matandrobyn

Spousal visa, applied from USA, non-priority:

Sent: Mar 12
Email saying recieved: Mar 14
Email saying decision made: May 30th
Visa arrived (Success!!): June 1st

Just over 11 weeks.

Flynn.pauline

congratulations! may in ask what documents you sent In to reference to the ones I have ... just over 11 weeks now and I'm feeling nervous

damianpeterson

I'm in NZ and sent my passport plus supporting documentation off on 21st April to Auckland where it was sent on to Manila. Didn't hear anything so phoned (£1.43/minute) on 29th May and was told the supporting documentation had arrived in Sheffield on 11th May but my passport was still in Manila and nothing had been processed yet.

We fly to the UK for a friend's wedding on 3rd July followed by a couple of months travelling around Scandinavia and I really need my passport.

I've just used their new email service (£5.48) to ask how I can get my passport back without jeopardising the visa process but haven't heard from them after 4 days spanning a weekend. They say they'll answer emails within two working days. Gotta say I'm getting pretty anxious.

Has anyone tried to get their passport back partway through? Do other countries have to surrender their passport for months on end? (How can this even be feasible for people who travel regularly?)

Ideally if the process is going to take a long time I'd like my passport back so I can travel and, if accepted, present it at the time to be stamped.

OlympicRudi

Mate look at this link?
https://www.gov.uk/visa-documents-returned

damianpeterson

Oh, awesome. I'd not come across that. It appears to go through to the same form I emailed them from so I guess depending on their response (IF they respond) I can use that to get my passport back.

Thanks for the link.

OlympicRudi

I only came across it by accident while looking at options for accelerating our application.

Hope it all works out for you!

OlympicRudi

Seems like someone did try, but as they said it would cost them over £600 to comply with they managed to get out of it. They also seemed to take their time doing it, but still within the 20 working days!

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reque...mes_at_sheffie

benileo

hello,
I was asked to send an updated bank statement from my sponsor,I sent 1 year P60 and the least six months account statement, this is 4 weeks later I have not had from them.is there anybody with same issue?

AussieExpat123

From Sydney Australia applying for fiance visa

January 21 - Applied fast service
February 2 - Rejected (In hindsight our application was terrible. poor advice from our lawyer)
March 11 - Applied again fast service
April 4 - Visa granted
April 5 - On flight to UK

Did not require 70 day notice period on wedding as visa was already granted.

benileo

wow congratulations

MattP73

Hi Jeffrey
Interesting what your Aunt said but it seems to me that they are becoming increasingly hard to get hold of. My wife applied in Manila on the 7th April using the priority service, scanned all docs and received text to say application has arrived in Sheffield later that evening. She has heard nothing since??? VFS Global advertise a 10 working day service...we are now on 38 working days excluding the 3 bank holidays. I keep hearing all sorts of stories about Sheffield. My wife also emailed them asking for an update and no reply. i wish they would just give people a tracking number and let them see what was happening at least

Trevnorth10001

Hi Matt,

U and I alike mate, I paid priority and I'm also waiting..... crazy, my wife and kids are going out of their minds

Untraceablebr

Hi, I am in a very similar situation to you, applied from Brazil on 7th March and officially today is 60 working days including all bank holidays, no news yet, we did receive a document request from the entry clearance officer which has now been dealt with. Interesting they say 90days as STANDARD processing times is 60 days, there seem to be no details on gov.uk website about applications taking longer....did the VFS say this to her?

Colesy898

I received this below from our lawyer the other day. I know it's not new news but good to see UKVI are admitting that they are short staffed. It's interesting though that they say the most affected are European visas but from what I have read on this thread most are applying from outside Europe and we are still getting massive delays. We are now on working day 17/18 and paid priority but it sound like we are going to be waiting a while longer

"The UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) is currently experiencing unprecedented increase in some application categories workload. According to the statistics, the most affected category is the European applications.
UKVI openly admits lack of caseworkers and staff in general and is, therefore, sometimes unable to make a decision within its published timeline of 15 working days for entry clearance applications, and 6 months for all the in-country applications"

Untraceablebr

someone made a freedom of information act look at this:


https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reque...applications_o