Totally humiliated today at our visa checking service for wife and daughters set m visa application

[jamesy]

Thought we were doing the right thing by paying £108 pounds to a local authority near by to us ,who would in,turn check and photocopy our documentation for the wife and daughters set m visa ,and also forward it to the uk border agency ,what a total nightmare ,when we first met the member of staff dealing with our application form it was openly obvious that she had a very serious attitude problem,her mannerism was terrible and her customer service skills were worse ,she first of all asked for to see all our passports then she photocopied them and handed us them back ,i tried to point out to her that according to what i had read on the set m guidance notes my wife and daughters passports had to be submitted along with the set m application,she abruptly told me i know what im talking about as i do this job every day and i can assure you your wrong,after a minute or two she then said if it makes you any happier then ill just call the border agency to confirm this ,she lifted the fone ,in a matter of seconds she was seemingly talking to some one whilst staring right at us saying oh thats exactly what i said,she then came off the fone and sat down at the table opposite us and said no a photocopy will be acceptable they don't need your originals,from there things went from bad to worse she refused our birth certificates but asked for my daughters so she could photocopy it ,i then said listen im under no circumstances trying to tell you your job but our birth certificates are also down on the set m guidelines as part of the application ,she replied the uk border agency process up to a 1000 applications each day and submitting unnecessary paperwork is the last thing they need, eventually after a bit of disagreement on my behalf she eventually took both birth certificates ,the next slap on the face was when she was checking over my wives.visa application form,she came across a foot note which we had put on the form regarding me claiming tax credits ,while she sat and read this she sniggerd and smirked and raised the occasional eyebrow, we felt as if she was judging our application and us rather than checking it ,all through the interview she was total ignorant towards us she also at one point said to the wife you have put the wrong answer down here to that question and then proceeded to score it out with a black pen then tick the other box ,but never asked my wife to verify the change by initialing the changed question, when we got home we checked the set m guidance notes and as far as i can see my wife and daughters passports should have been taken and posted along with the visa application by the visa checking service ,i have just finished writing a letter of complaint to the head office of the local authority who run this visa checking service along with an attachment of the ukba guidance notes for the set m visa, i also enclosed a letter which i received a few weeks ago,from the visa checking service that we used today which actually states that your wife and daughters passports wont be returned as we have to forward them to the ukba along with your application , i will keep you all well informed regarding this total nightmare,we honestly thought that we were doing the right thing by going through a visa checking service,and now it might jepordise my wife and daughters visa application as they never sent the passports ,i will keep you all informed off the outcome

[stevewool]

wow , i hope you got her name and you reported her straight away to the manager at the place, i am sure she was right about the passports though if you go this route you do keep your passport, but i am sure someone will comfirm this,

[Dedworth]

Demand a refund of the fee - Letter to the Chief Executive (our local mob have changed title to Managing Director :laugher:) copy it to the Leader of The Council. Also cc Theresa May as the Home Office should be interested to hear about the appalling service given on their behalf. If no joy then take it up with Local Authority Ombudsman.

[grahamw48]

Call to your local newspaper.

Call to local radio.

Racism !

Ethnic minority persons being abused and deliberately given wrong information to jeopardize their settlement prospects. :NoNo:

Violation of human rights.

Left shocked and weeping.

That should put the cat among the pigeons. What an ignorant bitch. :mad:

[Dedworth]

Call to your local newspaper.

Call to local radio.

Racism !

That should put the cat among the pigeons. What an ignorant bitch. :mad:

Cherie Blair might be after an earner - no win no fee :Erm:

[grahamw48]

'Don't get mad...get even'.

[Michael Parnham]

Hope it all works out for you Jamesy, what a terrible way to be treated,Good Luck!

[RickyR]

How awful, how dare someone be so rude and condescending. Really, where do they find these civil servants, people who couldn't get a job in the commercial world?

[Janedan0913]

This page explains what the settlement checking service is and gives details of the local authorities currently offering a checking service for settlement applications.

The settlement checking service is a partnership between the UK Border Agency and local authorities.

The settlement checking service is an optional service which is available for a fee to applicants using the SET (M) application form only, at a local authority register office.

You can make applications for settlement at any local authority that offers the settlement checking service, not just the one where you live, subject to appointment availability.

The service is available by appointment only. Local authorities can provide details of the additional fee for this service and the times appointments are available. When attending your appointment, a trained local authority officer will:

check you have completed your SET(M) form correctly;
check you have paid the correct application fee;
copy and return your valuable documents; and
ensure your application is valid and post it to us.
You and your spouse or partner should attend the appointment. If your partner cannot attend, they must provide a letter stating that they support the application. The letter must be signed and dated and include a daytime phone number where they can be contacted if necessary. Failure of your spouse or partner to provide this letter may result in the application being cancelled and the fee will be lost.

A certified copy of your passport(s) will be taken by a trained member of staff within the local authority. You are able to keep your passport but we do recommend that you do not make travel plans whilst we consider your application as this will result in an invalid application which will be rejected.

Before attending the appointment you should have read the SET(M) guidance. When you attend your appointment you will need to bring a completed SET (M) application form and all original supporting documents required. You will also have to confirm your payment details. If you fail to do so your application cannot be submitted to us. Please see the Completing SET (M) page for information about applying and for the application form and guidance.

You should book a settlement checking service appointment before your current leave expires and you can attend your appointment when you have completed or are within 28 days of completing a 2-year qualifying period, see above.

If you were given an entry clearance visa (issued abroad), your 2-year qualifying period started from the date your visa was stamped, by the Immigration Officer, when you entered the UK.

If you have a residence permit or a biometric residence permit (BRP) (issued in the UK) the 2-year qualifying period started from the date these were issued (valid from date).

Local authorities will not give you advice about settlement. If you are attending a premium service appointment at one of our public enquiry offices, you can use the settlement checking service if you wish to have your application checked. Local authorities can provide a partial checking service, where they will check the application form is complete and that you have the correct supporting documents. They will not take the premium application fee, but will inform you of the correct premium application fees. The original documents will need to be presented at the public enquiry appointment.

The service will give you reassurance and peace of mind that your application is complete and correct. We have found that applications received through the settlement checking service are generally faster to process, as fewer cases are rejected or delayed due to incomplete or missing documents.

Using the checking service does not guarantee your application will be successful and we may still need to make further enquiries when considering your case.

The service is not available at all local authorities. If your local authority does not currently provide the service you can go to another authority in your area.

To make it easier for you to find your closest local authority that offers the service, we have separated the information into offices in England,Greater London, Scotland and Wales.

I hope this helps. I think the staff in the settlement service is right. Actually, they are there to check if you have all the requirements needed for your application and if not they will be there to tell you what else you need. As what she said that she deals with 1000 applications per day which is fair enough. I think she knows what she is doing. Just let her do her job first then you can arise your questions in the end. I work in NHS, and I don't want to be told regarding what I'm doing especially if I know I'm right. Some relatives of the patients interrupt with the care given to their relatives well in fact they were not the ones there to look after them. So I think in your case before using a service, you have to research, ask someone like here who also used the settlement service in our forum. I hope this will enlighten you a bit, but if you have any questions then maybe someone can answer it for you. No need for you to get angry on little things. It is very hard to deal on other people at times especially the customers.

[Janedan0913]

*ARISE- it should be RAISE your questions in the end.

[lordna]

Our experience of the settlement checking service was very good and would recommend it to others.

Maybe the lady concerned was a little abrupt but you were wrong about the passports which obviously must have irritated her. Good luck with your application and don't worry it will probably be fine.

[jamesy]

maybe so but as things stand and as i stated before ,i was just asking for her advice regarding ,having being given the passports back by her ,i stressed that i had read on the set m visa guidelines for filling in the set m application form that both the applicant and applicants dependants passports would be needed and posted to the border agency as part of their application ,i never nor did my wife at any point ask her to talk to us as if we were ..... ,and being in you position would you be quite happy to pay a local athority money to treat you like that i think not,maybe it may sound like little things to you but its my wife and daughters whole life and our whole future that is in this unprofessional persons hands ,personally i dont understand on how you compare your job and your patients and patients relatives to the way we were treated ,maybe ,the mould was broken after god made you and the settlement visa checking officer seems very like all local authority employees have a bad attitude,the relatives of your patients may just be concerned for their loved ones,maybe your not looking after them properly,but its not my place to judge you or your position ,my wife is and has been a nurse for many years ,she has a degree in batcholors science but she has a totally different outlook on patient concerns and care in regards to your opinion ,some people have different circumstances ,some loved ones cant look after their relatives for a various number of reasons,although it breaks their heart sometimes they have no other option than to put them in to care,but that doesnt make them a terrible person ,and when they try to give advice to you or who ever, i doubt for one minuite that they are trying to tell you your job ,they are infact only showing that they love and care for the person who is in your ward under your supervision ,maybe they are only trying to make sure they are getting the best of care. your job and patients are totally irrelivant to our situation.

[jamesy]

thanks ,i was only going by what i read on the set m visa guide lines ,and i thought i had to ask her that question for piece of mind,but we certainly did not ask to be spoken to and treated like crap.
it also stated that they would keep my wife and daughters passport on the notification letter for the appointment with the visa checking service ,remember i asked you a while back ,with regards to what you put on the form about having made a claim for tax credits and child tax creds ,well i took your advice and we put a foot note down regarding to what you told me ,and when she was reading this she was smirking and raising the eye brow and even managed a sniger .i think shes not fit to deal with public services ,these people are supposed to be neutral and professional it wasn't much of a worry until we were humiliated for an hour by this woman .

[imagine]

im thinking perhaps the passports are not needed posted to the border agency as part of the application, because the visa checking service has the authority to check the passports on behalf of ukba , which means there is no need for passports being seen by ukba,

so perhaps this woman is right, but should have treated your concern with some respect,
dont worry im sure it will all go through ok :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[jamesy]

thanks

[jamesy]

is that you handing out knighthoods now have you changed your job mam

[grahamw48]

Here's my opinion:

You were in a stressful and confusing situation where something that was of the utmost importance to you and your partner was being processed.

Quite naturally you wanted to be sure of there being no chance that things could go wrong, causing future problems, and THAT is why you decided to pay the extra money for the checking process.

Under the circumstances I would expect a public employee who had been correctly trained and carefully selected for their 'public relations' skills to have handled the situation in a calm, polite and professional manner.

From what you have said, that certainly does not appear to have been the case.

I don't care if she had processed a hundred such cases that morning. That is no excuse.
There are plenty of suitable people currently unemployed and more than happy to pick up her baton.

[Iani]

I don't care if she had processed a hundred such cases that morning. That is no excuse.
There are plenty of suitable people currently unemployed and more than happy to pick up her baton.

Exactly!

She was unprofessional and sounds like she has a severe attitude problem. So this bag thinks it's ok to snigger at you because at one point you claimed tax credits? Maybe she should have to claim them for a while to focus her mind. If I spoke to customers like that, I'd be out on my ..... I am paid to be friendly to them - end of story - it is part of what I am paid for - PAID FOR - in capitals so the likes of her and those who would defend her can get it.

[jamesy]

ill second that

[jamesy]

quite agree

[jamesy]

hi guys here is an update with regards to ,our ordeal last week with the settlement checking service ,
this is the reply we received.

i would advise you that i have now investigated your complaint fully and have spoken to the adviser concerned.
the adviser is disappointed in herself and concerned that you,and your wife felt upset following your checking service appointment.The member of staff has apologized that her manner was perceived by you as unprofessional and has advised that her only intention was to make sure your appointment was carried out correctly.the member of staff did not mean to,cause you or your wife any offence and was trying to check that the application form had been fully completed .the member of staff appreciates that some of her comments could have been phrased better and apologizes that this made her appear unprofessional.

I note from your comments regarding the guidance notes from the home office which are for all applicants completing form set (M).anyone applying direct to the home office is required to submit their passport however one of the main benefits of using the settlement checking service is that we photocopy and return the original passport to you. We will ensure that this is highlighted in our appointment letter.
Having reviewed your application,i can confirm that all of the information provided to you during your appointment was correct .

Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention and once again please except my apologies for the upset this has caused you and your family .as a result of your complaint the member of staff will undergo further customer care training and will be monitored to ensure that the customer care given is to the high standard expected by all of our staff.
I very much regret that the level of service which you received was less than expected by you and would,once again thank you for bringing this to our attention .i trust that the response clarifies our position and assures you that we have taken the steps to improve services based on your experience,and feedback.
I would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete the attached form regarding our complaints procedure.

[grahamw48]

Very good. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

Hopefully a lesson will have been learned.

If 'customers' such as yourself don't complain, then the bosses will probably assume all is well.

[jamesy]

is a kind of half hearted apology ,a lot of the issues i mentioned to them in my complaint were not even mentioned in the reply, hopefully this will prevent any one else having to go through an hour of being spoken to like dirt

[imagine]

is a kind of half hearted apology ,a lot of the issues i mentioned to them in my complaint were not even mentioned in the reply, hopefully this will prevent any one else having to go through an hour of being spoken to like dirt

at least it is an apollogy and accepting she was out of order, you made your complaint and that counts so much for others that may now get a nicer service, many people do not complain and that is the reason we continue to get bad service, well done to you and i wish you a trouble free and succesful result with your application:xxgrinning--00xx3:

im sure you deserve some rep :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Michael Parnham]

Well, at least they did the decent thing and apologised!:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[jamesy]

thanks

[jamesy]

thats very true ,the biggest problem regarding any foreign person,who is living here in the uk ,is that they are looked down upon by the majority of people , i see it every day,:thumbsdown:i thought that this countrys policy was equality,to be quite honest sometimes i feel ashamed to admit that im british,if i had the means to do it i would move to the philippines in a minuite

[Terpe]

thats very true ,the biggest problem regarding any foreign person,who is living here in the uk ,is that they are looked down upon by the majority of people , i see it every day,:thumbsdown:i thought that this countrys policy was equality,to be quite honest sometimes i feel ashamed to admit that im british,if i had the means to do it i would move to the philippines in a minuite

I'm not disagreeing.
How do you imagine a foreigner is looked upon in the Philippines?

[LastViking]

Sorry to hear your story Jamesy. I hope matters get sorted out for you. I have never tried these services so it will interesting to hear other members experiences.

All the best

LV

[Terpe]

Sorry to hear your story Jamesy. I hope matters get sorted out for you. I have never tried these services so it will interesting to hear other members experiences.

All the best

LV

From my experiences, I have nothing but praise for the professional and knowledgeable approach of our local Checking Service. I've always strongly recommended the service.
Certainly takes some of the anxiety out of the waiting knowing that the application is complete and technically correct.

Until this post I had never come by any negative feedback.

[Dedworth]

Mealy mouthed excuses. I'd still be doing my post # 3 suggestions :-

Demand a refund of the fee - Letter to the Chief Executive (our local mob have changed title to Managing Director ) copy it to the Leader of The Council. Also cc Theresa May as the Home Office should be interested to hear about the appalling service given on their behalf. If no joy then take it up with Local Authority Ombudsman.

[jamesy]

well through my experience i personally feel that we are treated very well by the philippino people ,i can honestly say that i found every one to be nice towards me ,also may i add i am a well travelled person ,who over the years has lived in the middle east iran ,and was also caught up in the revolution there back in the late 70,s early 80s ,and again may i stress although there was much hatred towards the western world in iran at that time ,no one ever mistreated me or any of my friends or family there ,we also knew many of the hostiges who were also captured down in tehran ,and again they were treated humainly , the problem here is ignorance,a lot of people here are totally selfish

[jamesy]

yes that may be true of your experience,i was hoping that i would have also taken some of the stress and anxiety out of the visa application by using this service too,but as i said before maybe you were just lucky ,or yet again maybe i was just unlucky ,personally unlike you i cant honestly recommend all the visa checking services up and down the country ,only the one which i used , i suppose its down to the individual employee,and the way they treat you

[jamesy]

thanks

[grahamw48]

well through my experience i personally feel that we are treated very well by the philippino people ,i can honestly say that i found every one to be nice towards me ,also may i add i am a well travelled person ,who over the years has lived in the middle east iran ,and was also caught up in the revolution there back in the late 70,s early 80s ,and again may i stress although there was much hatred towards the western world in iran at that time ,no one ever mistreated me or any of my friends or family there ,we also knew many of the hostiges who were also captured down in tehran ,and again they were treated humainly , the problem here is ignorance,a lot of people here are totally selfish

That's interesting.

My brother was an Attache at the British Embassy in Tehran, but had moved on to another appointment just before the revolution started. My sister however, WAS still there.

She had only been in Iran 3 months and was working as a nurse at one of the hospitals in the Capital, when suddenly the rockets started flying over her accommodation. She had to be flown out, without pay or other compensation, poor girl.

I still have a letter from her, written during the mayhem. :NoNo:

[sars_notd_virus]

thats very true ,the biggest problem regarding any foreign person,who is living here in the uk ,is that they are looked down upon by the majority of people , i see it every day,:thumbsdown:i thought that this countrys policy was equality,to be quite honest sometimes i feel ashamed to admit that im british,if i had the means to do it i would move to the philippines in a minuite

Don't let other people bring you down, there's a lot of ignorant people everywhere.
I am also a foreigner in this country whichever i purchased or pay it has to be a good service (if it is not, then i am not paying for it or i'll bring it back).
with regards to checking service , I think they know what they are doing (if you paid for it let them do their job)..and the attitude , yes some people doesnt need to be in that job if they are not very costumer friendly.

Any updates with your wife and daughters application yet??

[Terpe]

.....She had only been in Iran 3 months and was working as a nurse at one of the hospitals in the Capital, when suddenly the rockets started flying over her accommodation. She had to be flown out, without pay or other compensation, poor girl.

I still have a letter from her, written during the mayhem. :NoNo:

I was in Tehran during the Christmas of 1978 and had felt uneasy during trips there for quite some time.
I worked for a US owned company who insisted it was safe despite my doubts.
I was hurriedly pulled out before the new year and barely made it to the airport due to so many people demonstrating on the streets.
Pretty scary stuff.
I remember I had to leave all my tools and my suitcase behind as the airport was under strict control. Just my carry-on.

Sorry for the off-topic. Just jogged my memories.

[grahamw48]

Small world. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[jamesy]

really ,we lived in tabriz had been there since 76 ,my dad god rest his sole actually went back there in the middle of the iran iraq war ,the company he was working with over there ,asked him if he would go back over there as.a representative on company buisness for them ,even although they had made him redundent, he quickly took them up on their offer as all our personal belongings were still stuck in customs over there,and my dad had a lot of good friends he was missing who lived there ,he entered the country on a months tourist visa ,as by that time the iatola komeini ,was against any foreigner working in iran ,after his visa ran out he was stuck in the country for 4 months before he managed to get out ,mike matrinco who was one of the hostages in iran was a close friend of hours but we were very friendly with a lot of them,iran was a beautiful country ,and the people like the filipinos were genuine ,my dad was offerd another job in manilla with the same company,but he declined as he was settled in iran, then months later there was a revolution we were sent home but my dad stayed on for quite a long time before returning back to the uk,im sure we knew some of the british embassy staff who were based in tehran ,leave it with me ill get back to you on that one

[grahamw48]

Interesting story.

Well, PM me Jamesy please, rather than putting his name on here, as my brother is still employed at the FCO. :wink:

You or your dad may have met him though, as he used to organise British trade shows in Iran at that time. :smile:

[jamesy]

was that merrabad ,and what company were you with at the time

[jamesy]

just received a letter today to for the my wife and daughter to go for their biometrics enrolment, im a great beleiver in that people should treat one another with respect ,we all came from the same place ,but some people.whether its money or what ever seem to think that they are better than you ,and to be quite honest that really buggs me ,i have been fortunate in my life to have been given private education ,a good family, oppertunities that some people would give their right arm for etc etc but at the end of the day those are just meterial things and i have never thought my self to be any better than any one regardless of their circumstances ,as far as i am concerned we are all the same ,i would try to help any one if i could ,unlike others who just turn their noses up at people,

[jamesy]

the people we knew at the time were sir anthony and lady parsons who were running the embassy in tehran ,we also met a younger guy who also worked in the embassy around the same period of 75 to 79 ,he was in his late 20s early thirties he came to tabriz at one point to meet all the british exspats along with his wife ,i dont know if that may have been your brother ,cant quite remember his name ,mum will probably have it written in a diary somewhere ,offcourse i wouldnt mention it on here as he still works for the fco ,even although the name may have been changed,the guy who worked for the british embassy it tabriz at the time was a mr bonner

[jamesy]

i find that very hard to believe ,that especially an american owned company ,who were based in Tehran of all places ,advised you that it was safe and actually flew you over there to work even although marshall law had been declared there on the 8th of september 78 ,and also that all foreigners there were actually being advised to leave .although it was unoficial the revolution had actually started around that time , but wasnt actually announced untill january 79 , who was the company you worked for? they obviously did not think much of you,sending you there at that time

[grahamw48]

Hi Jamesy. My (older) brother was born in 1950, but he didn't get married til 1979. I remember it well, because I was his 'best man'. He must have been desperate. :icon_lol:

[jamesy]

couldnt have been him then unless he was leading a double life so to speak :icon_lol:

[jamesy]

well here i go again ,is it just me and the wife who get all the problems or does every one on this forum get their fair share ,today my wife and daughter and i went in to the post office in st james centre edinburugh ,as my wife received a letter from the uk border agency ,asking her go and have her biometrics enrolled,and take along any dependants whom she had named on her ilr application ,to have their photo and fingerprints taken,i pointed out to my wife when we received the letter that only her name was on it ,and that her daughters wasnt, but we also noticed that there were 2 barcodes on the letter ,so i automatically thought ,ones for the wife and the other one is for our daughter, and as it was a joint application for their ilr then everything will be fine .so when we arrived at the biometrics counter in the post office, the man put the letter with the barcodes on it through the scanner to retreive their details,then he proceeded to take the wifes picture ,finger prints and signature ,once he had finished we automatically asked when he would be doing our daughters as she was a dependant and was inclueded in my wifes ilr application ,he asked us for the other letter that had been sent out for my daughter ,offcourse we replied what letter ,and went on to explain to him what i have just already said ,he advised us to phone the uk,border agency as he said we should have received two letters for the biometric enrollment one for the wife and one for the daughter,the wife phoned them and yes the guy at the post office was correct ,the girl at the border agency ,said she had no idea why we hadnt received my daughters letter ,and as we only get 15 working days to enroll ,they will send another letter out for her giving her a further 15 days to enroll her biometrics ,i honestly thought that as my wife and daughter applied together on one application then they should have been taken on the same appointment as she is a dependant and under 16,now we will have to go through it all again once my daughters letter arrives for her enrolment.what a carry on

[grahamw48]

It's a pity these compensation lawyers aren't able to include the UKBA incompetents in their 'to sue' list. :NoNo:

How damned difficult is it for them to get it right for :censored: sake ? :doh

[jamesy]

that would definitely ,bankrupt the country ,if it was possible for all foreign immigrants to sue the ukba for their lack of common sense,

[tone]

Jamsey - thanks for sharing this story - it helped me because I wasnt aware that the LA could do a pre-check and we keep our passports (useful for me because I have to travel abroad for work from time to time) I just remember how long your passports can dissapear for..

Anyway hope you get a better experience in doing the remainder of the ILR - something I need to do in Jan 14!

Cheers

Tone

[jamesy]

your welcome

[jamesy]

happiest day of my life .my wife and stepdaughter now have their ilr ,
:smile:

[grahamw48]

Congratulations to you all ! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

Peace of mind at last, eh ? :smile:

[Dedworth]

happiest day of my life .my wife and stepdaughter now have their ilr ,
:smile:

:xxgrinning--00xx3:Well done ! Glad it all turned out well in the end

[Terpe]

happiest day of my life .my wife and stepdaughter now have their ilr ,
:smile:

Congratulations to all, well done :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Michael Parnham]

So pleased for you, Congratulations!:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[jamesy]

thanks

[jamesy]

thanks ,was a long hard slog ,we seemed to have problems at every turn ,but it was certainly all worth it in the end , hopefully after my wife and daughter apply for citizenship ,all the worry and waiting will gradually fade away,mind you she will still have to take the new english exam thats coming in around october,as the earliest she can apply for citizenship is next year ,but im 110 percent sure she will pass it ,when she sat the life in the uk test she only got one question wrong ,the staff at the test center were all talking about it when i went to collect her ,shes a very smart woman ,and has the degrees to back it up ,im very proud of her :smile: