I can't seem to find anyone else who has had this issue, so hopefully you guys can assist me.
I'm applying for a UK Spouse Visa, submitted the online application on 9/12 and had my Biometrics appointment on Tuesday 9/20. My husband (British) and I (American) experienced a nightmare, massive delay in getting his supporting documents to me because the label on the package fell off, FedEx lost it and on top of everything denied it for days (seriously, it's a saga). It was eventually found, but did not arrive until Friday 9/23. I was able to combine everything in a matter of hours, so I dropped off the package at my local UPS Store on that same day and paid for it to get to Sheffield by Monday. I was promised and assured it would be picked up for international delivery that very evening and sent off to the UK.
At 9 pm that night I received an email saying that the package was missing vital paperwork and that it was being kept in a local UPS warehouse until I could supply the form. By that point the truck delivering everything to airport from the warehouse was long gone and my local branch was closed. I was able to have the missing form emailed to me by calling the 1 800 number, so I brought it into my local store again first thing this morning (9/24) thinking they could just send it to the nearby warehouse, slap it on and send it out ASAP. They basically said there is nothing they can do because there is no international shipping on Saturday via UPS anywhere near my hometown and it must remain in the warehouse. They also didn't apologize for the fact that the worker who helped me did not complete the necessary paperwork.
Here is my issue: If it doesn't get shipped until Monday does that mean it's 'late' according to UKVI? The package has technically been scanned in and postmarked 3 days after my Biometrics. I was able to contact the manager of the warehouse myself and he assured me the package would be decorated with even more proof that it was in the system on the 23rd. If there is a delay like mine I don't know if Sheffield looks at the actual ship date or the date it entered the system (i.e. the day that I as the applicant handed it off).
Also, since my Biometrics appointment was on a Tuesday, the 5th day of my window is a Sunday. Do you have 5 business days to send everything or just 5 days? I've looked all over the place for clarification and all the official documents and websites just say "5 days" which is too vague for my situation.
At this point I'm just hoping that if it goes out on Monday we are not rejected for a late ship date. Obviously we realize that shipping it on a Friday was not ideal, but due to the FedEx issues, we really felt lucky that my husbands documents arrived at all. If anyone has any experience with delays in your shipping to Sheffield or any more knowledge I would appreciate some clarification. Worst case scenario if we are rejected for late documents it should be an easy (if not extremely expensive and heartbreaking) reapply.
