RichInna

I have personally found the threads useful, not just the timeline element, as someone like everyone else being able to discuss the timeline is useful and a great support during the most frustrating process of our lives. I am not sure if you moderators are still going through this process or have no idea how painful and heartbreaking it is, but I suggest you let people have their say here and not impose some DELETION threat, seeing just numbers is no use on its own but being able to add elements of info does and will make OUR lives easier....

BBOB

Ii totally agree with you. Hence why I sent this email to the person who closed the thread: It's such a shame you closed the thread. It was very helpful to get all the messages sent relating to the spouse visa. It helped me reduce a lot of anxiety. We have a decision and would hopefully see if we got the visa in a few days. I hope this new thread helps as much as the old did others like me.[/QUOTE]

azimahmed

[/QUOTE]

I totally agree with you.

Pollyana

There is a whole forum in which to set up threads to discuss how the process is going for each of you - we've all been through it, we've all set up threads, we've all discussed the process.

The point of a thread purely for timelines is so that everyone can see at a glance what the expected time is. If you want to discuss stuff in more detail just start new threads and do just that, discuss!! That way it helps everyone - people have a quick view thread for timelines, and other posters have long discussion/chat/etc threads.

BEVS

OK people.

As Pollyana correctly states , most everyone here on BE has been through emigration & visa processes some way or another. Moderators and myself included.

Really, I should simply delete the above posts and remind posters of BE Site Rule 15. However, as I have a little bit of free time this Sunday I will move the conversation into a thread of its own called Chat about UK Spouse Visa.

As has been noted by myself , other regulars & moderators and actually yourselves in the posts above, timeline threads can bring more angst to the posters in question because everyone's case is stand alone and different, which is why they are generally discouraged here on BE.

Please keep the timeline thread for timelines as per Jerseygirls example in her opening post. If anyone wishes to chat or discuss this visa further then start a new thread/topic or put into this chat thread.


Thank you

RichInna

Having to trawl through multiple threads is the most annoying thing about forums. Being able to follow one thread that we ALL found useful in the position we are all in just now seemed more beneficial, I think it should be for us to decide if it causes angst, we are ALL adults after all and do not need policing, I am disappointed that the moderation of this thread is such that the freedom for us to support each other in a way we feel is best for us, after all we are the ones going through it at the moment and know what we need. If someone feels it causes them issues they can simply stop reading it, simple.
If i started a thread would it be moderated to death or would we have freedom of speech ?

spouse of scouse

What possible difference does it make if you do all your support-type chatting on this thread, or on the timeline one You're being bloody minded just for the sake of it. If you don't like the moderation of a site that is run by volunteers, don't use it - simple.

Pollyana

Have you read any of the other threads on BE? If so you should see that they are not 'moderated to death' at all! There have always been a few threads in the Immigration forums which are kept strictly factual so that people just looking for facts can easily find what they want. But there are also thousands of treads that we have all started over the years which discuss every aspect of life - and most are never even read by the mods, never mind moderated by them, there's simply no need

Go on, take the plunge, start a thread discussing whatever problems you are having with the visa process....asking for whatever help you require.. ....whatever is stressing you out

christmasoompa

You're assuming that others found the first thread more beneficial - actually, you might find that lots that posted in it complained about it being taken over by chat, and not being kept to timelines, which was the whole point of it. People's questions were being ignored and lost in that thread. Your view is that it should have been kept, but others may well have disagreed and complained to the mods.

We don't take action unless it's necessary, BE is actually very fairly moderated and we only step in when needed. Remember that all the mods are volunteers, and give up their time on here to help others, and frankly I find your attitude towards a group of volunteers a bit odd (and assuming none of them have been through the same process as you.......I'm pretty sure every single one of us has waited for a visa for some country or other, that's what brought us to BE in the first place).

It's really not difficult, keep timelines only to that thread, and any other questions/chat, start new threads for, it seems to work fine in other country forums (see the US immi forum that JG gave a link to to show how it works). And please, do re-read the site rules (rule 15 in particular), any more moaning about mod actions and it will be deleted. If it is, then you can't really complain that would be being 'policed' when it's simply making sure you adhere to the site rules you agreed to when you signed up to BE.

HTH.

Colesy898

I think what RichInna has said may have been taken a bit strongly. I had been reading the original thread since it started and didn't see anyone complain about the chat (it wasn't off topic) or say that they were upset because they had been given false hope. Yes I'm sure all or most of the moderators have been through the visa application process but how many have been through and experienced the delays that we are experiencing? This really is the hardest time some us us are experiencing thinking we would be with our husbands/wives within a few weeks and it is now months with no help from UKVI, for me it was also good to hear about people's experiences in contacting UKVI all on the same thread I have been reading from the start, instead of having to trawl through numerous threads to find an answer. I understand that it wasn't kept only to timelines like it maybe should have but I feel we created a community on that thread of people all going through the same thing in their lives. This is not an attack at anyone I am just telling the story from the other side of the computer.

Pollyana

Most of them, trust me.
Don't assume that you are the only one to have had visa/migration issues. A few hours browsing on here will fill you in with the hassles some mods have had over the years, they are no different to anyone else. And many of us former mods have also had delays/holdups and gawd knows what as well. We know only to well what 'ordinary' posters go through - we've done it ourselves and we've helped out thousands of people over the years who have had issues and delays, not necessarily with UK migration but with other countries too. I know a lot of posters in the US forums have spent months or even years apart from their spouses while waiting for visas, and lately Australia has been ging the same way.

I've not read the original thread, but whatever was in it is irrelevant to the fact that a moderator has made a request to keep one thread to one thing and post other stuff elsewhere, its not unusual and its surely no great hassle. If there was a crowd of people posting and chatting on a previous tread just start a new one and they can all chat there

christmasoompa

People usually don't complain about other members on the open forum - if a post is reported, only the mods get that report, ditto PM's. We don't share what goes on behind the scenes for obvious reasons.

And yes, as Pollyana has said, mods have been through the same visa hassles as everybody else, some far more than them in fact - I can think of one mod that had about 2 years apart from her husband because he was from Iran, so subject to lengthy processing delays and he couldn't even visit her during that time.

Tr1boy

Ask for your money back.

BEVS

I am sorry that my effort to create a special space to chat has not been welcomed by some. It was done with the best of intentions .

As others have written, we all have our tales to tell.
Immigration rules were changed when my husband and I had just started our own application process for New Zealand and so there was concern and delay. We needed to apply & pay for a temp visa for my husband and I ended up by myself for several months, sleeping on a floor with a house to sell , my pets in boarding , our possessions already in a container waiting for the word go and all the usual guff whilst he flew away to the other wide of the world. To conserve funds he ended up in a mens bunk house with the contents of his suitcase. We were not the only ones . Of course this meant extra work load for the Immy staff, a back log and changes to their online website. It all made for a bit of a state of flux .
A few years later policy altered again and a new wave of people had the same sort of issues. They called their online support , concerns & application check and re-checks 'Immigration Finger Syndrome'. So you see, many of us have been through the same or similar issues.

I created this as the 'one thread' where those applying for this particular visa could talk to each other.

That made just two threads to check in on + any of those other threads about this particular UK visa started by other posters where hopefully folk also all pop in to support each other .

If you do not wish to use such a thread then that is fine.

The timeline thread however, any timeline thread, will remain as per any of the timeline threads we allow on BE, for timelines only. That is because there are those posters that prefer to check against such a list without having to work through chat.

Thank you.

RichInna

Dear all

I wanted to create a thread where we can all (if you want) discuss your issues and worries, quite a few of us from previous threads have paid the priority service and have succumbed to the new and very slack service from Sheffield.

Feel free to vent off here and let your feelings out, we all need to have somewhere and someone to talk to and maybe the support of others will help you.

I for one have found previous threads helpful just reading your stories and problems and successes, so dont be shy get talking.

My wife and I applied 16th May paying the new extortionate priority fee (on top of the new visa fees) and was told by TLScontact it would be done in 10-15days max, now 37 working days and nothing, calls and emails have proven to be useless and inconsistent, so as it stands my wife and I are still apart, I needed surgery and had postponed it in the hopes she would be with me, no such luck. I had surgery 4 days ago and feel pretty down by all of this, Its not just the visa that hurts its the waiting the worry the stress, the extra unplanned financial burden the list goes on, but mostly missing someone so much and unable to see them.

I plan to email again this week and will let you know the response we get.

Rich