CW retirement extension report -- early on-line appointment accepted

[retiree]

I made an on-line appointment in June before the system went offline, for a week++ before my visa expiration (i.e. > 3 days).   Was waved in to the windows, and did not stop for a queue ticket.   My appointment desk (L1-32) was closed, but I was able to get helped at another desk (the supervisor) in the same cluster.   I suspect that I may have been the first such case -- my full set of paperwork was looked at pretty carefully before it was clear we were going to get started.  What helped:  business attire, and fee, bankbook, & papers all signed and stacked in order.   Went pretty quickly, except for an unusually long wait (45 minutes) to get passport & bankbook returned.  

 

Two additional points.  First, after I got my passport back I asked the runner to check whether other people with early appointments (i.e. more then three days out) could use them.   Answer from the next-level supervisor:  "Yes", plus something about them having the list of people with appointments (I didn't see this being checked for me though).   

 

Second, as always my bank letter was from the day before, and the most recent update in my fixed deposit account was from May -- the account only gets changed when interest is automatically deposited in and immediately transferred out to a regular account.   This was inspected very closely as always, but no questions were asked and there was no problem. 

 

CW was not terribly crowded.   The current three-day rule is not ideal in case applications need fixing, but it makes sense -- it lets them predict demand in any three-day period, will help keep numbers down over the first few weeks of lockdown at least, and I assume it will help smooth out the usual Friday and pre-holiday rush.   And apparently not very many people made appointments for this far ahead before the system went off line.  

Edited July 21, 2021 by retiree

[mtls2005]

Could you tell how many people were queued in the "L" area?

 

What time was your appointment?

 

 

[Misty]

Good news that so far appointments are being kept.

 

The lack of crowd makes sense - many have likely already completed extensions prior to the new 3 day deadline.  Presumably  the crowds will increase going forward, as those who would otherwise have gone earlier are now forced into a smaller time window.

[John Drake]

So you can use a bank letter and proof of account activity from the day before? Not needed for same day?

[retiree]

Could you tell how many people were queued in the "L" area?
Could not say how many were "L" specific -- several queues are in the same place.  It wasn't very crowded early afternoon. 

 

So you can use a bank letter and proof of account activity from the day before? Not needed for same day?

Again, I have a fixed deposit account -- I don't know about regular accounts.  The balance hasn't changed since I opened it many years ago (except for automatic interest in and out).  Most recent activity in the passbook was three months ago.  This was questioned once by the IO a few years back, but her supervisor cleared it up.    And I always use a letter from the day before -- this has never been questioned.