Blackpearl

No. didn't pay priority and never thought it would take so damn long .. they are understaffed and we are suffering

KernowIan

My wife is on day 52 today. Standard Application. Email from Sheffield on 4 May.

Our 4yo son (British) and myself have travelled to UK in advance to set up home, and to try to get him a school place and me a job.

The waiting is killing all 3 of us.

Already entering the contingency planning stage of a 2 year visit visa if she is refused, pending appeal!

london_2005

can you do that while a settlement visa is in progress? we thought about the same but have been told it may cause an issue as they would question why she is applying for a visit visa

KernowIan

Sorry if I didn't make it clear. I am just looking into it, as a contingency. IF the settlement visa is rejected, we will immediately apply for a 2 year visit visa, same day as passport is returned. We will then address the Appeal together in UK. That would be the plan. Hope we don't need to execute it.

london_2005

i hope you won't need it at all ! was just asking; if you need to ; are you sure you can do it ?

mikelincs

If that happens, your problem might be that, having had a spouse visa denied the powers that be MIGHT just see it as your wife trying to move to and live in the UK without the relevant visa. Not trying to dash hopes but it could happen, however unless there are real problems with your initial application I can't see you having any sort of problem, it's just a matter of waiting I'm afraid.

KernowIan

Hi London. Yes. Anyone can apply for a visit visa.

I am presuming refusal of settlement could only be on financial or technical grounds. We have been married 7 years, lived together for 7 years in Thailand in the house I built. Our son is British and we have moved back to UK so he can have a proper education. I served 23 yrs in HM forces, and a further 15 years as a global humanitarian advisor. So I am hoping they will not decline my wife a visit visa!!!

KernowIan

And she has previously has xmas family holiday in London (3 weeks) and Schengen for Greek wedding (3 weeks) with me, in past 5 years

garyede

i reckon your not far off the mark Scouse John. The recent court ruling has obviously put another crack in Sheffields incompetent framework and rather than
looking at applications individually to decide which applications might fall within the new legalisation they thought lets just send a cart blanc letter to every applicant with kids and make them even more nervous than they already are!!!

garyede

As i understand it Sheffield took on the work of around 25 other embassies, staggering it over a few months to make things easier, but a combination of poor
forward planning, Brexit and trying to save money they got themselves in to this mess. Being a former civil servant i have seen this thing so many times it embarrasses me.

garyede

I know when my solicitor first notified me about the changes sometime in April i was just about to send my supporting docs to my wife in the Philippines. I received a letter stating that if i sent my docs to Manila after a certain date which had passed they would be returned to me in the UK!! This through me as i was literally a couple of days before sending. Anyhow i suggested to my wife to undertake the biometrics as normal, and whilst in Manila, sent her supporting docs to me via DHL, which she did. Anyhow it transpired i could have sent the docs there and they could have been scanned and sent to Sheffield. Why confuse people!! Anyhow i received her docs inserted my supporting docs and sent them all via DHL from Harrogate to Sheffield. Delivered to a PO box number which worried me, but was delivered, tracked and signed for. So is traceable. Would have been nice to receive an email saying your docs have been received and will here from us once processing occurs!!!

KernowIan

Which is an absolute disgrace!

Britflyer

I have posted before on the time line thread but we are wondering if anyone else is having the same experience as us or can throw any light on the UKVI process which appears, as Churchill said of Russia to be a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

Priority applications submitted from USA for my American partner and her two minor children age 9 and 11 years from a previous marriage, she has sole custody. I (the sponsor) am British by birth but have lived in the USA for a number of years. We have had another child together now age two, who already has a British passport. We've been waiting over three calendar months, (now 67 working days), and still no answer from Sheffield, this having paid the extra for three priority applications.

31 March 2017 – On-line applications submitted
03 April 2017 - Biometrics completed
06 April 2017 – Appendix 2 and documents package sent to Sheffield by UPS
10 April 2017 Package receipt acknowledged by Sheffield

11 May 2017 Request for additional documents to further substantiate that we have been living together for over two years (they already had our daughters original birth certificate and copy of her British passport plus other supporting documents and photos over the years of us as a family)
12 May 2017 The requested additional documents and photographs sent by email

26 June 2017 email received “Unfortunately, the processing of your application has not been straightforward and we will be unable to decide your application within our customer service targets. We are continuing to work on your application and aim to make a decision as soon as possible”.

26 June 2017 Instructed to pay the 804.00 USD NHS surcharge for my partners 11yr old daughter (system bug when making initial payments) paid and acknowledged same day.

July 02 2017 Instructed to pay further 804.00USD NHS surcharge for my partners 9yr old son, and given only 24 hours to do it or -“your visa application may be rejected or refused, and you’ll have to apply again”
With the payment made on June 26 we had already paid in full for all three applicants but with no one you can talk to, and with a 24 hour deadline we had no option but to pay again and hopefully will get it refunded at some stage.

We know our financial information submitted exceeds the stipulated amount, we have submitted all the required documents including ample evidence that we are in an on-going relationship. Either the applicants are in compliance with the requirements of the law or they are not, we simply don’t understand why it is taking so long to reach a decision meanwhile placing our life in extended limbo Our planned travel date was 13th June which is long gone. We have sold our house so are renting short term, fortunately the landlord is understanding and has allowed us to extend month to month, but he wants to rent to a long term tenant before the local school year here starts in August, so soon we will be homeless and living in a hotel or an airbnb with our possessions in storage with all the additional costs that will incur.

To further complicate matters, since the applications were submitted in April have been diagnosed with stage one prostate cancer, my urologist's recommended treatment is to start an uninterrupted seven weeks of daily radiation therapy. Obviously I can't start this until the Visa situation is resolved one way or another and I know whether I will be living, and getting treatment, in the UK or USA.

If the ECO is unable/unwilling to make a decision for some obscure reason what happens then, do the applications get escalated to a higher power(s) for review, or do they just sit on a desk gathering dust in the hope that the applicants get fed-up and withdraw their applications and throw away the thousands of pounds spent on this bureaucratic money grab?

Colesy898

I know many of us have been told our case can only be escalated after 60 working days, I think that your working days will start once they have received your package and all biometrics and online applications are complete so I think you may be at around day 45.
Might be worth giving them a call to see if it can be escalated though as I could be wrong on the starting date. It is an awful predicament you are in because I am sure you want to start your radiotherapy as soon as possible but it's not just so easy to start it in one country and finish in another. I hope you get your decision soon.

SanDiegogirl

You keep referring to your "partner" Is this your wife or your unmarried partner?