ILR - How to Snag Super Priority?

I'm getting ready to complete and submit my ILR application. I really want to go Super Priority (SP). I've read through a number of entries about how best to do that. In one reply, one of the experts said, " So, the way to get it is to log on to submit the application at 1am when the new slots are released and hope for the best. If there are none available, you can just keep trying each night."

So just to be clear:

1. In advance, can I complete and save my application online but not submit it?

2. Then, assuming I log on at 1:01 am - how can I tell if there are SP slots available? Is there something that pops up before I hit Submit to tell me if there are SP slots available? In other words, can I confirm there are SP slots before I hit Submit? Or do I have to wait until after I hit Submit and just hope for the best?

3. If I have to 'hope for the best' and if I hit Submit and no SP slots show up, then am I automatically forced into a Non-Priority, Standard channel?

Thanks in advance for any guidance on this! 

1. In advance, can I complete and save my application online but not submit it?

Yes, you can just keep saving and going back to it. I think it stays in the system for something like 120 days.

2. Then, assuming I log on at 1:01 am - how can I tell if there are SP slots available? Is there something that pops up before I hit Submit to tell me if there are SP slots available? In other words, can I confirm there are SP slots before I hit Submit? Or do I have to wait until after I hit Submit and just hope for the best?

When you hit submit, it will either offer you:

- Standard processing (£1048 £2404 + £19.20 biometrics fee)
- Super Priority processing (£1048 £2404 + £19.20 biometrics fee + £800 Super Priority)

or just

Standard processing (£1048 £2404 + £19.20 biometrics fee)

If it only gives you the option of Standard processing and no mention of Super Priority, that means all the Super Priority slots are gone for the day, so at that point you can leave the website without submitting the application and try for Super Priority again another day.

3. If I have to 'hope for the best' and if I hit Submit and no SP slots show up, then am I automatically forced into a Non-Priority, Standard channel?

This will only happen if you actually select Standard processing, pay for the visa and finish the submission. As long as you don't pay for anything, you can just keep trying on other days to see if Super Priority shows up as an option.

However, if you pay just the Standard fee and complete the submission, you will be stuck with only Standard processing and no option to add Super Priority later.

Just to note that when the clocks change this weekend, it will likely go back to the SP slots being released at 12 am (midnight) and not 1 am - we believe it is only 1am at the moment because the UKVI computer system is set to GMT and not BST... so it's 12 am during the winter months and 1am during the summer.

Thanks ksand24! Super clear and incredibly helpful as always!

Two more quick questions:

1. You mention fee of £1048 plus appointment cost, yet I believe I have read elsewhere that the fee is £2400....?

2. If I submit this week, therefore in October, does my last instalment of the 6-7 sets of mail have to be from October or can it be from September?

Thanks!

1. You mention fee of £1048 plus appointment cost, yet I believe I have read elsewhere that the fee is £2400....?

Sorry, I meant £2404... I was mixing up the FLR(M) fee (£1048) and the ILR one (£2404). I'll correct it in my reply above.

2. If I submit this week, therefore in October, does my last instalment of the 6-7 sets of mail have to be from October or can it be from September?

Since we're at the end of the month, you should hopefully have some mail from October by now... but if you already have the rest of the months sorted based on your final item being from September, then using October will mean having to change all the other months too so that they are evenly-spaced. So, it might be easier for you to go with mail from September.

The required months using Sept 2022 mail will be:
March 2020
August 2020
January 2021
June 2021
November 2021
April 2022
September 2022

Or if you want to use Oct 2022 mail, the months you'll need will be:
April 2020
September 2020
February 2021
July 2021
December 2021
May 2022
October 2022

Thanks again! Super helpful and much appreciated. 

They pop up at precisely 1am... Good luck. 

Thank you mbmoffat for the good wishes AND for your fantastic checklist and framework! So good of you to share and update it. Absolutely super. 

OK so just to be clear - if I go at 1:00 am and Priority is available and I choose it and pay for it... Then what happens? Are the actual Priority appointments slots also offered at that time? Do the available slots pop up? Do I have to select from what's on offer at 1:00 am? Or do I then have the right to come back and select a day, time and location that suits me?
Thanks for any insight or clarity on this!

OK so just to be clear - if I go at 1:00 am and Priority is available and I choose it and pay for it... Then what happens? Are the actual Priority appointments slots also offered at that time? Do the available slots pop up? Do I have to select from what's on offer at 1:00 am? Or do I then have the right to come back and select a day, time and location that suits me?
Thanks for any insight or clarity on this!

All you do at 1:00 am (12:00 am from Sunday night onwards) is pay for the visa fee and the super priority fee. That's it.

The order of doing things is:

- log on at 1am (or midnight once the clocks have changed)
- go to the application Submission section
- select Super Priority if it shows up, submit the application and pay the visa and super priority fees
- log out of the website and go to bed
- after you have submitted and paid for the visa, you will receive an email with a registration code for the UKVCAS website
- register an account with UKVCAS using the code
- book a biometrics appointment (you may have to pay for one)
- upload your documents to the UKVCAS website before your appointment (or take the documents with you to the appointment to be scanned and uploaded, if you have purchased document scanning)
- attend biometrics appointment
- if you have paid for Super Priority, you should receive the visa decision by email within 24 hours/end of next working day... often, people will get the decision within about 4 hours or so of the appointment

-

Thanks ksand24! Super helpful clear crystal clear! Much appreciated. 

Help? I stayed up til 1:00 am and was offered Super Priority which I booked and paid for. I was directed to UKVCAS / Sopra Steria and I set up an account. Then when I clicked on Book an Appointment it said 'Standard Appointment'. But I thought I was supposed to get a Super Priority Appointment? Or does Standard Appointment just mean that I'm not paying extra for them to scan etc.
I will come back to do his tomorrow but when I come back - do I choose Standard Appointment? And will I still get Super Priority Service?
Thx

Help? I stayed up til 1:00 am and was offered Super Priority which I booked and paid for. I was directed to UKVCAS / Sopra Steria and I set up an account. Then when I clicked on Book an Appointment it said 'Standard Appointment'. But I thought I was supposed to get a Super Priority Appointment? Or does Standard Appointment just mean that I'm not paying extra for them to scan etc.
I will come back to do his tomorrow but when I come back - do I choose Standard Appointment? And will I still get Super Priority Service?
Thx

You’ve already done the Super Priority bit… there’s no Super Priority appointment type, it’s just a service that you added to your application when you submitted it.

For biometrics, you just book whatever type of appointment you can get/can afford/wish to book on the UKVCAS website, then the Super Priority service will kick in when you attend that appointment.

You may be able to get a free biometrics appointment, but there aren’t usually many available and you often have to wait weeks to attend one.

Or there are specified day appointments for £132... which you may need to book if you cannot get a free one.

You can also add other services to whichever appointment you book, such as document scanning for about £54, document checking for about £48, etc.

Enhanced centres do enhanced appointments for around £80 which already include the document scanning and checking.


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Thanks yet again ksand24! Not only do you provide incredibly helpful advice, you seem to work 24/7!
I think I've read that the new slate of appointments is released daily at 9:00 am. Am I right in this? If so, I'l probably wait until 9:00 today and then see what we can get.
Cheers

Thanks yet again ksand24! Not only do you provide incredibly helpful advice, you seem to work 24/7!

Lol - not quite. I do work day and night shifts though, so if I reply in the middle of the night, it's because I'm at work .

I think I've read that the new slate of appointments is released daily at 9:00 am. Am I right in this? If so, I'l probably wait until 9:00 today and then see what we can get.
Cheers

No idea, I'm afraid - I don't know much about how or when the appointments are released.

I think I've read that the new slate of appointments is released daily at 9:00 am. Am I right in this? If so, I'l probably wait until 9:00 today and then see what we can get.

Yes, correct.     https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=100139.75

"PRIORITY SLOT AVAILABILITY
• A certain number of priority slots are released each day.  I think the person who set this up used a very simple routine which releases the appointments each day but did not account for Daylight Savings.  So the appointments become available at 1am.  If I am right this will be Midnight in Winter.
• We think it's 50 each day.   If you stay up until 1am you should get one.
• Once that is booked and paid for you make your Biometrics appointment at one of the UKVCAS centres.  These slots are available up to 28 days in advance.  Each day at 9am the newly available slots (i.e. the ones in 28 days time) are added."

however once you have paid and have the login, you will immediately see availability for appointments sooner than 28 days in variety of inconvenient locations. 

Good luck!