I see the super priority costs, including biometrics is £3223.20. I'm also reading about a 1am release of slots for super priority interviews. Am I right in saying we should prepare all the usual documentation (pdfs etc), and then do the application submission at 1am? And then at the end slots of appointments will be shown?
Pretty much.
The Super Priority slots are not actually for the appointments themselves, they are just for purchasing the Super Priority service, which will then be added to the biometrics appointment that you book later.
The slots are actually released at midnight at the moment, not 1 am. It's midnight during the winter when we are on GMT (Oct to Mar), and 1 am during the summer when we are on BST (Mar to Oct)... because the UKVI computer system is set to GMT all year round.
So the process is:
- gather all your documents ready to submit
- complete the online application
- when you are ready to apply, log in just before midnight, and submit the application at midnight. If you see an option to add Super Priority for £800, then do so and complete the application submission
- If you do not see an option to add Super Priority, then log out and try again the next night. DO NOT submit the application if Super Priority is not offered, as it cannot be added later.
- Once you have submitted and paid for the visa and Super Priority, you will receive an email with a registration code for the UKVCAS website
- Register with the UKVCAS website and book your biometrics appointment (currently, free appointments are released at 9am, otherwise you may need to pay £130 or so for an appointment). You can also add extra services for a fee if you want, such as document scanning and checking.
- If you will be uploading your own documents, this should be done at least 48 hours before the appointment, so that they are transmitted through the system in time for the appointment
- If you have added document checking to the appointment, you just take the documents with you
- Once you have attended the appointment, you will receive an email with the visa decision. With Super Priority, you should get this by the end of the next working day, though most approval emails come through within about 5 hours of the appointment
- the new BRP will then be mailed to you