hi guys,
me and hubby would like to recommend the ILR application in person for those who will be willing to pay extra for the fast track service and they called it premium in the application and get the result the same day(they aim to decide 90% w/in24 hours - as mentioned in the application). Also, applications w/c are not atraight forward and/or w/c require further enquiries take longer to decide.
after collecting all the supporting documents and letters we did the following procedure.
1) we called the home office to inquire when it is valid for us to submit our application in person, you must have all the details w/ you while talking to the home office staff (i.e. the date your visa was granted, the day you entered the country and what type of visa do you have). they will work out the earliest and the latest day when you can apply in person. Then you can choose and confirm an appointment. they will ask for your full name and date of birth and at the end they will give you a reference confirmation number.
also, i asked if we need to reconfirm the appointment and she said that there is no need and that they will just send a text message to remind of the application (in our case, we recieved the text message from them the day before our application date) .
2) our appointment is at 10 am and the home office staff asked us to come 30minutes in advance because there will be security checks.
3) after the security checks, there will be someone to direct you on which qeue you will proceed based on the type of your application. Then you will be interviewed briefly by someone to confirm that your dates(i.e. the date your visa was granted, the day you entered the country and what type of visa do you have)and documents are ok, if everything is in order, the staff will then give you a paper w/your reference number on it and direct you to the next step.
4) W/c is paying the fee to the cashier and you will then be directed to go to the waiting area for your reference number to be called.
5) When your reference number is called you will be asked to go to a certain window and there you will be submitting your papers, she did not asked us many questions(but this is based on our case as all our paper works were in order).although they had dropped the required doc. to 6 letters we still submitted as many as we could as evidence. the home office staff will go through the documents and decide w/c letters will be shown to their supervisor for appproval.
6) after waiting for 5 to 10 minutes she came back and told us that our application was approved and i was granted an indefinite leave to remain. The home office staff then asked us that it will take more or less 2 hours to update the passport, you can either leave the building and come back or just wait there for your reference number to be called to get your updated passport.
7) in our case, we just waited there and after an hour and a half, they called us and finally got my updated passport.
**Please make sure that all your documents are segregated based on the year and in order for that year.
**Please note that all the above procedures were based on our case and experience and we are hoping that the same will be applied to yours.
The home office staff were all friendly and helpful and will make you feel comfortable while in there.
PS , my hubby said that this is the best £950 we had ever spent, as the headache that i will give him for 14 weeks of waiting if we applied by post.
Goodluck to all who will apply for their visa
"Chains do not hold a marriage together.It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.That is what makes a marriage last - more than passion or even sex..." 
Originally Posted by jbt
, i wouldn't give the gov £950 for doing something that should be free 
shes lived here nearly 3 1/2yrs, worked for the nhs more than 2 yrs, and shes not good enougth to be a citizen, want her to do community service ? 
