Approximate time for a reply after UKBA received my docs?

Hello all. My second application and docs were delivered to UKBA NY office on January 28, 2013. And my wife notified me yesterday the our attorney in Sheffield has received a confirmation email. We don't know when exactly did the lawyer receive the email but in it it said that they try to make a decision on 95% of application withing a short time and the rest 5% can take upto 6 months. How accurate is that. I didn't do the priority because this is our second time applying and from what i've read on world bridge site, one of the reason your application can take normal time is, if you've had any refusals for visa in the past. Also when i applied the last time UKBA NY received the application on July 7, 2012 and on the 25 or 26 July, 2012 i had my passport in my hand (of course with a refusal stamp). iA So can someone just give me an idea how long it might take iA? Thanks

Things have slowed down since last summer. 

Your lawyer had it right, but "short time" is a relative term.  The UKBA service standards for applications made within in the U.S. are to complete 95% of settlement applications within 12 weeks and 100% within 24 weeks of the application date.

The New York hub publishes their current *average* processing times for visa submitted through them; it's available here http://ukinusa.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/other-locations/ny/news/ukba-news/.  Current processing times for settlement visas are listed at 8 weeks.  Of course, that's an average, and with a refusal on your record your application is not an average one.

Actual (not average) processing times for decisions made in December 2012 are available here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/countries/usa/processing-times/?langname=UK%20English#resultTableAnchor.  You can see that, of the 57 decisions made in December, all of them were made within 60 days (100%).

Good luck!

Thanks EloiseMX  i hope it works out this time around iA thanks once again. And given my situation (a first time refused visa), I should think in my case it can or very well might be the '24' weeks time span?

Thanks EloiseMX  i hope it works out this time around iA thanks once again. And given my situation (a first time refused visa), I should think in my case it can or very well might be the '24' weeks time span?

I think it's fairly unlikely to be a full 24 weeks - I'd say maybe  6-12 weeks or so? It seems that priority applications with no refused entries are taking about 3 weeks, and non-priority applications with no refused entries are taking about 6 weeks... so with a refused entry, you're probably looking at a couple more weeks being added on to that.

If you had purchased the priority service, it would still probably have been quicker, even with your refused entry, because your application would have been put to the front of the line for processing rather than being stuck in line with all the other non-priority applications and having to wait a few extra weeks for your application to be opened (i.e. if you had paid for priority processing, your application probably would have been opened and started processing by now).

Thanks Ksand24. You are much appreciated. As far as my priority status, whats done is done. Now all i can hope is that iA i get my visa soon so i can see my wife