Hi guys
As mentioned above my husband and I had an appointment at Croydon PSC last night. I just wanted to share my experience and hopefully help other people as this board has helped me so much.
Background
I am English and my husband is Australian. He came into the country on a partner visa in March 2016 and we were applying for a FLR(M) extension on the 5 year route, under Category A relying on his salary.
PSC booking process
I had heard worrying things about booking an appointment at the PSC online and not being able to get one, but after taking the advice from the wonderful people on the forum I found it quite easy.
I logged in at 1am on the day that we were allowed to apply and there were a lot of appointments available - they were all the ones that cost £75 extra as they were either weekends or evening / early morning but at least there were some!
When I looked during the day later, to try to get an appointment on a weekend, there was literally nothing whenever I looked, so I recommend looking from the day that you can apply for your appt and look around midnight / 1am.
Evidence supplied
Application:
- FLR(M) Application form
- Proof of payment of application fee and PSC surcharge
- Proof of payment of IHS surcharge
- Cover letter explaining all evidence, and the purpose of each piece, also explaining anything that's not immediately obvious i.e. pay rise, why some bills are addressed to basement flat and some say flat number, etc etc.
Supporting assets:
- 2 x photos of applicant w/ name written on back, in an envelope and attached to Section 1 of the FLR (M) form
- 1 x photo of sponsor w/ name written on back, in an envelope and attached to Section 1 of the FLR (M) form
- Applicant passport
- Applicant expired passport showing visa
- Applicant Biometric Residence Permit
- Sponsor passport - when applying in person you definitely need this as it was the second thing they asked for
- Sponsor expired passport
Relationship proof:
- 1 x marriage certificate showing applicant and sponsor marriage
Proof of income:
All this was for the Applicant, as his salary alone covered the requirement. We left everything in terms of the Sponsor blank as to not confuse things.
- Letter from Employer on Company Headed paper - signed by HR manager. This confirmed job title, employment length, salary, any promotions or pay increases.
- 1 x employment contract
- 2 x letters from Employer to Applicant showing pay rises
- 6 x payslips - stamped and signed by HR Manager as they were print outs
- 6 x bank statements (duplicates from the bank - a tip for people applying who are with HSBC - they are pain and won't stamp print outs, however they can order you a full duplicate bank statement to be ordered to your house within 5 working days and this works just fine)
- Bank letter - this was given to us by HSBC when we asked to stamp the statements so thought we may as well include it. It just confirmed the bank account name, number, amount in account, when it was opened etc. Not really necessary but thought we may as well include.
Proof of cohabitation:
1 x Tenancy agreement with names of Applicant and Sponsor to cover March 2016 - March 2018
1 x Tenancy agreement with names of Applicant and Sponsor to cover March 2018 - present
15 pieces of cohabitation proof spanning April 2016 - September 2018, from 8 different sources, addressed to applicant and sponsor, or applicant and my sponsor individually.
Please note we hve supplied more evidence than required in the FLR(M) form due to some post at our previous address being addressed to a slightly different address (some said basement flat, some said the flat number - better to be safe!)
Other evidence
I took a huge folder of other evidence that they could potentially request as I didnt want to have to post something to them, but nothing further was asked. It made me feel better to have a folder with evidence of all the sponsor's salary etc, birth certificates, but they did not want it so best to just stick to the above if your application is like ours
.
How we presented it
In 3 x plastic wallets.
- FLR(M) form in 1 x wallet
- All original evidence in 1 x wallet
- All photocopies in 1 x wallet
All the evidence I split up with dividers as above, so a section for payment proof, relationship, employment, cohabitation, and then a section for passport, BRP etc. I know you're not encouraged to do this on the forum but the person at the PSC said it was helpful. They made me remove all paper clips however.
The appointment itself
Our appointment was at 5.20pm. The PSC is a 10 minute walk from Croydon East and is well signposted however CityMapper also took us straight there.
We arrived at 16.45pm and were asked to show our booking reference to the security guard. We then went through airport style security, the people were really nice and helpful. Kind of felt like they were sympathetic for us having to be there. We went to the desk on the 3rd floor, and were asked to wait in the waiting room until 17.15pm (5 mins before our appt).
We waiting and went back to the desk at 17.15pm, and the lady looked at the payment receipt email, booking checklist, applicant passport, applicant BRP and sponsor passport. We were then given a ticket, and told to wait there, as we were about to be called to a desk.
We were called to a desk and were both able to sit and speak to the clerk there.
He asked for our application form first, went through all of section 1, confirmed our names, address, job titles (I told him we were not relying on my salary, just the applicants and he said totally fine he just needed it for his system), he looked at our marriage certificate, and looked at our passport photos.
He asked us to separate our originals and photocopies into two piles and take out all paperclips but leave in dividers. He then put the originals and the application form in one folder, and the photocopies in another folder. He then gave us both folders back, bound together, and kept the applicant's passport out as it was needed for biometrics. He then asked us to take a seat as we were about to be called for Biometrics. It took about 10 mins in total. He was really nice and made us feel calm and like he was being very diligent.
We didn't even have time to sit down before we were called for biometrics! Applicant had his fingerprints scanned and photo taken, it took about 2 minutes. The lady there then took the folders and passport and asked us to go back to the main waiting room / cafe area and wait to be called for our decision. (side note - there was a family there trying to get a biometric photo of their baby and they had bought her a fluffy toy to make her look at the camera - it seemed to work, so a little tip for parents haha).
We then went back to the waiting room - there are no normal plug sockets so make sure your phone is charged as they say they will call you if they need additional information. The cafe is also shut after 4pm so make sure you take food, but there are vending machines. I know people say they left the PSC in this time, but I probably wouldnt do that as there isn't really anything to do near the building so you'd have to be 10 mins away plus come back through security if they wanted extra info / wanted to give your decision. They call people's numbers out constantly over the tannoy to call them up to desks for decisions.
We sat down at about 17.45, and we were called to the desk at 18.55 with the decision! They were calling people up to the desk in batches, so they called our number and two other numbers. We then just went up to the desk, a really nice lady said 'it's good news!' gave us back all our originals, kept the photocopies and said his BRP would be with us within 10 working days. We also got a printed confirmation that he had been accepted.
All in all we were at the PSC 2 hours - amazing really. Everyone was helpful and nice and I have a feeling that even if something was wrong with the application they would have helped us to rectify it.
Now all we have to do is wait for the BRP. I have to say that I resent the whole system of having to go through this time / money / energy to live with my husband in the country that I am from, but c'est la vie. They will also need to make it easier after Brexit IMO.
Thanks again to everyone that helped me. Let me know if you have any questions about this experience and I will try to help!
Have faith! I saw this mentioned on the forum somewhere and it really made me feel better when going through the application process - that it is just a box ticking exercise, they're not out to get you, they just have to make sure you meet requirements.
Thanks
Lx
.