I had my biometrics today (21 Dec 2020). I took MUCH longer that 10 minutes for several reasons. First of all, both my facial scan and fingerprints were very difficult to capture for some reason. I suspect it was the equipment being used rather than my actual face and fingers, but who knows? Maybe I have a career in crime, since it was really tricky getting a good scan, especially on my right hand.
The other hiccup was my documents. Specifically, PROOF OF RESIDENCE IN THE UK.
No, the stamp in my passport was not enough. And apparently, I needed something other than my brand spankin' new ILR BRP (just granted in Nov 2020) to prove that I have been living in the UK for three years. This totally surprised me, but I have since uploaded council tax statements from 2019, 2020, and a 2015 letter from the council saying that I am on as a resident, but their technology can't support three names. I guess something miraculous happened in Haringey in 2019, because all three names are now on there and have been for the past two years (unfortunately, not three). Just to be on the safe side, I submitted two pay stubs and a letter from my employer confirming my employment there since 2015 (I have now changed jobs, but I needed confirmation for 2018) along with my HMRC tax statement for 2018-2019.
Now I wait. She said it would be six months from this point rather than six months from when I originally uploaded everything.
As an aside, make sure your application matches the name on your passport. Since middle names were not required on the application, I omitted it (thinking it was optional--and I hate my middle name). Turns out it has to match your passport, and mine has my middle name. DRAT!
