ILR Application now in :-)

Hi All,

Just thought I would put a quick post on to say that we finally applied for ILR for my husband on Saturday night (12th October)  - we had just been waiting for the last bank statement to arrive in the post. We passed our 28 day window a long time ago as we celebrated his 5 years in the UK in September but his current BRP doesnt expire until the end of January so no problem there.

I had already prepped the online application a long time ago and pre-filled all the answers as you can get quite far before you actually have to commit and submit so it was quite an easy process on Saturday night. Submit the application and pay the fee (which you can pay on a credit card, yay!) - we opted to go for super priority (personal choice) then you login to the UKVCAS website to find and book an appointment. We live in East Anglia and there were no appointments at Norwich at all and the earliest one in Ipswich was 31st October for £60 on a weekday- we could have got an appointment this weekend at Croydon but it was £100 and thats quite far for us to travel so decided to wait a bit and book the Ipswich one.

Next step was uploading all the documents which was quite labour intensive as you could only upload one document at a time but thankfully I had been scanning documents in as we collected them so it was just time consuming getting them all in the folder I thought was right (there isnt much guidance as to which category to put them in but as long as they are uploaded I dont suppose it matters too much apart from the mandatory ones being in the right section)

So all in all our bank account is roughly £3300 lighter (rounded up) with the application fee, super priority fee and appointment fee and we are attending the appointment on 31st October in Ipswich

Planning on doing citizenship in the new year so saving up again for that (assuming this all goes smoothly) and then that will be both the husband and the baby (not such a baby anymore!) both have dual citizenship and just little old me only has the UK passport :-)

We wouldnt have got half as far as we have so far without all the helpful people on this forum - I haven't posted much over the years as through searching through posts I am often able to find the answer I need but have been lurking away ever since we started this process over 5 years ago - wanted to say a huge thankyou to the UK Yankee community for help you didnt even know you were giving - we owe you big time.

x X x

Nearly there! best of luck. 

Congratulations on getting to the five year mark and submitting your (spouse's) ILR!  I'm sorry you have to wait so long for an appointment to finally get this all behind you, but after five years, what's another couple of weeks?  Right?    You've successfully navigated a few applications before this one, so I don't need to wish you luck on the outcome, but I will say good luck on a speedy decision!  Hopefully, your emailed approval is sent before you're even home from your appointment! 

So just by way of an update - we attended the Sopra Steria biometrics appointment at Ipswich (in the library) - it was all a bit weird as it was just this cornered off section of the library behind some screens and looked really ramshackle and all the equipment and cabling had been thrown in really haphazardly! Anyway, appointment took 10mins with the usual checking  of passport and biometrics etc. On a bit of a negative note thought we paid the extra £800 for super priority to get a decision by the end of the next working day (which would be the end of today) and havent heard anything yet. Of course it could still come through (assuming UKVI works until 6pm?) but if it doesnt I will definitely be putting in a complaint to get that money back as it was alot of money to not receive a decision within the timeframe provided!

Keep your fingers crossed for us

xx

Hello,

May I ask have you already heard anything back about your application? I plan to do super priority as well and would really love to hear back from them within the given time frame.

Hey,

No worries - so we attended our appointment at 10am on the Thursday 31st October and didnt get any emails at all. We sent an email to the complaints contact on Saturday 2nd November having heard nothing (not to get an update on our application as they dont do that, but just to complain about paying all that money to have not heard anything)

A letter arrived at lunchtime on Saturday 2nd November essentially saying 'Thankyou for your application' but didnt detail whether a decisions had been made let alone whether it was positive or negative, it was a really odd letter but we took that to be promising - the letter was dated 31st October.

Monday 4th November around lunchtime a signed for delivery arrived that was the new BRP with ILR granted so that was when we found out it had been approved.

So it appears as though we did indeed get the fast turnaround its just they never contacted us within the 'service standard' period to tell us about it. We still havent received a reply from the complaints department but hey ho not so important now although was a slightly stressful weekend.

Good luck!

Monday 4th November around lunchtime a signed for delivery arrived that was the new BRP with ILR granted so that was when we found out it had been approved.

Fantastic news! Congratulations. 

Congratulations! I really don't like the fact that they seemed to have emailed some with approval but not all. My appointment is due soon as well. Hope I will get some kind of update email from Home Office the next day.

Hi Sez2004,

Im looking to apply for the ILR myself at the end of this month and was hoping to go through the expedited £800 route.

I had a few questions and although you've mentioned your process, i was wondering if you could be kind enough to help and clarify the step by step process!?

This is my prep thus far according to what I've read:

0. have all my documentation prepared, ready and scanned (I.E...sponsors supporting letter and passport/ proof of our address/ all our bills and statements/ sponsors work payslips contract etc/ kids birth certs etc/ Am i missing anything???
1. fill in the online application form / choose priority slot for £800 / make an appointment for biometrics and scanning documents (all at the same on line)
* was confused about this part, you mention something about paying £60 for an appointment, so you pay for the application and then for the priority service and then also for the scanning appointment
2. attend appointment for scanning documents / attend biometrics appointment
3. attend sheffield for the priority £800
4. wait for response and recorded delivery

Id be ever so grateful if you could clarify this for me
Also, upon receipt of ILR, is it a similar card to what we already have from previous FLR (residence card) ?

Hi All,

Just thought I would put a quick post on to say that we finally applied for ILR for my husband on Saturday night (12th October)  - we had just been waiting for the last bank statement to arrive in the post. We passed our 28 day window a long time ago as we celebrated his 5 years in the UK in September but his current BRP doesnt expire until the end of January so no problem there.

I had already prepped the online application a long time ago and pre-filled all the answers as you can get quite far before you actually have to commit and submit so it was quite an easy process on Saturday night. Submit the application and pay the fee (which you can pay on a credit card, yay!) - we opted to go for super priority (personal choice) then you login to the UKVCAS website to find and book an appointment. We live in East Anglia and there were no appointments at Norwich at all and the earliest one in Ipswich was 31st October for £60 on a weekday- we could have got an appointment this weekend at Croydon but it was £100 and thats quite far for us to travel so decided to wait a bit and book the Ipswich one.

Next step was uploading all the documents which was quite labour intensive as you could only upload one document at a time but thankfully I had been scanning documents in as we collected them so it was just time consuming getting them all in the folder I thought was right (there isnt much guidance as to which category to put them in but as long as they are uploaded I dont suppose it matters too much apart from the mandatory ones being in the right section)

So all in all our bank account is roughly £3300 lighter (rounded up) with the application fee, super priority fee and appointment fee and we are attending the appointment on 31st October in Ipswich

Planning on doing citizenship in the new year so saving up again for that (assuming this all goes smoothly) and then that will be both the husband and the baby (not such a baby anymore!) both have dual citizenship and just little old me only has the UK passport :-)

We wouldnt have got half as far as we have so far without all the helpful people on this forum - I haven't posted much over the years as through searching through posts I am often able to find the answer I need but have been lurking away ever since we started this process over 5 years ago - wanted to say a huge thankyou to the UK Yankee community for help you didnt even know you were giving - we owe you big time.

x X x

Hi Sez2004,

Im looking to apply for the ILR myself at the end of this month and was hoping to go through the expedited £800 route.

I had a few questions and although you've mentioned your process, i was wondering if you could be kind enough to help and clarify the step by step process!?

This is my prep thus far according to what I've read:

0. have all my documentation prepared, ready and scanned (I.E...sponsors supporting letter and passport/ proof of our address/ all our bills and statements/ sponsors work payslips contract etc/ kids birth certs etc/ Am i missing anything???
1. fill in the online application form / choose priority slot for £800 / make an appointment for biometrics and scanning documents (all at the same on line)
* was confused about this part, you mention something about paying £60 for an appointment, so you pay for the application and then for the priority service and then also for the scanning appointment
2. attend appointment for scanning documents / attend biometrics appointment
3. attend sheffield for the priority £800
4. wait for response and recorded delivery

Id be ever so grateful if you could clarify this for me
Also, upon receipt of ILR, is it a similar card to what we already have from previous FLR (residence card) ?

Congratulations! And thanks for detailing your experience. Will be very helpful as I am prepping mind the next two months.

Hi SeektheTruth - I'm so sorry I never got a notification that you had replied to my thread to know you had asked questions! I have just popped back onto here to let everyone know that after all that fuss of not getting an email from them and putting in complaint (but they had actually made the decision in the timeframe just not told us) we have just had them agree to refund the £800 priority service fee!

In answer to your questions though;
- for documentation its probably worth making a separate thread with your documents and your application information to be sure you havent missed anything as the requirements 'can' be different depepending on circumstances
- We paid the priority fee then had to book a biometrics appointment - you can get free appointments but other appointments are fee charged based on location on time - ours was £60 at a local centre on a weekday but we did see others for free at core centres or weekends for £100 - we didnt pay for them to scan our documents, as we had scanned them ourselves we uploaded them online before we went to the biometrics appointment.
- You only have to attend one appointment to have your biometrics done wherever you book it - it doesnt have to be sheffield
- Yep, the card is very similar to the BRP you have for FLR just different information on it.

Sorry if its all a little late now but hopefully still helpful to some - AND worth noting that if they dont meet their service standards for priority service, DO complain as you might get a refund like we did.

x x