Within 20 mins i was seen by someone, my case was documented on the computers and sent to biometric ID registration, within 1 hour i was called in to register, and 20 mins later i was seen by a lovely case worker, she was really nice to me and was constantly smiling.
5 Minutes later she waved at me through the window from her desk with her thumb up, i knew everything was approved, later she called my ticket and gave me back my documents and a letter stating i should expect by biometric id shortly (within 10 days)
Tips:
If you are booking a PEO appointment, do it between 12am - 3am as its the time new appointments become available, else you'll have to wait weeks if not months for future ones
Try booking on a Friday, everyone just wants to go home for the weekend, they just want to get rid of you, and most people are happy on Fridays
A smile goes a long way, if you can hold a conversation it goes even further, joke around bit, keeps you comfortable and as much as their hated by many, their people who work at UKBA, doing it for a job, no hard feelings
If youre late just pretend it never happened, just walk in confidently and push yourself through security, if questioned mention the reason and try and explain yourself. Again, some humour will help, everyone i noticed in UKBA is quite miserable, specially in the Croydon office, very stressed looking chaps, you can just make their day with a joke and a good smile.
Take a ton of documentation, and give them everything, put each documentation per envelope, i had one for travel docs, statements, wage slips, p45's, passports, invoices etc. etc. in all i had 9 envelopes each with like 30 - 50 documents inside it. On each envelope write exactly whats contained in it and how it helps your case as you get few mins of facetime with a case worker only, you cant expect them to make out what you know from your documents ina short period of time, and remember if you do a Friday application, they wouldnt even look at half your docs and want to get rid of you, luckily i had my entire story in documents, from when i arrived to how i lost my passport (police reports + hotel booking at the place i was during the date i lost it)
Finally, chill, relax, no pressure, i was sitting there playing poker on my ipad carelessly while everyone was so stressed, annoyed, frustrated, there was alot of bad energy in the place and the noise of all the kids running around wild like its a jungle doesnt help, if you're relaxed, your caseworker will be relaxed.
One thing i did spot, is when with solicitors they quickly try and build a relationship with caseworkers to get their way or question about their application status, there is a helpdesk, dont be scared to go up there and ask very politely with a smile regarding your case as sometimes it seemed people were sent from floor to floor pointlessly and it was all just havoc in the system it seemed and they were visibly frustrated by it, if it happens to you, there's no point getting pissed off at it wouldnt help anyone most of all yourself, just carry on and follow instructions.
Because i took so much documents, most of them werent even looked at, because they could tell immediately my case was 100% genuine, the more you prove, they less they enquire, its only when you can't prove certain things is when they start questioning, always take 10x more than required and give them everything, means you have less waiting time and less aggro.
Sit near a speaker, as it can be extremely loud at times and if your number is called out you may not hear it properly! There are speakers situated every 40-50 meters it seemed! So don’t sit 50m away from one as their not very loud.
Exact process of entry to exit was:
Security
Application form check
Payment (get receipt + number) (MUST KEEP BOTH!!)
Number gets called by analyst (enter your data in the computer)
Number gets called by biometric registration
Number gets called by case worker
Done
(it’s all automated system, so when you goto each of the above the system knows your done and you just wait till youre called again for the next stage, and it all depends on traffic behind you)Hope it helps everyone else doing a NTL application like me.