ILR Success at Solihull PEO, SET (O) 31/03/11 (Long)

[slugmeister]

Wednesday I took the train up to Solihill and stayed in a B&B. My appointment at ILR Set-O at Solihill PEO was scheduled for 12:00.

Just a bit of history here:

I came on a WP on July 1, 2005. Made redundant a few months later. There was only a 1 week gap between being made redundant and finding the new position. The new work permit was granted in December 2005. Followed by HSMP December 2006; In July 2007 I lost my passport! Within a couple of months I had a new passport. Unfortunately I had the chicken pox when the passport was issued and my photo looked hideous; so I applied for a new passport with a new photo once all my spots & pox cleared up.

At that point I was financially struggling – making ends meet – but no money for extras – so I waited until January 2008 to apply for NTL to transfer my HSMP into my new passport. In Feb 2008 I was given FLR in my current passport.

In January 2009 I was granted a Tier 1 visa. My Tier 1 was due to expire in January 2012.

My immigration advisor told me that I eligible for ILR on June 3, 2010.

So I saved up some money and in August 2010 I went to the Home Office in Croydon to apply for ILR. When my application was being checked, the woman checking it said that there was no record in their computer of me having arrived on my WP in July 2005. She said there was no record of the work permit at all.

I had the original stamped work permit with me, but I had lost the passport in which I had entered. Further to that, the company that I sponsored my work permit is in administration; no further documentation is forthcoming from them. I did have a letter from them, however the letter included the time I was here on BUNAC as well as the time I was employed on a work permit. The lady who was checking my forms said that the employer letter needs to separate out the time on BUNCAC and WP. (I later told this to my immigration advisor and he said there was no stipulation to do this)

The lady also said that I needed letters from all my employers (covering the periods in which my 1st passport was lost) stating that I’ve had no unpaid leave. Unlucky me, two of my past 6 employers were in administration and could not provide these letters. She did ask me for payslips for this period but I did not bring them along because I not realize they would be needed.

The lady said that I do not appear on their system until December 15, 2005 (this is when I changed work permits). She told me that either I could re-apply from November 15 basing my 5 years off the 2nd WP, or I could apply by post the next day but it would “probably take a long timeâ€