STILL AWAITING MY ILR - 9TH WEEK!!!

Hi all - Anyone still waiting for their ILR ahead of me in the queue?  I'm into my 9th week (they rec'd it on the 12th Sept) and starting to get anxious as I reallllly want to book my flights for Xmas. 

My application was pretty straight forward so I'm not worrying yet - just wondering if anyone is in the same situation.... 

I have a friend - here on a work permit - who sent hers off on September 1st and is still waiting.  Payment was taken September 3rd.  Needless to say, she's anxious - she was hoping to go to the US for Thanksgiving.

Her application was also straightforward...

This is my 15th week and I was under the impression I had a very straight forward application as well. When I phoned for a progress update, they told me it was currently with an officer but wouldn't give any further details.

OMG!!!! 15 weeks!!!! NOW I'M FREAKING OUT!!!!

I wanted to go home for Christmas but it looks like I won't be able to if it takes that long!  The website/application said 6-8 weeks I believe.

The app said to call if you have travel obligations... I might just try to give them a ring to see if there's anything that can be done. 

So happy now I didn't book any tickets for Xmas.... 15 weeks will put me at 26th December so it would be too late!   

Great.....I sent mine in recently as well, so these posts are making me concerned! I do hope that you get yours back soon, Kayla and Lynzie.

OMG!!!! 15 weeks!!!! NOW I'M FREAKING OUT!!!!

I wanted to go home for Christmas but it looks like I won't be able to if it takes that long!  The website/application said 6-8 weeks I believe.

The app said to call if you have travel obligations... I might just try to give them a ring to see if there's anything that can be done. 

So happy now I didn't book any tickets for Xmas.... 15 weeks will put me at 26th December so it would be too late!   

There have been several people on the boards who got theres back in much less time than mine seems to be taking so no need to panic yet. They all seem to be taking quite a chunk of time though. Fingers crossed you hear something soon.

I called the number today that it says to call if you URGENTLY need to travel.

I hung up after I heard the recording that stated "you will only receive assistance if your visa has been outstanding for 14 weeks or more".... or something to that effect.  So that was that - another 5 weeks for me and THEN I can start the querying... ***SIGH*** 

My friend called the general number today, even though she knew she was just going to frustrate herself (which she did!).  However, she asked a couple of hypothetical questions... what if she needed to get her passport back in a hurry due to needing to travel (i.e., she was withdrawing her application).  She was told they would aim to get her passport back to her in 10 working days.  She then asked what if there was a family emergency, like her mother was dying or something and she really needed to travel urgently.  The answer was the same...

She was told they would aim to get her passport back to her in 10 working days.

Ha, yeah, and they aim to process 70% of apps within 4 weeks too.

Seriously, if you desperately need to travel, and have a good reason (unfortunately "I wanted to be with my family for Christmas" is probably not a good enough reason), and have a couple of weeks' notice, it's worth writing them a really polite letter telling them your dates and asking if they might possibly expedite you.  It seems to have worked for me.

In her case, she doesn't have a good enough reason - she just wants to go.

If she'd talked to me first, I would have strongly have advised her to dish out the extra £200 and go in person...to me, postal apps are for people who either don't have a straightforward app or aren't in any hurry to go anywhere.  She's been in a rush to get this over with since she became eligible at the end of August.  Most days, she's been fairly ok about the wait... the last few days, she's just gotten frustrated.

She also said she felt bad about calling.   She reckons the people who answer the phones get to deal with people like her way too often, and they just couldn't really tell her anything...

I don't know if it is any use (because I haven't received mine yet) but in a fit of annoyance I phoned up at the beginning of the week to complain that the acknowledgement letter says "We will inform you if we cannot complete your application quickly," yet I never received any other letters, phonecalls, emails, etc. The woman on the phone said she didn't know why I had not been contacted ( ) but that she would have the case worker send me a letter with further information. I doubt very much that it will be of much use or say anything more than "We are making further enquiries" but I figured it couldn't hurt to try to get some more information.

Can't believe you are still waiting Kayla.... I guess if you had known that your straight-forward app would take this long, you would've gone in person.  I think I will try to go in person when my time comes, unless they change things by then, which it sounds like they will....
Good luck everyone, hope you get your stuff back soon!