UK Visa Settlement Processing Time

Stacey -

If I can ask, what were the specific reasons for your refusal? I've looked at some of your old posts but I'm not too clear. Was it just proving you were together?

Her visa is the Unmarried Partner or UP, which has different requirements than other settlement visas.  The applicant has to prove that s/he has been living in "a relationship akin to marriage" with the sponsor for at least two years.  Normally, this is proven by joint commitments and assets, like rental agreements, bills, bank accounts, etc, but Stacy (from her past posts) was in a bit of a unique situation, and couldn't produce any of those.  The UP is the only settlement visa that requires that kind of evidence, so unless you're applying for one, you don't need to worry about it!

everyone, I just got an email saying my visa has been issued!!!!

I am so happy! 

Thanks, everyone for all the helpful posts! 

And best of luck to those still waiting!

Hi Nicole,

My story is posted under this title "unmarried partner settlement visa refused - any thoughts?"

We were refused because we could not prove that we had been living together "akin to marriage".  We had no hard evidence.  
My partner and I met while working in Afghanistan.  There is no mail, there are no leases, no council taxes, no real banks actually (so we kept our home country banks - no real need to join accounts), really nothing to show them as "hard evidence" of us living together.  We also messed up by not putting my name on anything while I was in the UK for the past 6 months while on a visitor visa.  We thought it was the right thing to do, but they questioned why my name wasnt on my partners lease, etc.  

List of things we sent:
~10 letters from
both of our employers stating we were living together as a couple (in lieu of lease, etc)
letters from our chiropractor in Kabul and our counselor in Kabul
letters from a housemate and from friends that know us both
printouts from a friends blog with pictures of us at their events (Thanksgiving 2009 in Kabul, etc) as well as the web address so it could be verified.
a list of 15 references who were willing to vouch for us with names, emails, phone numbers, company and title
american express bill showing that i bought things for our apartment last fall
a printout from amazon.com showing that my billing address was my US address, but the delivery address was my UK address.  
a confirmation email from a hotel we stayed at on holiday in Jan 10 with writing back and forth about pick ups at the airport, etc.
a magazine subscription from jan of this year at the address in the UK
pictures of commitment rings that we had made while in Kabul and emails back and forth with the folks that made the rings for us.
Photos on Facebook with the web address for more verifiable dates...

We literally sent them everything we could think of. It seems to have worked!  
We also indexed both the original application and the appeal. We indexed, organized and sent a 5 page letter detailing our evidence and why we couldnt provide exactly what they were asking for and what we sent in lieu of.....

I think you can never send too much information when it comes to this process.

Good luck!

Wow!  Thats at least 3 today!  Somebody at the consulate is having a good day!!  ;-) 
Congrats! 

Wow!  Thats at least 3 today!  Somebody at the consulate is having a good day!!  ;-) 
Congrats! 

Yes congrats nychica!!! I'm so close to approval I can nearly smell it hahaha

Nicole,

Just wake up tomorrow morning and say this is the day (like I did today)!  It should work!  Still can't believe how quickly I was processed.  Guess it paid to have everything organized (better spell it organised from here out) from the start.

Thanks, Nicole!  Yours is coming soon too, I know it!

A slight update on my situation: I moved out of my old apartment on April 30th and very clearly wrote my new contact details on the application.  And guess what - of course the Consulate is UPSing my materials to my old address.  I just spoke to UPS and it's too late and too complicated to change the address now on the shipment so I will have to loiter around my old building like a weirdo - and from 7am too, since that's when UPS could technically start to deliver my package!  At least they told me that it would be delivered by 10:30am, so that's a total of less than four hours waiting time.  But still annoying. 
 
Luckily I'm still in the same city.  But what if I weren't!?!

I'm still grateful to know that I'm no longer in a pile somewhere.  Fingers crossed for no errors on the visa, cuz that would just be the icing on top of the cake.

Oh jeez....don't get arrested for trespassing! (But at least if you do, you have already had your visa issued and you don't need to declare it hahaha)

does applicants other 1/2 get a phone call from the eco to confirm that they really do know each other ?  I did see on here a few people did get calls . Just wondering If this is something that my fiance still has to wait for , before we know that things are really in the works ? 7 more working days to with in 15 working when THEY said in email they would let   me know

No.  Phone calls only happen is something is missing or wrong.

bookgrl  ..  ok thank you .. he was waiting for call .. and we were getting worried  that he has not gotten 1 yet .. as I had seen others had gotten phone calls ..SSOOOO now just waiting on the approval Thank you now am not worried as much ... but still going nuts 

Is it normal for them to send your stuff back to the wrong address?  I'll be applying from NYC, but at my parents in MD by the time the visa issued.  I want to spend my waiting time figuring out what needs to be shipped and most of my stuff is still there! 

Is it normal for them to send your stuff back to the wrong address?  I'll be applying from NYC, but at my parents in MD by the time the visa issued.  I want to spend my waiting time figuring out what needs to be shipped and most of my stuff is still there! 

Hi, just wanted to report that after waiting for 3.5 hours in the heat I managed to intercept my package from UPS, which has an error free visa!

You should check about that - basically I was in the same boat.  My husband and I lived together in Manhattan and I stayed while he went ahead to start a job.  Our lease was up at the end of April, so I vacated the apartment and have been crashing at my mom's place, also in NYC, ever since.  I wrote all this very clearly on my application and made them aware of my alternate contact details.  Despite all that they still UPSed it to my old address!  Luckily I could easily travel to my old place.  I hope this doesn't happen to you! 

Thanks!

Hi, just wanted to report that after waiting for 3.5 hours in the heat I managed to intercept my package from UPS, which has an error free visa!

Good work!