Directions to Croydon Home Office

Does anyone know where the Home Office is located in Croydon?  We're going there on Monday to get my FLR...want to mae sure we don't get LOST!!

Thanks,

Sandy

We went there a few weeks ago ... train to West Croydon and then follow the signs from the station, it is about 10 mins walk, very easy to find.

But maybe you're driving....? in which case the above won't be of much help. I think there is a link to a map from the Home Office website though.

BTW we got there at 7.45 am and were out by 11 (with visa)but by about 8.30 the queue was HUGE so it definitely pays to get there early.

Oh and there is a pub down the road (the name of which escapes me) with a Californian barmaid, which pleased my SoCal man no end.

Liz

There's also a Subway down the street - yum yum!

Check out one of the map/route websites for directions if you're driving - that's what we did.  I think we used mapquest?  It's relatively easy, but only if you're paying attention!  The hardest part is figuring which car park to use!  

Thanks guys!  One more question, is there a 250.00 pound fee for the FLR?  Sometime told FH that...first I'd heard of it.

Thanks!!

Unfortunately the £250 fee is all too real for an in person application ... but only £155 if you don't mind risking it getting lost in the post!

The FLR is free if you came into the country on a fiancee visa though, since the fiancee visa was paid for already. Don't know if that applies....

Also, we used a big mapquest map for directions rather than the webaite map, and had no problem at all finding it. There is public parking right near by, easy for us to get into since we got there so blasted early.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes! And congrats on the wedding!!!

We just completed the FLR visa last month and had to pay £255 even though I already paid $800.00 for the fiancée visa for my daughter and myself at the LA Consulate in March.  
Also, have you considered setting an appointment with another IND office? I set an appointment with the Birmingham office and it was a BREEZE – no queues, etc.

REALLY? That stinks... I wonder why? Maybe it's part of the new laws? There have been a load of them newly in place since April. I got my fiancee visa in January this year, and my FLR on April 4 this year, and didn't have to pay. Hmmm.

The new fees came in as of 1 August, one week before we got married !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.  I even wrote to our local MP about it, I don't see why Stu paid over $400 for his fiance visa only to have to pay again after we got married.  I mean, all he had to do was fill in almost the same form again and show our marriage cert, it took them about 5 minutes to issue the visa while we waited.  Anyway our MP checked it out with the Minister of Immigration who basically said too bad, everyone has to pay whether they had the fiance visa or not. Seems to me to be an incentive for people not to go about things 'properly' by getting a fiance visa before they come here. Probably cheaper to come here as a normal visitor on 'holiday' with a return ticket !!

This really sucks big time!  Fortunately we have the money to pay it (not to say it doesn't have an impact, especially right after we sunk a ton of money into our wedding and still have a honeymoon to go on!!!!).  What happens to the poor souls who don't have the money and can't afford it???  This does piss me off but, oh well, we'll still be paying it, won't we!  

Went to Croydon today to scope out where the place is...found it without a hitch.  We are going to wait until Tuesday since it appears to be a better time of the week to go.  I'm NOT looking forward to this experience but will be really happy to tick this off the list of things to do!!!

Yes it is very sucky indeed about the fee, especially as we specifically asked at the consulate in LA whether there was anything else to pay when he got his FLR and they said NO!

Anyway don't worry too much about the Home Office experience, it was ok apart from having to wait around for 3-4 hours. I recommend taking a book and some snacks!

Britwife...did you need to be there with your husband when applying for the FLR?  There's a work office about a block from the Croydon IND that my DH could work out of for part of the day...we hate to use up leave time on both of us sitting around for hours but if he needs to be there, I don't want him a block away and have done all that waiting for nothing!  I called the Home Office and she told me it's not necessary but may be a good idea 'just in case'.  Just wondered what you guys did.

Thanks!

Yes I went with him but it's probably not really necessary, unless you're expecting any problems, which you shouldn't as you already had the fiance visa. They certainly didn't ask us any questions or anything, in fact the only things that the immigration officer said to us were "wait over there" and "here's your visa."

This is a bit late in replying, but we never paid for my FLR. The guy never asked for payment and we never got a bill. However, it will cost us £155 for my ILR which I'm applying for within a few weeks.

But you might be lucky enough to get a really bored guy who forgets to get payment!

I should be so lucky!!  

We had to delay our visit to Croydon until Thurs. because I'm a dim bulb and didn't realize we needed passport photos...which I discovered at 9:00 pm last night..duhhh!

The new application is very specific about paying the 250 quid and you even have to write in your credit card or debit card number...they won't take cash!