I've just been to Solihull PEO today and would like to share my experience
For the past 2 months thank you all for taking time to view my posts and/or responding It makes me feel as I am having great support and people to discuss anything related to ILR!So my experience of the day:
Pre-PEO
02/06/2013:
Travelled from London to Birmingham by train
03/06/2013:
7:00:
There are frequent trains (one every 10 mins) from Birmingham SnowHill Station to Solihull, journey time 13mins. I got to the station at 7:30, leaving plenty of time to get to Solihull for 9:00am, but 4 trains were cancelled and I was panicking! By that time it is already 8:15 and bus trips will take 45 mins! But fortunately the next train was at 8:23 and running fine.
So the tip is to prepare for train disruptions and leave early!
8:50 Arrived at PEO office for 9:30am appointment, as instructed by email from Home Office. Got told that being there half an hour in advance is only applicable to Croydon office, and was asked to return after 9:20.
PEO Stages:
0. Security Checks
9:20 returned and went through security checks
1. Premium Case Registration stage:
9:30 Ticket number issued from reception staff
2. Premium case enrolment stage:
10:20
- Got called in by an officer. I was asked to hand in application, passport and life in the UK letter first.
- Passport photocopies were also asked but only the cover page and UK visa pages were taken.
10:25
- I made a request to call my bank to ensure large payment on debit card will go through (HSBC doesn't do pre-authorisation, they told me to call on spot so they could place a marker for half an hour). Officer is happy for me to make the call at reception area. HSBC asked for the exact amount and the payee name. Marker was placed and Home Office faxed through the payment sheet of my application to HSBC. Officer gave me a purple colourd payment receipt 10 mins later.
10:35
- Supporting documents required were bank statements and payslips. I also handed in Employer Letter and P60. Officer did reconciliation on figures from payslip vs bank statements, and payslip total vs amount claimed on application form.
The main relief for me at this stage is that I have a total of 233 stamps on my passport due to short weekend/annual leave trips I've made, and they can look very confusing. I listed them all out and stated the total days away is under 180 days. The officer didn't ask any question, she didn't ask me for employer letter because it's under 180 days. I still handed it to her.
10:55
I think the officer's role is to check whether the applicant ticks all the boxes, and do data entry to the system. But by the end of the Premium case enrolment process she said to me, 'by what I have seen today you will be granted ILR' and that was how we ended our interview.
3.Biometrics
11:10 I was called in to room no. 10 and the staff took my passport, checked my name and DOB, took my fingerprints and photographed me.
4. Premium case consideration
11:20 In the waiting area I was informed by a reception staff to take a break away from the PEO office, come back after 2 hours for results and collect documentations. When I asked if ILR has been approved, the answer was your case is now under consideration.
5. Document collection
13:20 I returned to the PEO office, all original documents were given back to me, and a letter of approval was among all things. I was told the Biometric card will be couriered to me within 1-2 weeks.
This is how my day went, I tried to give as much detail as I could. I hope someone will find it useful
Now is time to investigate rules of Citizenship me thinks...........
