. Then she asked if I have business bank account statement to prove my current earning. I said no because my payment schedule is after 60 days and I have received no money as I have just started working in September and I will be paid in end of October. Then she asked if I am paying Class 2 national insurance and if I have any evidence to prove that. I said no. She said she needs to check this with someone and went away. Meanwhile I called up my accountant who told me that Class 2 NI was not applicable to me as I am an EMPLOYEE of private limited company. She came back after some time and stated that as I am claiming points for working with other company, I need NOT to submit any limited company documents.
- Finally, the magic words. She said I am approving your ILR application. She printed a document with my name, address and date of birth and asked if everything is correct as this will be printed on biometric resident card. I checked and it was fine. She asked to sign on the same and I did it. Then she asked to call my wife and my wife signed on another one. Then, I signed for my child. She took all those signed documents. She stated that we will receive our cards in a week. She gave us a letter stating the same.
- I chatted a little further. I told her that as per the HMRC definition working through own limited company is not classed as a self-employed. I had checked that fact from citizen advice bureau (CAB) appointment a week back. CAB consultant has confirmed that and showed this from their internal website that anyone working through their own private limited company is not classed as self-employed. The case worker stated that within home office, they call those candidates as self-employed for their own tracking. She stated that if I had claimed earning points through limited company, then I would had to submit more documents. Anyway, that does not matter. She stated that she could have kept my application for further checks as I did not had copies of my exits for my lost passport but she did not and smiled. Thank God
- We thanked her a lot and then she pressed the button for next candidate.
- I hugged my wife and children at 2 PM and left the building for our home.
Learning’s / Tips:
- Keep copies of your passports whenever you travel. Keep copies of all the entry / exit stamps.
- It is good to take all employer reference letters which mention salary / earnings.
- The last mile journey to Croydon from M25 junction is through interior roads and traffic is very slow. Hence, it is better to plan well in advance.
- There is a train station just behind the building, hence maybe if feasible travel by train to avoid any nasty travel jams. Croydon was only 36 miles from our house in Basildon, but it took us 90 minutes to reach there.
- The waiting area is not children friendly. Hence, if you have children it is better to take an electronic DVD player or something to keep them busy. The whole process took us 4 hours.
- There is a food canteen at second floor. However, you can carry your food/drink if you want and consume at waiting area.
- If you are applying as employee through limited company which Home Office class as self-employed, take letter from accountant as well from your agency. Take business account statement, personal account statement, invoice, payslips, and dividend voucher. Get accountant letter confirming all those. Get accountant ACCA registration certificate copy. I did not need these but I had those for my past income, just in case if CW had asked.
- First Floor: Biometric counters are from 1-5 and for any Biometric queries go to Counter 10. For any other queries, go to counter 22.
- Be calm and composed. If you are confident that all your documents are fine, then your body language should reflect that.
Best Wishes.
Any questions, please ask and I will try to answer to best of my knowledge.
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