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Topic: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas  (Read 3914 times)

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September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« on: October 06, 2016, 01:49:11 AM »
Hello all!

New to this platform, but I'm already finding it to be a wealth of information and solace during what, I'm sure we can all agree, is an incredibly stressful time!

I figured I'd start a chain for September applicants so here it goes! *Please specify whether you've applied priority or non-priority :) *

PRIORITY APPLICANT
Shipped my Documents via UPS: September 10
Arrived in Sheffield (confirmed by UPS tracking): September 14
Received Email from Sheffield Visa Section Confirming Receipt: September 21
Husband Called the Help Line: October 4 (told us no one had looked at it yet and to give it 6 weeks)

Background info:
We applied for a spousal visa after marrying in the U.S. in August and deciding the fiancé visa wasn't for us. I applied in VA and so I will be emailed to say a decision has been reached and my documents and passport will be returned to me with the airway bill I've provided in my application. I am currently waiting on THE email of all emails--fingers crossed!!
« Last Edit: October 06, 2016, 02:27:09 AM by MrsCooper »


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2016, 02:19:08 AM »
- Appointment  Sept 13.2016 @ 12:30
- Bio metrics done
- Application arrived at sheffield on the 19 September  2016
- Email to say applications is in the system for the ECO
- Got another email October 03, 2016 stating my application was processed and ready for me to pick up.
- Picked  up my Settlement Visa Under Category "F"
- time for travel 09-10-2016 ---  08-11-16
- This was NON PRIORITY ..i was not going to pay for PRIORITY due to my first fail..
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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2016, 04:45:14 AM »
- Appointment  Sept 13.2016 @ 12:30
- Bio metrics done
- Application arrived at sheffield on the 19 September  2016
- Email to say applications is in the system for the ECO
- Got another email October 03, 2016 stating my application was processed and ready for me to pick up.
- Picked  up my Settlement Visa Under Category "F"
- time for travel 09-10-2016 ---  08-11-16
- This was NON PRIORITY ..i was not going to pay for PRIORITY due to my first fail..

Wow, yours was non-priority Eddy and in September after an initial refusal?  That is great!  Not sure what is happening then with all the June/July applications still waiting to receive a decision. But I'm very glad that you didn't have to wait so long after having gone through this arduous process once already.


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2016, 04:57:32 AM »
Just realized your location Eddy - did you also submit from Toronto?  Toronto processing times seem to be much better than US times overall (based on July stats anyway). That probably explains the difference.  In any case, you have finally got it - woohoo!


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2016, 08:54:49 AM »
Eddy applied from Canada!  So, whole different ball game processing times wise!


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2016, 10:23:08 PM »
- Appointment  Sept 13.2016 @ 12:30
- Bio metrics done
- Application arrived at sheffield on the 19 September  2016
- Email to say applications is in the system for the ECO
- Got another email October 03, 2016 stating my application was processed and ready for me to pick up.
- Picked  up my Settlement Visa Under Category "F"
- time for travel 09-10-2016 ---  08-11-16
- This was NON PRIORITY ..i was not going to pay for PRIORITY due to my first fail..

I'm still thinking should I pay for the priority service as I'm applying from Hong Kong. We are planning to back to uk together on early Dec now still pending few doc ready.
**Btw. Is the priority service fee pay at the visa centre on the date I booked ?


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #6 on: October 06, 2016, 11:45:42 PM »
Just realized your location Eddy - did you also submit from Toronto?  Toronto processing times seem to be much better than US times overall (based on July stats anyway). That probably explains the difference.  In any case, you have finally got it - woohoo!
Hank you Phu..I can tell you I never did anything different... was just more in tune with everything that had to be perfecto.


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2016, 11:47:26 PM »
I'm still thinking should I pay for the priority service as I'm applying from Hong Kong. We are planning to back to uk together on early Dec now still pending few doc ready.
**Btw. Is the priority service fee pay at the visa centre on the date I booked ?
I could not say no experience in priority..sorry.. the modes would have vast amount of knowledge..


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2016, 11:54:47 PM »
Just realized your location Eddy - did you also submit from Toronto?  Toronto processing times seem to be much better than US times overall (based on July stats anyway). That probably explains the difference.  In any case, you have finally got it - woohoo!

Yes I applied from 206 Bloor    St w visa office..thank you Phu..this forum gave me hope so did the applications and Visa that people got .. a good place


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2016, 07:14:21 AM »
Hi all, I just wanted to share some timings re. our Priority Settlement application, submitted end of September (from the US). The speed that this appears to have been processed could well be a good sign that if Priority Apps are whizzing through now, that could well mean that the backlog is clearing or has cleared already.

Biometrics: 20th Sept
Docs Shipped to Sheffield: 22nd Sept
UPS Confirm Delivery: 26th Sept
Email Confirming Receipt: 27th Sept
Phone Call from Caseworker*: 5th Oct
Email Decision Made/Docs Shipped: 7th Oct

*It's important to note that the phone call is unlikely to be very common, in fact not really heard of for a while. I checked with some people, and my lawyer, and they said that it is possible for a case worker contacting (in my case, I'm the sponsor) to make contact by phone, but not very often. For obvious reasons, I won't divulge the nature or content of the conversation as thats confidential/private, however it was fairly straightforward and they were very friendly and helpful. Could be that its faster for them to call if there are any questions, than emailing - as that way it could be quicker to clear the pile. So that's potentially why I got a call.

That all said, it looks like once a decision is made, there's a day or two before the emails fire off (assume another team packages it all up and 'hit the button' once they're done and its ready to go out into the UPS network).

So, it's on its way!

I hope this news give's everyone a ray of light that if the priority apps are going through really quickly now, then the rest should follow. Keeping fingers crossed for everyone.  :)


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #10 on: October 08, 2016, 11:36:30 AM »
Hi all, I just wanted to share some timings re. our Priority Settlement application, submitted end of September (from the US). The speed that this appears to have been processed could well be a good sign that if Priority Apps are whizzing through now, that could well mean that the backlog is clearing or has cleared already.

Biometrics: 20th Sept
Docs Shipped to Sheffield: 22nd Sept
UPS Confirm Delivery: 26th Sept
Email Confirming Receipt: 27th Sept
Phone Call from Caseworker*: 5th Oct
Email Decision Made/Docs Shipped: 7th Oct

*It's important to note that the phone call is unlikely to be very common, in fact not really heard of for a while. I checked with some people, and my lawyer, and they said that it is possible for a case worker contacting (in my case, I'm the sponsor) to make contact by phone, but not very often. For obvious reasons, I won't divulge the nature or content of the conversation as thats confidential/private, however it was fairly straightforward and they were very friendly and helpful. Could be that its faster for them to call if there are any questions, than emailing - as that way it could be quicker to clear the pile. So that's potentially why I got a call.

That all said, it looks like once a decision is made, there's a day or two before the emails fire off (assume another team packages it all up and 'hit the button' once they're done and its ready to go out into the UPS network).

So, it's on its way!

I hope this news give's everyone a ray of light that if the priority apps are going through really quickly now, then the rest should follow. Keeping fingers crossed for everyone.  :)

Hi congrats! Was this a spousal visa application from the states?


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2016, 11:46:24 AM »
Hi congrats! Was this a spousal visa application from the states?

Thank you  :) Yes, it is a Spousal Settlement visa from the US.


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2016, 09:47:49 PM »
Congrats Britnuk!  Thanks for the encouragement and for your positivity for the rest of us buggers! It does give hope that many of ours will be imminent too.  We were non-priority June 10 and still waiting.

All the best to you!


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2016, 08:31:31 AM »
Congrats Britnuk!  Thanks for the encouragement and for your positivity for the rest of us buggers! It does give hope that many of ours will be imminent too.  We were non-priority June 10 and still waiting.

All the best to you!

Thanks, Phu  :)

I really do feel for everyone waiting here, especially those waiting since June and over the summer months. Those who frequently monitor the trends on here have all said that this year has been exceptional, the only thing I can think of is that Brexit (albeit nothing to do with current immigration) has had an impact. Chatting to friends who don't really understand why Europe could have an effect on this - especially as Brexit implementation of immigration isn't likely to be in place for a couple of years - can only assume that the news has resulted in an unprecedented volume of applications this year. By this I mean there would be people who have decided to take action and get immigration sorted sooner rather than later, with uncertainty as to how Brexit might shake up the whole immigration system, again.

Also, I suspect that European countries have also seen an increase in applications from British/other European nationals for passports. What I mean by this is that I've seen friends who has one parent British, one of European descent, applying for their European passport from their other parents nationality - to ensure they have a European passport when Britain leaves the EU. A lot of people in the UK that have, for example, a parent who is Irish, have started applying to ensure they can still have full access to live and work in Europe. Even though nothing has been drawn up on European immigration policy  yet!

Have a look at this: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-27/brexit-prompts-rush-to-secure-citizenship/7545716

When you look at the declaration that you sign for submission, there is a paragraph which says that UKVI can send your application to any British 'mission' outside of the UK for processing. Assume this is done in times where one centre or team has higher levels of applications to deal with. If Brexit has had a global impact on the number of people applying this year, it could mean that they are ALL busy, and therefore can't divert workflow to ease up bottlenecks in certain areas. I wonder if anyone monitors similar threads for other country forums and can tell whether this is mirrored across the board?

This report from the debates in parliament show a report which includes Q1 2016 (pre-Brexit) but in conclusion highlights concerns over the need for more resources:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhaff/151/15102.htm

I know that none of this really helps when you've been waiting so long, and all you want to do is just get this done so you can get back to normal life. Keeping fingers crossed that everyone - especially those waiting since June(!) will get some traction really soon.


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Re: September Priority & Non-Priority Visas
« Reply #14 on: October 12, 2016, 11:38:46 PM »
Hello all. I just thought I'd share my experience with you as well.

Bio metrics and shipped package same day: 22nd of Sep, 2016
Received in Sheffield: 26th of Sep. (ups confirmation)
Email from Sheffield: 10th of Oct. (process was complete and shipped back)
Received fiance visa: 12th of Oct.

We went with priority processing, but never dreamed it'd be this fast, like 3 weeks! We do hope everyones goes this smooth and quickly.  ;D   
« Last Edit: October 12, 2016, 11:53:24 PM by kiera »
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