I got my ILR last week! Thanks to you all of you who answered my many questions and offered much needed advice. In the end, it was really easy despite my numerous concerns.
I applied in person at Croydon. The worst part of the process (other than parting with £500) was waiting around all day. My appointment was at 2:30, so I was told to be there at 2:00. We arrived 5 minutes early. We had to wait a few minutes outside to enter the building and go through security. Then we had to wait in a queue for another 20 mintues or so to be seen at reception. I had mis-heard the reference number that I was given when I booked the appointment, but the reception woman found me in the computer easily enough. She saw that I had a big folder of documentation and said that she would not check it because it looked like I was organized. Then we went to another queue (5 minutes) to pay. Finally, around 3:00 we sat down to wait for my actual appointment. My number was called about 1:30 later. It was a little annoying because the numbers were not called in consecutive order, so you did not have any idea of how long it would be before your turn. There was a "coffee shop" that sold hot and cold drinks and pre-made sandwiches, but there were no tables to sit at, and the benches they have for waiting are not very comfortable. Several crying babies and a number of nervous waiting people added to the tension in the air. The interviews are done in a large open room at counters with the IND people on the other side of glass windows, so you get to see several people go before you. My interview took about 15 minutes, and then we had to wait another hour or so for them to put the stamp in my passport. We left around 6 pm.
When I was called up to one of the counters, the guy asked for my application and passport. He asked if my other documents were organized in some way. I said, "yes." He said, "that helps," and took everything (if the documentation had not been organized, I think he would have asked me to hand him specific things one at a time). He did not read my cover letter at all-- just glanced at the first and last page. He did not ask me or my husband any questions. He did not look at any of our evidence of sufficient funds. He did not even look at all of my documentation (I had folders marked Year I: Addressed to both of us, Year I: Addressed to me, Year I: Adressed to my husband, and the same for Year II, but he only looked at half of these folders). And what he did look at, he went through very quickly. I'm sure that he was counting, but he went so fast that you couldn't tell. After flipping through my papers, he said, "we will grant you indefinite leave to remain in the UK," and that was it.
I won't say all of my preparation was in vain, because I think it did help, but I definitely did not need to be as worried as I was. In retrospect, I could have applied by mail and saved some money. (I had wanted to go in person in case there were any questions that I could answer and in case my application was rejected, so that I could apply for an EEA family permit instead before my visa expired.) My husband said that when they saw my highly organized, color-coded folders of documentation, they said, "This is the kind of person we want in the UK!" and did not need any more evidence.
He also thought that maybe they are a bit less thorough when it is late in the afternoon and they want to go home. Perhaps it was a bit of both. All I know is that there were no questions about the paltry documentation I had for the first four months of my residence here, and everything went more than smoothly.
Thanks again for all of your help.
Christine
