I got my ILR approved on 23rd Oct at Croydon PEO. I'd like to thank everyone on this forum who provided the kind support and advise.
Appointment was at 8:30
Entered PEO at 8:00 -- Make sure you take a printout of the Online Payment sheet and the Appointment booking email confirmation with you. 2 Applicants in front of me were refused entry by the security guy coz they didnt have these printed. They went out, printed them somewhere and then were allowed entry.
Biometric done at: 8:35 and submitted my file for consideration.
My Case was as follows:
Immigration History:
In Country HSMP stamped for 2 years in Jan 2008.
Got Extension for another 3 years in Jan 2010.
Applied for an EARLY Extension (2nd Extn) in Jan 2012 for 2 years - Did this coz I had too many days out of UK in 1 year and in order to qualify for ILR I had to spend more time in UK.... (that time the rule was No more than 180 days out of UK in 5 YEARS).
The present Rule is no more than 180 whole days in any of the Five consecutive 12 Month periods prior to the ILR application. So I became eligible under this rule. Days out of UK were as follows.
Year 1 14
Year 2 29
Year 3 52
Year 4 169
Year 5 46
Total Days out of UK in 5 years= 310.
The 169 Days in Year 4 are those when I left my job and went to India to spend time with my family. I was not paid in the UK or anywhere during this time. In all the other years I was employed and worked in the UK and the days out were the Holiday trips.
In my application I just wrote a letter explaining the days out of UK every year... and gave REASON as - Family Visit in India OR Holidays in XXX Country for each trip I did outside UK... I did not give any evidence or letter of Paid/Unpaid leaves from the employer.
I made different folders and submitted my application to the case worker: list of docs I submitted is as follows:
Folder 1
1. Passport (Original)
2. Biometric Residence Permit Card
3. Online Fees payment sheet
4. Covering Letter
5. Personal Letter explaining Absences from the UK
6. 2 Photographs
7. Completed Application Form Set (O)
8. UKBA Online Points Based Calculator Self-Assessment Summary
Folder 2
1. Letter from Employer
2. 12 Month Salary Slips Signed & Stamped by employer
3. 12 Months Bank Statements
Folder 3
1. Life In the UK Pass Notification Certificate
Folder 4
1. M.Sc. Degree Certificate - (Not required but still submitted)
Folder 5 (Additional Supporting Documents)
1. HMRC Employment History Letter
2. NI Contributions Letter
3. Last 5 years P60 documents (5)
4. Home Office approval letters for previous HSMP Visa and Tier 1 (G) Extension
PHOTOCOPIES
1. Photocopies of all Visas and Stamped pages of the passport
2. Photocopies of all the documents (Folder 2 till Folder 5) mentioned above
The case worker thanked me for bringing the Photocopies mentioned above. He said it saves them a lot of time.
They did not ask for any additional documentation etc.
I then waited for about 1.5 hrs in the Cafeteria where the screens keep displaying the status of your application (Token Number). Around 10:00 my Token Number came under- Ready For Collection.
Went to the Counter mentioned and all my Original Documents along with the Approval letter was handed over to me.
Happy Days !!
Any questions please feel free to ask.... will try and help as much as possible...
Gud luck to all those applying sooner or later...
Regards
