Hello!
I didn't realize that if you want an in-person appointment, you need to call WAAAAY in advance. Ooops! So, my visa expires on 11th February. We found a super-cheap flight to Rome and decided we'd jump on the chance to celebrate our second anniversary. We figured, if worst came to worst, we'd be out £70.
Anyway, I just found out that I'm going to have to apply by post, as all the appointments are booked until after my visa expires. D'oh! We're returning to the UK several days before my visa expires. (Returning on the 7th, expiration date is the 11th). We're just going to have the whole application ready in an envelope and pop the passports in the day we return and post them. I understand that, so long as you've applied before the deadline (expiration) you're good to go. We anticipate no problems with getting the ILR.
My only concern is: do you think maybe the immigration official at Liverpool airport might object to my entering the UK four days before the visa expires? It seems to me that the visa is good until it expires, end of story. They might say something like, "Hey, you'd better apply for your next visa quick!" but, they might just say, "Hey, how do we know you're going to be OK to stay indefinitely?" I would, of course, assure them that the application was completed and ready to go as soon as we got home... honestly, I'm expecting a bit of a grilling over this, but ultimately being allowed to enter the UK and go home. DH has even thought of taking the application with us to show them that we're sincere, but that just sounds like asking for trouble if we were to lose the packet of documents.
What do you think? Anyone?
