Croydon Service and Support Centre England 40 Wellesley Road, Croydon CR9 2BY

"Immigration officer Michelle in Croydon has to be the most unprofessional person I've ever dealt with. Not only was she huffing and puffing and threatening to hang up but she's provided an enormous amount of wrong information including sending me emails contrary to what she's stated. She advised it was a typo but a typo can't be something completely opposite of what she's advised. She also lied about sending emails she never sent. I prayed for her today because she doesn't understand humility!!!. I support the UK and all the leaders working to make legal immigration humanly possible!"

"Unfortunately they don't understand the difficulties of an immigrant. We only face the security officers who are least helpful. The helpline is completely useless if miraculously you get someone across the only answer the only know is Sorry they can't do anything if you have any complaint email which they don't respond for more than 6 weeks The government need to build a better system than this."

"I am an exchange student from Sciences Po, Paris to King’s College London (KCL) from for fall semester 2022. I was advised by KCL to apply for Standard Visitor Visa for less than 6 months study and stay, which both the UKVI official website and KCL service personnel say should take maximum 3 weeks of process time. I submitted my documents and biometrics on 9th of August, and 10 weeks later I am still waiting. I called and emailed UKVI almost every second day since week 5 and was only informed that application has been assigned to a case worker since August and does not miss documents, but decision has not yet made, and nothing can be done. Due to this unbelievable inefficiency, irresponsibility and enormous discrepancy between information online and practice in reality, I am living under great uncertainty with huge financial burdens and mental distress - I have to find temporary housing solution in Paris, I lost my student residence in London, I’m losing 4 weeks of mandatory classes, I changed my train tickets 4 times. And if I don’t receive a response tomorrow, I will be no longer able to enroll at KCL, and will lose my semester both in terms of time and enormous tuition, and won’t be able to graduate on time. This is extremely unfair to a young person who strives to earn every penny through part time jobs to cover her tuition and living costs. Absolutely no empathy, rationale nor accountability is shown through the practices of this office."

"Should be an in person service for people who have visa related queries and issues. The email process is way too slow. Extremely inefficient and disappointing for something that’s so important and often urgent for many people."

"These places are always going to divide opinion. You pay a huge additional amount to (hopefully) cut the dreadful application wait times (currently 6 months!). Better government service for those who can afford it, and some who probably can’t. Not a nice thought. That said, we found the centre itself to be clean, fairly efficient, and set up to handle long wait times and frustrated applicants. First things first, they won’t let you into the building more than 15 minutes in advance of your appointment, so don’t get there early in the hope. You then go through airport style security (water, food etc is allowed), and go to your floor. For our ILR application we went to the third floor, and whilst the lifts were roped off, we were told they were available for those who needed them. You sign in and take a ticket and wait for your number. First time it’s called you submit your paperwork (40 min wait for us). We had ours organised in a small binder with all the supporting documentation, but were asked to take it out and put it into their plastic wallets. Second time your number is called to take your biometrics (almost immediately after the first call), and finally they call you when your application has been reviewed. It was a sunny day and we were relieved when the biometrics worker said we could leave the building for 2 hours and come back (although on that hot day we didn’t find the building too hot or too cold). We left for the full two hours and about 15 minutes after we got back our number was called. I believe they will call your mobile if there are any problems or you are not in the building when they call your number. Everyone was polite, but understandably not too friendly. In terms of facilities the toilets were clean and there were baby changing facilities and a kids’ area in the waiting lounge (with a tv with cartoons and some toys). There was a small cafe for drinks, sandwiches and snacks. There is also a passport photo machine in case you need it. Like other reviewers I’d advise taking plenty of food and drink with you, and something to keep you entertained. I was glad for headphones because the waiting area was a little noisy once it got busy (around 10.30). Plenty of people seemed to have personal representatives/lawyers with them, but most did not. Partners/family seemed welcome at the counters with the applicants, you don’t have to go on your own. Some people were dressed smartly, others more casually, it didn’t seem to matter. Hope that’s helpful to someone, good luck with it."