PLEASE HELP- Courier is INSISTING I have to pay fee again and reapply

I just spoke to Global VIP who said she just spoke to the consulate and that I MUST reapply online and REPAY the fee (but then send along a letter asking for a refund???) because my biometric data did not come through. I asked her to have the consulate contact me directly and she says they won't. She says they gave her back my passport to mail back to me so that I can reapply.  I said why can't I just get my biometrics page back and go back in using that and have it redone and she says it is not allowed. She won't help me!

THIS CANNOT BE TRUE! I don't understand this and I really feel like I need to speak to the consulate myself. I DO NOT have another $800 to apply again and to assume someone does seems just stupid to me.

I argued with her for a few minutes but she insisted this was the only way!

I was hoping some of you might have some ideas of what the heck I can do?? I emailed the consulate and no word from them. I'm going to try to fax them as well, but I don't have a fax machine so that cannot happen right away.

This is a nightmare!!!!

OMG I'm so sorry this is terrible. Hopefully someone here has some good words of advice. Im sure they do. Keep us updated.

I just sent the following fax (using an online faxing service) to the LA consulate:

My name is xxxxxxxxxxx, my application # is xxxxxxxxxxxx and my visa type is
settlement. I applied online on March 19th, had my biometrics taken on April 2nd and sent my documents to the LA consulate on Monday April 6th via Global VIP courier service. My passport # is xxxxxxxxxx. I am trying to get some clarification on the status of my visa. I was told today by Global VIP that there was a problem with the biometrics data being processed and that mine (and others) had not come through. I was told that I would be required to re submit biometrics data by reapplying and PAYING for the $747 fee again and then asking for a refund. I am very confused by this information and I am hoping I can get some clarification. I've recieved no confirmation from the consulate that my documents have been received and I am worried that I am getting false information. I am hoping to speak to someone in the consulate directly to answer my questions so my application can be processed. I can be contacted via this e-mail address: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx or by phone at xxxxxxxxxxxx.
Thank you,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


any other advice greatly appreciated!

Send an email to the complaints address at www.ukinusa.fco.gov.uk under the visa page, and the one marked for LA. State that you would have expected to be informed directly by the consulate staff if indeed this is the case.

There are certainly issues with people providing biometrics on April 2nd which, much like last time, remain unresolved some 10 days later. So they're not making that bit up.

Good lord...

Tannsersarms is right in that sending an e-mail to the complaints is your best bet at direct contact.  I would get everything back from the courier, Global VIP and ask for a full refund from as many people as you can.

Don't rule out the possibility that what the courier is saying is correct. Certainly, by withdrawing the application and getting a refund, lodging a new application and reproviding biometrics you would be overcoming the fact that your April 2nd application is going nowhere. If LA had had further instruction from UKBA I'm sure they would have actioned it.

I think the refund bit is missing from the Global VIP to applicant part of the process, or LA to Global VIP to applicant... The applicant assumes she will have to pay another fee on top of the one she already paid.

Well, she did say:

I just spoke to Global VIP who said she just spoke to the consulate and that I MUST reapply online and REPAY the fee (but then send along a letter asking for a refund???)

so it sounds like she was told she would get a refund for the extra fee paid.

so it sounds like she was told she would get a refund for the extra fee paid.

The way I read the OP, her problem is that she will have to reapply and repay before her original fee is refunded (because frankly, who knows how long that might take) and she doesn't have $800 just lying around gathering dust.  Perfectly understandable.  Since the error was not hers, and the consulate obviously received her online application and took the original fee, she ought to be able just to redo and resubmit her biometrics.  Does the consulate really intend to make everyone who did biometrics on the 2nd of April pay again and then request a refund?  Seems like they'd be making extra work for themselves that way. 

It may help to know that the last time a client of mine requested a refund (in that case because he had submitted the wrong form and therefore paid a higher fee) this worked really well.  He submitted the correct fee, a refund request form a few days later, and had his full refund within the week.  Though that was via Chicago.

Vicky

I think the refund bit is missing from the Global VIP to applicant part of the process, or LA to Global VIP to applicant... The applicant assumes she will have to pay another fee on top of the one she already paid.

She already said in the first post that she was directed by the courier to write a letter asking for a refund (though why LA wouldn't automatically do that at the time of handing back, I don't know).

I suspect best bet is to wait until you hear back from your fax/email to complaints @ LA

still no phone call from the consulate. we feel like we've been pushed into a corner and really have no other choice. my fiance is going to wire me the money tomorrow and we're going to arrange to have my passport mailed back to me so I can reapply online and re-do my bios. so much for the days my fiance took off work for me to come next week. what a nightmare. and after all of this we could still be denied. sigh.

I had a (only slightly) similar situation in February--I had applied too early for a Tier 2 visa.  The consulate informed me of the problem, and then refunded my fee and told me when to apply (I ended up applying for a Tier 1 a couple weeks later).  I wasn't using a courier that time, so everything was handled with the consulate directly; a nice ECO called me and explained the mix-up.  My refund went through in about a week.  That was the LA consulate.

I'm so sorry you're going through this!  So stressful!

adding insult to injury: our visa cost 515pounds to apply when we applied at the end of March. It now costs 585pounds. I wish we could just get a break...

Try reproviding on the same GWF. You shouldn't have to pay the extra, but this will be the easiest way for the consulate to treat your app under the old fees. All applications under the Immigration Rules are considered made when the fee is paid.

Which state are you in by the way?