Trying To Book Appointment For Uk Ilr

[bigdave1960]

My wife can apply rfor ILR from December 6th 2012 , and we were wanting to apply in person premium service at solihull office. I decided a week or so ago to look about booking an an appointment but it seems impossible to get one at first i selected days between 6-31 december any day any time nothing expanded search untill late january nothing, added more offices nothing available even tried from tomorrows date till end of january and one by one chose each office and still nothing is this the norm? how can one get an appointment , on UKBA website it says not to phone , other sites suggest you can phone for a premium service .

This in part leads me to a second question not sure if I should put it here I understand my wife needs a biometric card , from telephone conversation with UKBA a few months ago they said that would be done as part of the application when you had a premium service ,in person at solihull , if we can not get an appointment what does she do about biometrics?

[tibap]

OK Bigdave

I have just recently booked an appointmant for my wife in Glasgow for her ILR, and i was able to get the appointment on the 1st attempt, but you have to follow the rules, which are.

You cannot apply for ILR more than 28 days from the 2nd anniverary of the start date of her settlement visa, therefore if her 2 years were up on the 6th of December, the earliest you can apply would be the 8th of November.

With regards to the appointment, you can make an appointment up to a maximum of 6 weeks before the eligible date you are applying for, IE this means that if you were applying for an appointment for the 6th of December the 1st day you can apply for the appointmant would be the 25th of October, so any attempt to make an appointment before that will come up as no appointment available.

I was advised by the UK Border Agency Enquiry line that new appointments are available online daily and are updated and available from 7.30. am in the morning, i did this (just before 8am) and on my 1st attempt was able to make an appointment. (incidentally i have found them to be very helpful and informative any time i call them on 0870 606 7766 and select the option for general enquiries about applying for visas)

In conclusion, when you apply online for the appointment for 6th December on the 25th of October you can only apply for that date, if you try to make an appointment on the same day for the 7th December you will not get one as that would be more than 6 weeks ahead, therefore you have to then get online every day until you are successful.

Sorry if this expanation is a bit long winded, but it is a very complicated procedure, however it did work for me and hopefully it will for you too.

Best of luck. Tibap.

[silverdales]

I tried to book also and gave up! - apparantly agents or big companies "block book" the appts and give the names later on, you have to be lucky to get one.

We went for the checking service the council do for you and its about £80, sadly it makes it no quicker just makes sure it is complete. the premium appt is where you get the answer/result the same day.

If you post it or the council checking service post it for you then they will write to you soon after inviting you to attend a selected amount of main postoffices who will take the biometric details.

I really wanted to do the premium appt as to save time but gave up, I am confident in the application but its the delay I dont like!

ring the helpline in doubt - they are quite helpful really..

good luck

[samesamebutdifferent]

I had similiar problems getting an appointment. As stated above, the appointments are issued 6 weeks in advance, and snapped up fast. Although, as far as I'm aware, they're issued electronically at midnight, and the fact that the website crashes or becomes unresponsive from 0:01 in the morning I reckon it's the truth. From looking around various internet forums, I found the best thing to do is get up early, pick the 3 nearest offices for you and leave the chosen dates and times BLANK. This will give you a choice of any available appointments. We got our appointment at Glasgow on the day we wanted by going online at 5:00am on the day of release and booking up.

I don't know how much of the slots are taken by agents, but I don't like it, considering when you apply for a settlement visa at the UK embassy in BKK, any suggestion that you've used an agent and your application is refused. Why is it OK to use an agent for ILR? and they get pick of the appointments? That sounds like the sort of rants I see on Thai Visa against Thai authorities. Nice to see our own officials aren't above getting their palms greased.

[7by7]

Three points:-

1. Using an agent for a visa application does NOT mean it will be refused. Ask Visas Plus or Thai Visa Express. Although the poor reputation of certain agents (I am not allowed to name them) means the ECOs may look more closely at an application submitted by them; which is why those agents advice their victims clients not to mention them in the application!
   
2. As far as I am aware, agents cannot block book slots for the premium service, although they may be able to book an appointment for a specific individual. I suspect that rumours that they can do so are unfounded, but will accept it is so if some credible evidence is produced.
   
3. Any accusations that UKBA staff are 'getting their palms greased' are very serious. If you have any evidence that it is so you should contact the police immediately.
   

Unless the applicant definitely needs their passport back within the next three to six months, why pay the extra for the premium service anyway? Postal ILR fees are exorbitant enough without giving the government extra for the premium service when you don't need to.

[bobrussell]

On the UKBA website it states:

You should book only 1 appointment, for the date and time that you need. If you cannot attend the appointment that you have booked, you must cancel or reschedule it.

An appointment must be booked in the name of the person who will attend it. Nobody else can attend the appointment in that person's place. If you book an appointment on another person's behalf, you must give their name and they must attend the appointment. A booked appointmentcannot be transferred to a different person.

Do not book speculative appointments. You should not book an appointment until you know that you, or the person who you represent, can and will attend the appointment.

If we find that a person or organisation has offered a booked appointment for sale, we will immediately prevent them from using the service, and they could face action if any wrongdoing is involved.

Agents can, therefore only book specific applicants for specific slots. They cannot block book but obviously may make a number of appointments within a short time if they have a list of applications to present.

I very much doubt UKBA staff are getting their palms greased. The system is just overloaded, underfunded and understaffed. It is therefore not surprising it is unfit for purpose some of the time.

[liveforever]

we also tried to book the premium service without success apart from one thursday night when we tried about 7.30pm and there was an appointment for the following monday morning, it was just not enough time as i had only just started the process; anyway in the postal queue now.

kind regards

[theoldgit]

Off topic flame removed, as well as response.