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.