# ILR Solihull premium center experience and paperwork



## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

I am aware that this will not help many people as it's about the ILR application under the old rules, for the self-employed, but hopefully, it will be of some use to someone.

First, I'd like to say that I can be a bit of a miser and was considering applying by post instead of paying for the premium centre appointment, but the extra 400 pounds for the premium appointment was probably the best value for money service I've received in the UK. So, I'd recommend going for it.

Our appointment in Solihull was at 3pm. We arrived 15 minutes before that time. The parking is available at Dominion Court car park, some 150 metres from the premium centre. The car park was half-empty and it cost 4 pounds for three hours. You can pay and display if you have coins or you can phone and pay by giving your car and card and parking bay details over the phone. Very convenient.

Once you arrive, you are greeted by very nice, polite and helpful people. The feeling I had throughout the entire experience was not one of dealing with UK immigration, but rather of a well organised and family friendly hotel or something. It was quite surreal in how genuinely pleasant it was.




When you arrive, they ask for your name, you go through the security check (basically walk under the metal detector), we had an umbrella and they actually offered to take it and put it in an umbrella bin (did I mentioned the service was incredible?), you are then given a number at the desk and you can sit and wait for your number to appear on the TV screen to move onto the next step. There is only one screen with all information on it, and it's very easy to follow.

The entire place was modern in a good way and it made for a very pleasant atmosphere. The chairs (well, sofas really) are quite comfortable, there were kids running around, people were playing on their tablets or quietly talking over the phone, the toilets were spotlessly clean and very modern etc. There is a good quality coffee/tea machine where for between 50p and 1 pound you can get a very decent tea or varieties of coffee (you'll need coins). There is no food available though. If staff notice you struggling with anything, they come and offer to help. 




After about 20 minutes wait, you can see your number on the screen and you go to the next stage. You can have your spouse with you at all times in case you want to feel a bit more reassured. You don't need to ask about it. All the areas where you talk to case officers about your case had two free chairs so I guess it was intended that your spouse or someone relevant will accompany you. I do not however think that there would be any real issues raised if you arrived by yourself, but I would not recommend it unless necessary. 

So, when your number is called, you go and give proof of payment, passports etc. They also ask you for the mobile number to which they can call you. Then you are asked to give your original documents. We had ours organised with big paper clips and they were accepted (and later returned) with paper clips just slightly moved but still on. I know this goes against advice given by moderators, but I'm just describing our experience. After this, you are asked to give them any copies, though the case officer said if we didn't have any copies it's not a problem and the papers will be copied. I would suggest making copies yourself as I would assume this speeds up the process. Copies were also organised with paper clips, in the same way as originals.

After this, you have another 20 minutes to half an hour wait for your biometrics. You can sit in the lounge, watch the BBC news channel which is on, have a cup of coffee or whatever. When you are called to do your biometrics and you go into the office (the previous bit was done in an open booth type thing, this one is a closed office with glass separating it from the other areas), you are asked for your passport and given a form to fill. The form is about your previous applications, when and where the biometrics were taken, they also ask for when you met your spouse and I think if you ever applied for a visa under any other name. I could not remember the exact dates for these, but the case officer said it was fine to put in only the year. Also, after some re-reading of the form, I decided that I should answer "Yes" to the question "Have you ever applied for the UK immigration or other visa under any other name" and give my maiden name. I originally put "No", but there was no problems when I asked to change it after I re-read the question.


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## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

They take your photos and fingerprints and at this point I saw that it was already 4:15 pm and asked whether the case would be decided on that day as I assumed there would be no time left. I was reassured that if the case was reasonably straight-forward, it would be decided on the same day as that was the very expensive service I was paying for (I decided to keep my mouth shut and not mention that the service received by that point was I thought excellent value for money). 

Then we left that office, waited for another 15 minutes so that the biometrics were confirmed and were then approached by a very nice woman who was working there and told us we are free to leave and will be called when the case is decided. The problem was, I don't use a mobile and my husband does not actually know his mobile number by heart so we weren't 100% sure we have given them the correct mobile number (we mentioned this originally when asked for the mobile number). The woman said she'll see if she can help, asked one of her colleagues for her phone, which we called and then the number was read back to us. All in a very genuine, wanting to help, approach. I really bow to Solihull people for their customer service. I really can't stress this enough.

My impression was that they actually wanted you to leave and not stay in, even though I think you would be allowed to stay in and I think quite a few people were waiting without leaving. There is limited sitting space and I think during the more busy hours there may not necessarily be enough space for everyone to sit and wait. 

We had a small chat about how long it may take and were told that the decisions seem to be made quicker in the late afternoon, as there are less people at this time than in the morning. While I don't recommend going for the afternoon appointment (that was my husband's idea), it seems that it's not the end of the world and you still have a very good chance of getting your response on the day.

So, we left, had a walk to one of the restaurants on the other side of the street, and were just finishing our meal when we got the phone call from the service centre asking us to come and pick up our documents. This was about 45 minutes to 1 hour after we left. I was a bit worried but when we arrived, we were greeted with a smile, given our documents back (most copies, but not all, were kept) and were then told the application was successful, I was given a letter confirming this and told the biometrics card will be sent to our home address.

The entire procedure took about two and a half hours, there were no technical glitches of any kind that I noticed, and as I said, it left us feeling a bit schocked at how pleasant the entire experience was. The staff were proactively helpful, smiling and a pleasure to talk to.




In the end, I'd like to say something more about the documents we supplied for this ILR application under the old rules, following a spouse visa:

1. I suppled my expired IELTS test and clearly it was accepted

2. Both me and my husband are self-employed, we supplied our bank statements (printed and signed by the bank), tax returns for the last financial year, SA 300 and SA 302 (which you all get from HMRC for free and this takes a week or two to arrive). We did not supply unaudited accounts or the accountant's certificate of confirmation, but we are under the old rules. I also included some sample invoices.

3. We did not supply a property inspection report as we live alone in the house. This again seem to have been fine.

4. While we were there, a woman arrived, I think she gave her papers for the application and then approached one of the staff and, as far as I could hear, said she did not have original bank statements but only the ones she printed from the internet, she was really, really worried about it and asked if she could nip off to a branch of her bank which was close by and ask to have the stamped statements. The staff asked her to wait and returned some 15 minutes later telling her they talked to the case officer and her bank statements were fine. She again asked to go and get stamped statements and was again told there was no need as her bank statements were fine. I do not know how this case went and what the decision was. I would certainly not recommend using printed out bank statements.

5. the passport size photos of you and your spouse that the SET (M) form asks for, we supplied them but forgot to sign them. I did not get an impression that you even needed the passport size photo of your spouse but it should hopefully help your application be more complete).

6. if you don't have a mobile number to which they can call you (your battery has run out or something), they tell you to come back in an hour or so.

Apologies for the long post! I hope this helps someone!


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## jewel (Feb 12, 2013)

Hi,

Congratulation, I would like to say thank you for your post as it will be very much beneficial for my next spouse visa renewal time.

Just have a request, Is it possible to to tell us all the documents you have submitted including 12 pieces items.
please do it as list.

Thank you.


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

See page 31 of the application form which lists acceptable items:

Examples of acceptable types of letters and documents

letters or other documents from your GP, a hospital or other local health service about medical treatments, appointments, home visits or other medical matters
letters or other documents from government departments or agencies, for example HM Revenue and Customs, Dept for Work and Pensions, DVLA and TV Licensing

telephone bills or statements, bank statements/letters, water rates bills or statements, building, society savings books/letters, mortgage statements/agreement, council tax bills or statements, tenancy agreement(s), electricity and/or gas bills or statement


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## ashkevron (May 1, 2012)

In addition to this, we actually submitted Student Loans letter for my husband and Job Centre Plus letter for myself and that was fine. The rest was from the list nyclon gave (2 utlities bills in joint names, 4 bank statements (2 for me and 2 for my husband) and one council tax bill in joint names.


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