Any updates from recent applicants?

As soon as I get my passport back after changing my name, I will start the online application so we have time to choose a same day appointment which should hopefully be mid to late August...

You don't apply online for FLR(M). You create an online account in order to book an appointment (appointments are released 6 weeks in advance). I believe they will charge you the £400 to book the appointment, and may take your visa fee at that time too (I know they do for ILR), but in order to apply for the visa, you have to print out the FLR(M) form and fill it out by hand, then take it to your appointment along with your documents.

Also, do you know how to go about actually changing my passport? As in where to send it to? Or will I find that out when I go online?

You will need to check the US Embassy in London website to find out how to renew a US passport from within the UK as you are not in the US to do it the normal way. It has nothing to do with UKBA or your visa, it's just about applying for a new US passport in a married name.

Ohhhhh.... Okay! Do you think you could do me a huge favor and private message the link for FLR(m) so I have it when I'm ready to apply?(:


And yes, I meant when I go online to the site for US passports lol I knew they weren't anything to do with UKBA (:


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Ohhhhh.... Okay! Do you think you could do me a huge favor and private message the link for FLR(m) so I have it when I'm ready to apply?(:

I don't have the link on me, I'm afraid - you'll be able to find it on the new gov.uk website when you look up how to apply for FLR(M) and book your online appointment (and they may have released a newer version of the form by then anyway).

And yes, I meant when I go online to the site for US passports lol I knew they weren't anything to do with UKBA (:

Sorry - just sounded like you meant, 'would it tell you at the same time you went online to book your FLR(M) appointment?' .

Well, when you go to the US Passport Renewal site, it will tell you to go to the website of the US Embassy in the country you live in to find out how to renew it.

Oh okay sounds easy enough then (: thank you!

And no worries, I figured it kinda sounded odd when I typed it out(:


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FutureMrsHandy, I don't even want to think about any more visa applications after this one! LOL but I know you have to once you get married.

Mrs. Roberts, so I emailed them late Wednesday evening and didn't get a response until just now... I was definitely not expecting a response on a Saturday! Lol I emailed asking if there was any additional information that was needed or that could be holding up my application and this is the reply I received:

Thank you for your email.
 
I can confirm that your application is still waiting to be considered by one of our Entry Clearance Officers.  We currently have a large amount of applications to process.  This and the complexity of Settlement applications is what can lead to the extended processing time.
If any further information is required to complete your application, the ECO should contact yourself or your sponsor to request  this.
 
Kind regards,
 
J Colton
Entry Clearance Assistant
UK Visas & Immigration



I wonder what that could mean... Like is it with an IO waiting to be reviewed already? Is it still waiting to be assigned to an IO? What?!? Ugh! I. Just. Want. Answers! Lol

I wonder what that could mean... Like is it with an IO waiting to be reviewed already? Is it still waiting to be assigned to an IO? What?!? Ugh! I. Just. Want. Answers! Lol

It means it's still waiting in line to be looked at. It may have already been given to an ECO to add to their own pile of applications waiting to be processed, or it might still be waiting with the rest of the applications and hasn't actually been given to a particular ECO yet. From the email, it sounds like the latter, as it says 'one of our ECOs'.

Once an ECO gets to your application, it only takes a couple of hours to process the visa and approve it. The rest of the processing time consists of the application sitting in a pile waiting to be picked up and looked at (so your application has just been in the 'queue' for the last few weeks).

Back before priority processing was introduced by UKBA, when you used to be able to pay a visa courier to hand-deliver your application to the consulate for expedited processing, people could get their visas processed within 24 hours and in some cases, in less than 4 hours (the courier would drop it off in the morning and have the visa in hand, ready to mail back to you by the afternoon)!

Do you really think so? Mrs. Roberts had her application received just 2 days before mine and she just got an email early this week stating it was with an ECO and  near the end of completing the process and that she should receive a decision made email in the next week... I was hoping my application would be trailing just behind that


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None of us know for sure.  But having done an in person application, I can confirm that when a dade worker has the application in front of them it only takes about two hours for them to process.

I read your email as "We have your application but it's still sitting in a pile waiting for someone to look at it."

But you are certainly much closer to the top of the pile than you were when it was received.

Do you really think so? Mrs. Roberts had her application received just 2 days before mine and she just got an email early this week stating it was with an ECO and  near the end of completing the process and that she should receive a decision made email in the next week... I was hoping my application would be trailing just behind that

As KFDancer said, there's no way of knowing.

Just because Mrs.Roberts application is being processed, it doesn't mean yours is just behind. Every application is different and independent of the ones before it.

It could well be that they are processed in a similar way to US visa applications at the London embassy, where they get divided up between the ECOs and some work through their pile of applications faster than others.

At the US embassy you are given a number and have to wait for it to be called in order to go up to the window for your 'interview' - there is no real logical order to the numbers being called. It depends what visa you are applying for and which immigration officer has been assigned which application numbers - I have sat in that waiting room for 4 hours before, watching as all the numbers ahead of mine are called and everyone else has walked away with their visas while I'm still waiting for my interview .

It looks like J Colton is doing a bit of Saturday overtime as I've received two emails today too. One saying they've acknowledged the priority upgrade etc, the other saying just the one photograph is fine and no further action will be needed.

It seems to me, like everyone has says, that it is now in the waiting pile. It has been assigned to an ECO, as we had an email prior to the priority upgrade that our application hadnt been assigned to an ECO yet.

Sounds like it could be any day that they will process it.

Good morning! I have gotten down off of my high horse and purchased the priority processing as well. J Colton is doing a FABULOUS job working on a Saturday to answer our e-mails and make some magic happen. Give that person a raise... and poor BB. BB needs a holiday.

Those of you who have purchased priority processing before me, keep me updated on when they send you a "decision has been made" e-mail. According to J Colton, it should only take about a week. SWEET LORD BABY JESUS IT'S A MIRACLE lol.

Best of luck, everyone 

When did you purchase priority Nat? And where in Cheshire are you moving to?

Wow! I don't log on for an evening and loads of action happening! Lol
FutureMrsHandy I too thought since you were only 2 days after me that you would be next too.
Since I was told mine was currently being processed and that was on Tuesday, I can't see why I never received a "decision has been made" email at least on Friday.
I'm glad someone is working the weekend tho! Guess after a 4 day holiday a 1 day weekend makes sense

The Sheffield office is open on Saturdays.  You can do same day appointments at the weekend there.