Date of planned arrival in the UK and processing times

My husband applied for his spouse visa (non-priority) at the end of June. It's been over 70 working days since his application arrived in Sheffield, so I contacted my MP.  UKVI advised my MP that processing times start from the date of application clearance - aka the date which we received an email that his application was being processed - a month after my husband's application arrived.  This puts us around 50 working days, and is unacceptable.

I have read on a few forums that the date of planned arrival can be no more than three months in advance, but I haven't found this stated in any of the guidance from UKVI, only from VFS Global, and not within the guidance for US applicants:

When can I make my application?
Applicant can apply for a visa up to 3 months before your date of travel to the UK. We strongly advise you not to confirm your travel arrangements until you have received your visa.
http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/uae/frequently_asked_questions.html [nofollow]

I want to get back to my MP with evidence of the 3 month guidance, as it will help prove that 12 weeks plus 4 weeks 'application clearance' is inconsistent (at best!) with current guidelines.  Has anyone proof of this?  I can't find it in the VAF guidance notes:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-uk-visa-applications-using-forms-vaf2-to-vaf8b [nofollow]

Thanks for reading.  To everyone else in the same position - hang on in there.

The 3 months guidance for the visa start date doesn't have anything to do with the 12 weeks processing time, as far as I know - since it applies to ALL visa types, not just spousal visas.

The 3 months starts from the date you submit the online application, not the date they start processing the visa. It should be stated on the information page for each visa type on the UKVI website.

It has always been 3 months ahead of your official application date (the date you pay for the visa), regardless of processing times, but it's just your intended travel date - the visa doesn't have to have been issued by that date by any means.

[Similarly. for US non-immigrant visas, you can't apply more than 4 months ahead, but the actual application only usually take a few days to be processed and is often issued same day, at the interview.]

We have seen UK visas refused in the past because the travel date indicated on the form was more than 3 months ahead of the official online application date.

Not sure if it is still the case but the online form didn't used to allow you to put an intended travel date of more than 3 months ahead of the date you submitted the form.

This year is completely unprecedented in terms of visa application processing times. In the past it has never taken more than 2 weeks to receive the first email for the processing to start... and this year some people have had to wait 2 months for it.


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Aha, thank you very much for explaining, much appreciated.  My husband was able to put his intended travel date as 4 months after his submission, so it seems like things have changed with the form.  I wonder if the change to the form aligned with the introduction of the 30-day vignette, as 30 days isn't a huge window for moving country?

The waiting is awful, it's good to see that others are starting to get responses from UKVI. Hopefully we don't have much longer to wait either.