Originally Posted by damianpeterson

I received my approved passport today. Here's my timeline and a few thoughts:

We're applying from NZ. My wife is a New Zealander with British Citizenship through her father. Flights are booked for 3rd July.

25th March - start application on visa4uk
13th April - submit application
19th April - biometrics in Auckland
21st April - send passport and supporting documentation
11th May - Sheffield received supporting documents. Passport in Manila
9th June - received email saying the application has been decided
12th June - receive original docs and approved passport

We contacted them numerous times by phone and email throughout the process because we'd not been given any status updates. They never replied to emails within the time frame promised (even with the new, £5.48 email charge) and one of the phone calls cost £20. It was from a phone call we learned Sheffield had received the documents.

This service could be vastly improved by some simple communications; an email to say documents had been received, an update to say we're still in the queue, etc. All up it was a pretty stressful exercise and we'd resigned ourselves to missing a wedding and having to book new flights. The lack of communication was largely to blame for that.

For anyone waiting anxiously in a similar situation I hope my timeline helps ease your mind.

Originally Posted by Sophmason

Glad to hear it all worked out! Did you apply priority? If not - that's a pretty quick timeline compared to most of the other regular applications at the moment.

Originally Posted by Trevnorth10001

yep it is quick , mine went in from Aus on 9 April and I'm awaiting a decision, how ever long that takes?

Originally Posted by Colesy898

I'm feeling a bit annoyed that people that haven't paid priority are getting theirs quicker thank most that have paid priority, I understand that all visas are different but I feel like I have been stitched up paying so much for priority now!

Originally Posted by Colesy898

I'm feeling a bit annoyed that people that haven't paid priority are getting theirs quicker thank most that have paid priority, I understand that all visas are different but I feel like I have been stitched up paying so much for priority now!

Originally Posted by BritInParis

Unless you're applying for the same visa from the same country then you're comparing apples and oranges.

Originally Posted by Trevnorth10001

Hi Britparis

I have just received a decided decision but I am a bit concerned they have said that it in 10 days I will get a response however when the application first Wynton my youngest child is NHS surcharge was not deducted from my account I have been waiting for them to email me request thing that the surcharged Be paid however with the decision now be made they said I should expect to receive that answer but I have not been asked to pay the surcharge does this necessarily mean that we are unsuccessful in our application

Originally Posted by Colesy898

I'm feeling a bit annoyed that people that haven't paid priority are getting theirs quicker thank most that have paid priority, I understand that all visas are different but I feel like I have been stitched up paying so much for priority now!

Originally Posted by spouse of scouse

Yep. Exactly why timeline threads are discouraged, they cause more panic and stress than they alleviate.

Originally Posted by Sophmason

I understand what you are saying - but to be honest this timeline has been incredibly helpful. It is impossible to get any useful information out of the home office and the timelines published on their website are completely misleading (when I applied 100% of applications from my location were supposedly decided in 6 weeks with most decided in 3 weeks).

It has been comforting to know that everyone is experiencing delays because Sheffield are extremely understaffed and there has been a flood of applications. Threads like these are literally the only thing we have in order to at least get some information.

Originally Posted by Balrog

I agree. The information coming out of UKVI is unclear. MY husband paid a boatload of money to make one lousy phone call to ask if The IHS surcharge would be returned for a deactivated and incomplete application (since I made a new one due to error son the old one). They had no answer and kept him waiting for a long time on a charged call. Also, I literally asked the local ECO in the high commission here, who I happened to accidentally bump into at an event, why applications were being sent overseas to Sheffield when the local ECO would have much better capacity to track down fraudsters etc and understand locally produced documents and so on. He said he didn't know. but he did say that the most important part of the application was the sponsor information and calculation. The rest they just go down the list and tick off the boxes.

Originally Posted by BritInParis

Unless you're applying for the same visa from the same country then you're comparing apples and oranges.

Originally Posted by spouse of scouse

Yep. Exactly why timeline threads are discouraged, they cause more panic and stress than they alleviate.