Picked it up today at the Birmingham PEO! Here's a synopsis of how it went down:
We went yesterday, got there about 8:00am, and the doors were locked. So, we decided to get a cup of coffee. By the time we got back at 8:30, there were 13 people ahead of us in line! That's the last time I let the lure of Stabucks take me over...
When we finally got in, they proceeded to tell us all that the computer systems had crashed and that we could make our application that day, but it would then have to be mailed to us, which they promised to do by registered mail. Of course, they would still change us the £250 fee. Nobody in the room budged. I figured that since the fee was going up the next day, we might as well go through the motions and get it done, and it seemed as if everyone there felt the same way. Getting a passport back in a week or so (as they were promising) seemed better than the 6-12 week alternative.
Our number was finally called for a paperwork review at about 10:30am. When they asked for my bank statements, I had to explain that I get paid from the states, so my UK bank account wouldn't show many deposits. They said that was fine, but the woman took my pay stubs just to be safe. She explained again that we would not get my passport back today (they repeated this to everyone umpteen times) and said that everything else seemed to be in order. So, we then took a seat and waited for our interview.
The interview came around 11:30. We were interviewed by a rather friendly Scottish man who noted my Italian surname and seemed amused at my Irish.Italian/Spanish heritage. I actually had a lot of trouble understanding what he was saying, and I had to ask him to repeat himself on several occasions. I was worried that he might take offense, but was pleased to hear my British wife tell me "I can't understand a word he is saying" when he left the desk for a minute.
He asked us all the questions and we gave all the answers. He jokingly asked whether my pay stubs were in pounds or dollars, and made some crack about the falling dollar that I couldn't understand. Having the baby with us was sufficient proof in his eyes that we were in a legitimate relationship, although he joked that we might have "borrowed" her from someone for the day to help with our application. He then said we were approved, wished us the best of luck, and told us that we would be contacted by their office when the passport was ready. We could then elect to pick it up or have it mailed to us. We collected out belongings and left around Noon. That evening, I got a call from them that it was complete, and I ran over during my lunchbreak today to pick up my passport with my new Visa!
Overall, the process (not counting the 1 hr I spent collecting the passport) took about 3 hours total, not too bad. It went much smoother than I expected, and was somewhat upset with myself for getting stressed out about it in the first place. A couple of random thoughts / tidbits about the experience, and some advice to those applying at a PEO:
1) Get there early. Had we waited outside the door when we got there at 8:00, we would have been done with everything by 10.00.
2) Quadruple check that you have all of your paperwork. 4 of the 12 people in front of us either had their application rejected because of missing documents, or had to fill out additional forms whilst there, slowing down the entire process. It's always better to bring things that you think you will not need than to not have things you didn't think you would need.
3) Don't stress. It gives people ulcers. Just be yourselves. If you only make £20k per year, don't act like you make £40. They seemed to have some kind of special radar that tells them when people are trying to deceive them, even if the deceit is a harmless one.
Lastly, I was fairly amazed at how nicely my family and I were treated at the office. Granted, there were people there getting all different kinds of visas, and we may have been the only ones applying for a marriage visa. But it seemed as if they were a bit more pleasant with us than with most of the other people. Then my wife mentioned something that I did not notice until she pointed it out - we we were the only ones applying that day that were white. I don't like to make accusations of racism, but I couldn't help but wonder...
