Biometrics Appointment & comments from apparent ECO

I went to my biometrics appointment in Cardiff today. Overall it was ok, but very disorganised and only two members of staff were on duty- they were running waaay behind by 11am. The staff were very friendly if a bit unprofessional (one of them had a very terse phone conversation with someone who must have missed a Saturday appointment- it was not pretty). The area is quite cramped and there is no privacy whatsoever which is a little odd.

Anyway, the reason I am really making this post is the person who finalised my application and sent it off said he was actually an ECO in Croydon, and he had been sent to Cardiff because they were short staffed. He actually said that the ECO only really looks at ‘The Mandatories,’ which, on the new online application are basically passports and the spouse declaration. This was in response to me asking, if for some reason something was missing, would they ask for it, even though I checked everything probably 15 times. I then asked ‘So you don’t look at the financials?’ (because this seems to be the most important part!) and he sidestepped a bit but didn’t really give a me a straight answer,  just said ‘It takes about 8 minutes to make a decision.’ Presumably, this is for straightforward ones.

Obviously take this with a grain of salt whether he was telling the truth about his ‘usual job’ and I’m not posting this in any way to advise anyone to not take the supporting documents seriously, but this information did throw me a bit, considering the time and effort and stress that goes into these applications! I would be interested to know anyone else’s thoughts on this. Does this seem even remotely true?

Anyway he said I’d hear in 6-8 weeks, but who knows really. 

Considering we've seen many refusals for missing documents, I would say this is untrue.

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I mean, I agree which is why I said to take it with a grain of salt. I found it quite shocking.

His comments may have been specific to ILR, but even then, seemed really strange.

His comments may have been specific to ILR, but even then, seemed really strange.

Or like he was just really, really bad at his job...

Which fills me with confidence...

I mean, I agree which is why I said to take it with a grain of salt. I found it quite shocking.

His comments may have been specific to ILR, but even then, seemed really strange.

He wouldn't have been an ECO though, would he? Wouldn't he just have been a Sopra Steria guy?

You would think! But he joked that my application might end up on his desk in a couple of weeks, and I flat out asked if he was an Entry Clearance Officer and he said yes!

Honestly, it was really strange, and he didn’t review all of my documents (only the ‘mandatory’ ones) before submitting which is why I’m worried but can’t do anything about it now.

Either way I don’t think he should have been saying those things.

What an odd comment.  We've had it from a good resource in the past that a straightforward application normally takes about 30-45 minutes.  8 minutes?  When I did my previous applications, it took more than 8 minutes just to read through the entire application by itself - not to mention the supporting documents.  Unless there's a system in place where people go through the supporting documents and check the tick boxes, and once those are all ticked, then the application is passed to an ECO for brief final checks? 

Unless there's a system in place where people go through the supporting documents and check the tick boxes, and once those are all ticked, then the application is passed to an ECO for brief final checks? 

I was wondering if this is what he meant, it just casts doubt on the whole process really.

When I did my FLR in person, it did take about 30-45 minutes once it was with an ECO, which still seemed very quick!

Sounds like he was trying to impress you.. obviously it had the opposite effect! 

I have to say, the wording on the upload site is so misleading. I’m just thinking of the other people who may not have English as a first language, it calls all of the categories outside of passports and declaration ‘optional’ which they are not! And apparently it has even fooled an ‘ECO’ into thinking everything is optional!