Immigration history
HSMP (2 years) + Tier 1 (3 Years)
Absences
Entry in to the country after 89 days from the first EC date and some absences totaling 136 days.
Appointment booking
Appointment date : 20th Feb 2013 10:05 booked on 9th Jan2013 00:20 hrs
Booked appointment for 3 including my UK born son. After reading in this forum I decided to drop his name from the application. No questions asked.
If you wish to secure an appointment quickly use firefox with an add on called "check4change" very effective(if you know how to use it) and it took less than 20 mins to secure an appointment on midnight.
Documents except the application and the photo I had copies of every document. It helps the case worker to complete the case quickly
1. SET(o) Application form.
2. Passports current x 2 and old passports.
3. Life in the UK test x 2.
4. Payslips x 12.
5. Bank statements x 12.
6. Cohabitation docs x 18(from 2008).
7. P60 x 4.
Appointment day experience
09:40 - Reached Whitegift center parking.
09:45 - Joined the queue (expect a long queue) outside the UKBA office. Takes roughly 30 mins for the airport style security check.
10:15 - Reached the counter in the ground floor. I informed the lady that my son is not applying with us. she didn't ask the reason. Token issued with token number and a number printed as 2+1, presume its two adult + 1 child.
10:20 - Reached the first floor and joined a queue of 4 people to make payment. The lady in the counter asked for the payment page of the application, token number and the card. Gave back the token, card and the receipts.
10:55 - Called to a counter. The lady in the counter asked for the application form, passports and photos.
11:05 - Told to wait for the bio metric call.
11:35 - Called for the bio metrics very friendly lady in the counter.
11:45 - Bio metrics done & told to be seated in the waiting area.
11:55 - Told that Bio metrics has come through and asked to proceed to 2nd floor.
12:05 - Again called by a lady to the counter. She asked in the documents in this order.
- Application form
Photos
Passports
Life in the UK tests
Payslips
Bank statements(highlighted the salary credits in both original and the copies)
Cohabitation docs
Any other docs(I submitted p60 for last 4 years)
12:10 She asked me to wait whilst she works on my application.
12:35 She called me back and told that my application has been successful. To be honest I was panicked to be called in such a short notice. She gave me two sheets(one for me and one for my spouse) to verify the details and sign. She handed back all the original documents along with two ILR approval letters, Also asked me to check whether I have got all the original documents.
12:40 Checked all the documents and off to car park.
Summary
Organize your documents for a quick decision. Here is what you need to be organized.
1. Arrange all the documents in the date order.
2. Make sure copies are in the same order as the originals.
3. Highlight salary credits on your bank statements.
4. Clip every category of originals together and put a post it on top and write the document category along with "ORIGINALS" and the number of items.
4. Clip every category of copies together and put a post it on top and write document category along with "COPIES" and the number of items.
5. Use a bigger clip to clip the originals and the copies together.
Once again, Many thanks to the forum members.
Warm regards,
Senthil