ILR - HSMP - Tier1 Success Story @ Birmingham PEO - Jan 2013

ILR - HSMP - Tier1 Success Story @ Birmingham PEO  - Jan 2013

It was that time of the year when I had to extend my VISA to continue to work in the UK.
I had a few doubts about the ILR process, but reading blogs, forums and talking to friends not only put an end to most of the doubts but also relaxed me through the process,

A few questions remained  and on the day of ILR Interview all those were cleared and I have now got an approval for Indefinite Stay to remain in the UK.

I thought I will outline what I went through which could help the prospective candidates.

First and foremost, find out if you are eligible to apply for ILR using the UKBA website
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/settlement/applicationtypes/ 

Book and Pass the "Life in the UK" test from the below link  - Try to book this well in advance. It took me just a few days reading and using my Smartphone app for a few hours to pass this test..  you need to score atleast 18 out of 24 multiple choice questions... - Dont worry about this much, it is very basic and you can pass it very easily
http://lifeintheuktest.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/


You are only allowed to book your PEO appointment 28 days before your 5 years completion, else your appointment does not stand and they would not see you at the office.
You can start booking appointment online from the ukba website 42 days or 6 weeks in advance.

This was the most tricky part, new appointments are made available every night at  12am, you will need to create an account and have lot of patience to get some appointments.  The website is a bit cranky from 12am and 1am  but this is when you would get the best appointments.

Also, keep searching for appointments once very hour during the day time as well, I got mine when I was casually searching 3 days before.   Good luck with this


I got an appointment in Birmingham which is what most of them recommended as unlike all other PEO offices, in here they verify the documents first and only if they find most of it is good, they would ask you to make a payment, considering the amount it is a very sensible way..

Now on the actual day itself, this is what I went through

1.  I went almost an hour earlier than my appointment, some PEO offices do not allow candidates earlier than 30 mins but the staff at Birmingham were very courteous and let us take a seat after confirming the appointment  and security check

2. About 30 mins before the appointment you would be handed a token number and procedure information which is very helpful

3. At sharp 10:40am, we were called inside for the application assessment

4. During the assessment, I was asked for only the following documents
     a. Application form ( SET (O) )
     b. Passport(s) of both Applicant and Dependent
     c. Life in the UK Pass Certificate ( Applicant`s and any dependent`s)
     d. 12 months Payslips
     e. 12 months Bank statements
      f. 2 Recent passport size photographs ( 45mm*35mm ) of Applicant and Dependent
      g.  Marriage Certificate
      h.   Council Tax bills / Joint Bank Statements  ( to prove that Dependent was staying with the Applicant for 2 years)

Note : I had carried 6 different forms of letters to prove that my Dependent was staying with me for the last 2 years but the officer only wanted Two proofs of which he only took one Bank statement page.   I also carried P60 for the last 5 years and various other documents but apart from the above I was not asked for any other documentation.     It is advisable that you carry as much of documentation but only provide as much as the officer asks for, DO NOT try to give them too many documents and confuse them, it will only complicate your processing.

5. Once the officer was confident that all documentation was good, he told us "everything is good" and asked us to proceed to the Payment counter.

6. Once the payment was taken, we were sent back to the Waiting Place, It took around 1  hour upto this point

7. 10 mins later, we were called for the BIO-METRIC details, where we gave our finger prints and also photos were taken  and once done, we are asked to wait for further 15 mins for the bio-metric results

8.   15 mins later, we were told that everything with the application is good and also the payment has gone through and were asked to come back around 2pm for a decision

9. When we came back at 2pm, we were told that our Application was approved and were told that the Bio-Metric cards would arrive by Post. We were given
  a. Approval Letter
  b. Bio-metric card information and when it would arrive
  c. payment receipt

The staff were very friendly and the service provided was excellent, I did not mind the extra £600 which we had to pay for the premium service, it gave us a peace of mind.

I totally recommend any prospective applicants to go for Birmingham if you want simple procedure, peace of mind for your application

Note: a note at the end , I cannot promise all applicantions would be this smooth, it all depends on the officer and also how complicated your particular case is in terms of meeting the requirements


Wish you good luck