2017 Timeline

guys I received an email from Sheffield this morning saying they received my online application.... but my documents are still in transit. 

is something wrong here???

No, nothing's wrong - I think it's just odd (generic?) wording of the email.

Your online application is not transmitted anywhere at all when you submit it. The only way they can receive it is when you mail it to them... and since you mail the online form in the same package as the documents, they MUST have received both your documents and your application.

However, Sheffield do also process applications from other countries, where the sponsor's supporting documents are mailed to Sheffield separately from the applicant's online application and passport. It's probably just a mix up with the email wording.

Do you have tracking confirmation that your package has been delivered to Sheffield and signed for? If so, then you know all your documents have arrived.

The documents are still in transit from the tracking though. So they don't have anything to them yet. Now I'm freaking out they are assessing it without my documents?

Could it be because I did biometrics on Thursday and they received that?

The documents are still in transit from the tracking though. So they don't have anything to them yet. Now I'm freaking out they are assessing it without my documents?

But they can't assess it - there's nothing to assess. No one can see your application until they have it in front of them with your documents.

Also, they cannot start processing any application without
a) your passport,
b) VAF4a Appendix 2 (the second half of the application form) which cannot be completed online - you have to print it and mail it to them with your documents
or
c) your supporting documents

Could it be because I did biometrics on Thursday and they received that?

Maybe.

In any case, I'd stop worrying - they don't even have your application yet, and they cannot physically start processing it until after they have received your documents.

The email was probably just sent to you in error.

Your tracking number shows they are still in transit? How did you send them and when?

guys I received an email from Sheffield this morning saying they received my online application.... but my documents are still in transit. 

is something wrong here???

The documents are still in transit from the tracking though

There could be a delay in the tracking information perhaps?

Sent yesterday evening. So still in transit last update this morning. 

You really all think it's fine?

Sent yesterday evening. So still in transit last update this morning. 

You really all think it's fine?

Yeah, it's fine. You're not the first person to receive a similar email and be concerned about it - it happened to someone else a few months ago, and all turned out fine.

I'm guessing maybe they got a notification in the system that your biometrics had been submitted and it triggered the automatic email to be sent. But as it's a different email to the one that is normally sent to US applicants, it was probably sent in error.

What happens in the US is that you submit the online application, then attend biometrics, and then finally mail your application and documents to Sheffield, where they log the package into the system and send you an email to say they've received it - this email can take anywhere from 1 day to 2 months to be sent after the documents have arrived, depending on how busy they are (1-2 days this time of year, up to 2 months last summer when there was a massive backlog).

However, in other countries, like Pakistan, for example, you submit the online application, attend an appointment where you give biometrics AND hand in the online application and your passport/documents at the same time. Then they forward your application to Sheffield, while your UK sponsor mails their supporting documents to Sheffield separately. In that case, they may well send out 2 emails: one to say they have the online application, and one to say they have the separate documents from your sponsor.

Yeah that's the exact email I got saying online application submitted and for my sponsor to send his.

Ok sigh of relief. I've never been apart from my husband his long and just stressing out that this is going to take longer or I have done something wrong.

They send the wrong email--or neglect to send confirmation emails--all the time. I never got a confirmation email, but I got an email asking for 'appendix 4' with a link to the appendix they REALLY meant which was appendix 2.  Didn't affect the outcome of my visa at all, it seems they are just not 100% on top of the emails.  (As long as they are on top of the visas, which they seem to be, I suppose that's alright!)

Thank you all for your replys.  I was in such a panic thought I had done something wrong !

Had biometrics on Thursday and package is scheduled to be there on Monday so that should be within the 5 days right? I could only do ups both ways cause vfs was down and didn't get to do priority!

Thank you all for your replys.  I was in such a panic thought I had done something wrong !

Had biometrics on Thursday and package is scheduled to be there on Monday so that should be within the 5 days right? I could only do ups both ways cause vfs was down and didn't get to do priority!

It only has to be MAILED within 5 days - it doesn't have to arrive in Sheffield within 5 days.

So if your biometrics were on Thursday 16th you had until the end of Tuesday 21st to put the documents in the mail.



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Thank you so much.

My portal page hasn't changed at all. Still says completed and next action print application so I'm going to think you all are right and it was just triggered by biometrics on Thursday.

You don't think anything wrong with shipping it both ways with ups?

Thank you so much.

My portal page hasn't changed at all. Still says completed and next action print application so I'm going to think you all are right and it was just triggered by biometrics on Thursday.

Seriously, stop worrying. It'll all be fine .

Your package hasn't even been delivered yet, so you should not have even recieved any emails yet anyway - it's UKVI's fault for sending you the wrong email.

You don't think anything wrong with shipping it both ways with ups?

No, it's fine to use UPS both ways - after all, the VFS Global shipping is just fixed-price, pre-paid UPS shipping.

However, I just realised that you said you paid both ways for the UPS shipping... not quite sure how you managed that, since you cannot create an advance international return label through UPS (it's not possible to know the weight and cost to return it back from the UK).

What you should have done was purchase the outbound shipping label through UPS, then created an online account with UPS and included your online account number with your documents. Then, when Sheffield processed the visa, they could have charged your online UPS account for the return shipping amount.

It shouldn't be too much of an issue, but you may find that Sheffield email you asking for alternative return shipping details if they find they cannot use the return shipping label you provided. In that case, you can either provide an online account number for UPS, or you could purchase a VFS Global shipping label and email it to them.

If this is the case, then you'll need to try to get a refund for the return shipping you have already purchased - especially as they shouldn't have sold it to you anyway, and instead should have told you it wasn't possible to purchase it.

No that's what we did.  Created the account and included a pre done waybill but they will just charge us when the package is shipped! They just estimated the cost at 200

Ah, that's good - I wasn't sure if you'd done that or not .

It's normally about $100-150 each way to send an application to Sheffield via UPS... but I guess if it was heavy or large it would be more (VFS Global limits packages to 5lb, but really it shouldn't need to be more than about 3lb).


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