Any updates from recent applicants?

You can reapply whenever you're ready, however it will likely take a bit longer to process than the first application because they will need to look into the reason for the refusal and check whether you now meet the requirements.

They advise not to use priority if you have a refusal because they can't guarantee fast processing, however, it's still likely to be quicker than not using priority because you will still get put to the front of the line... So there's no harm in using it.

As a quick reassurance though, approximately 95-98% of applications made in the US are approved - if you meet the requirements and provided all the documents, there's no reason why it should be refused.


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Where did you find the approval statistics?

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Where did you find the approval statistics?

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By hunting down the latest official government immigration statistics tables... they are spread across several spreadsheets, and can be a little confusing, but the information is there:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2016
and the tables:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2016/list-of-tables

The statistics from Volume 1 show:
In Quarter 1 of 2016, 93% of all visa applications made in the US were approved.
In Quarter 4 of 2015, it was 94%
In Quarter 3 of 2015, it was 97%
In Quarter 2 of 2015, it was 96%
In Quarter 1 of 2015, it was 93%

Volume 3 lists how many settlement visas were issued to each country in each quarter, but it doesn't list how many applications were made in total, only the number approved, while the stats above are for all visa types, but doesn't break it down into visa categories.

By hunting down the latest official government immigration statistics tables... they are spread across several spreadsheets, and can be a little confusing, but the information is there:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2016 [nofollow]
and the tables:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2016/list-of-tables [nofollow]

The statistics from Volume 1 show:
In Quarter 1 of 2016, 93% of all visa applications made in the US were approved.
In Quarter 4 of 2015, it was 94%
In Quarter 3 of 2015, it was 97%
In Quarter 2 of 2015, it was 96%
In Quarter 1 of 2015, it was 93%

Volume 3 lists how many settlement visas were issued to each country in each quarter, but it doesn't list how many applications were made in total, only the number approved, while the stats above are for all visa types, but doesn't break it down into visa categories.

Awesome, thank you!

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Checked tracking on UPS & it says my parcel's been "picked up".  Now it's fingers crossed it's been approved.

This is my first post.  I'm going crazy!  Little background why.  Met my husband online January 2013, engaged July 2015.  Had to fight in the courts from July 2015 till April 2016 to change custody order so I could bring my son with me. Married in May.  Hired a solicitor to handle the application process.  She has time and again messed the process up for us.  Finally sent off the paperwork to Sheffield on the 1st of July and it was received the 4th of July.  The solicitor told us it's thirty days, when we hired her in April we only requested that we get over in time for my son to start school at the beginning of fall term.  Well now with what I've read and her admin assistant ( the solicitor is on holiday) says its standard 12 weeks  I'm going crazy waiting!

I keep reading everyone has upgraded to priority, how much is that?  What's the timeline on non priority applications?  ( I know they are all different but maybe just some examples)

Sorry to hear you had a bad solicitor.  Hopefully she got the application correct.

Priority is taking about a month at the moment and non-priority two to three months.

You can upgrade on the VFS website, though they do not recommend upgrading after you've mailed the application.  Many people do successfully, but at this point you've already been waiting nearly a month.  Might not be worth it.

The fee is $603 for each application. 

http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/usa/user_pay_services.html

Any US April applicants still waiting? I'm at day 66 today (April 26th bio date) and no word.

Hey dc2uk.

The time line doesn't actually start until you receive the email from UKVI saying they have your application and it will be processed.

Did you get that one? I know not everyone gets the emails. If you didn't get the email, you could get an idea that it would be counted more from the day it actually arrived at UKVI. Usually it takes a few days or weeks (depending on how busy they are) to get that email.

I did, and in my wait I've contacted the enquiry service a few times. All of their response emails state they count from the biometric date.

"We have service level standards for processing UK visa applications. We
will process 90% of non-settlement applications within 3 weeks, 98% within
6 weeks and 100% within 12 weeks of the application (biometric taken) date;
and 95% of settlement applications within 12 weeks of the biometric taken
date and 100% within 24 weeks of the application (biometric taken) date.
Please note that we define 1 week as 5 working days."

Any US April applicants still waiting? I'm at day 66 today (April 26th bio date) and no word.

What date were your documents received in Sheffield for processing? The biometrics date is irrelevant... they don't start the processing time until after they have received the documents and have logged your application into the system.

Also, did you pay for priority processing, or just send it non-priority?

I did, and in my wait I've contacted the enquiry service a few times. All of their response emails state they count from the biometric date.

That's general advice for all countries - however, each country has a different method of submitting the application... in some countries you submit your documents on the same day as the biometrics appointment, so UKVI get the documents immediately and can log them into the system and start the processing time from that date.

However, in the US, you give biometrics before submitting the documents and then have 5 days to mail them to Sheffield. Then it takes a couple more days for them to be received and a few days or even a couple of weeks for the application to be logged.

So, they can't really start the processing time on the biometrics date, because the time between you having biometrics taken and them receiving your documents is your responsibility, not theirs... they aren't going to include the time it takes you to get the documents to them in the calculation of how long it takes them to process the visa.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm non-priority, so was definitely prepared for a longer wait. They emailed receipt on May 3rd, so just past the 12 week mark.

Just kidding, it was received May 3rd, they emailed May 11th, so day 60 would be next Wednesday from that count. Thanks to you and lyonaria for the help.

Remember to take out the UK bank holidays in May.

I can't remember when the first one was but the second matched Memorial day this year!

Remember to take out the UK bank holidays in May.

I can't remember when the first one was but the second matched Memorial day this year!

Thanks for the reminder! I had both of them (first was on May 2nd, I think) in my original count, but starting from the 11th means one is out. So day 60 would actually be Tuesday, instead. Not that it makes it better lol

May is the start of the summer delay I've noticed. It's when everyone without kids start to take their 'summer' holidays. Many people try and take them around bank holidays (extra days off without losing their holiday alotment) and when the kids aren't off yet to save money and have fewer kids around (if that's not their thing).
I'm sure you will hear soon though!

There's this nifty doodad I hadn't seen til recently. It shows that they have the settlement time frames available for those done in June!

https://visa-processingtimes.homeoffice.gov.uk/

There's this nifty doodad I hadn't seen til recently. It shows that they have the settlement time frames available for those done in June!

https://visa-processingtimes.homeoffice.gov.uk/

It's s good link, but just be aware that the processing times on there will be 1-2 months out of date. They only upload the processing times for the previous month, halfway through the current month (or even partway through the next month).

Currently, the processing times on there are for all the decisions MADE during the month of June... so the ones that took 60 days to process were actually received in Sheffield during March or early April. We won't know the processing times for this month (July) until sometime in August or even in September.

This is the reason for a lot of people upgrading to priority this time last year... when they sent their applications in May and June, the processing times said that most applications were being processed in 15 working days... however, these were the processing times from April, when the consulate wasn't busy. By the time they submitted in May/June, the processing times had increased to 2-3 months, but this wasn't reflected in the processing times until August.