Hi,
We’re concerned about the timeline of our application and just want to know if anyone else has had a similar timeline to ours recently. I applied for my second spouse settlement visa (first one was back in Sept. 2013, paid priority, was approved in less than a week and received passport w/visa a couple of days after) from SF, California. I did my Biometrics on Dec. 13th, then received the ECO email Dec. 21st. We assumed it would be processed within the 30 day window at this rate, but alas, we are STILL waiting

It has now been 49 working days since Biometrics (including UK bank holidays) and we paid Priority service again. Our case is pretty straightforward. My husband is being offered a job transfer through his current company, the salary in the UK is well above the threshold (as well as our current one), we have a UK address set up with plenty of space, and my husband and 2 kids are British citizens. We don’t know why it’s not progressed to decision made, but it’s causing a lot of anxiety, especially because we have two young children involved. Here’s the challenges we are up against now that my passport won’t be back in time

1. We are in a leased property, and we had given notice to leave March 1st because we had assumed we would have our visa before then. We have come to a month to month arrangement but must give 30 days notice now.
2. My husband is supposed to be starting his new role the second week of March. Again, we’ve been given a little wiggle room but must notify his job in advance of when we’ll be flying out.
3. We know that once you receive the visa (if approved), you have 30 days to get to the UK to pick up the permit.
4. We had already booked flights (I know, a BIG NO NO) but we had to in order for my husband to be approved for a transfer. He had to show that he had settled on a date, by booking departure flights. Unfortunately ours are nontransferable/nonrefundable 🤦🏻‍♀️ And we’re due to fly out March 4th (again, because my husband’s start date was shortly after).
5. We’re also shipping our personal belongings so we have to book a shipping container in advance.

Our case has been escalated twice, MP has been contactec (with no action on her behalf), and we’ve done about 8 email follow ups and paid for 2 phone calls. We have a disabled 5 yr old and a 10 month old who was recently hospitalized and needing round the clock care as she recovers, so my husband can’t go on ahead as we’ll need to fly together. Has anyone had a delayed priority application that’s gone over 50 working days? When we explained our circumstances to a UKVI rep, he just told us to call back on the 27th if we don’t have our decision by then, and they can put it in as “urgent”...has anyone had to do this before?? Such a shame that priority service didn’t feel worth the extra $800 this time around.

Unfortunately mine has now gone past 51 working days with no decision made yet. Someone else’s priority application timeline showed that she submitted her Biometrics from the US at the beginning of Jan, and received her visa/passport back recently. I was told there are no complications with our application but still taking so long. What’s the point of an intended travel date if the UKVI can’t make that deadline? My travel date is next Monday, but I can’t just up and leave my lease a few days before.

Ok, now I’m really panicking! We called UKVI this morning (luckily got the same person we spoke with 15 days ago), and now he’s saying that they’ll put through a 3rd escalation and as “urgent”...has anyone else ever experienced this?? It’s now 53 working days and they admitted that they don’t see much movement on my application. They can’t explain why there’s been a delay on the priority application. But he doesn’t think it’ll be done before 60 working days. I am wondering if a refund on our priority fee is warranted if it goes over 60 working days. 😏

Ok, so on Monday we will now be at a whopping 55 BUSINESS DAYS FROM BIOMETRICS. We have been escalated 3 times, the 3rd escalation was put through as urgent. Does anyone else from the US have a similar timeline??? There’s been no reasons given for such a huge delay on a priority application. Spoke with MP assistant who told us he will follow up with UKVI. Monday was our intended travel date, and now those flights will be missed

unfortunately no. We will be at 60 WD from Biometrics on Monday :/ Omg 95 WORKING DAYS?? Yikes! Have you received anything from UKVI about it not being straightforward or requesting more info? We have a follow up call with our MP in the morning (about 3am for us) to figure out what happened with ours as there’s been no reason given for the delay. We were told that our application was fine but that there was a delay in processing. We received the “not straightforward” email at 56 WD - right after our caseworker spoke directly with UKVI regarding the urgency of our application. If we don’t receive our visa this week, we will be canceling our plans. We can’t risk being out of our lease with nowhere to go at this point.