Priority Spouse Visa FALL Timeline (Oct-Dec)

I am from NJ and met my husband on a fitness site 4 years ago. Crazy way to meet, but we knew right away we were soul mates. This is a second (and last!) marriage for both of us. We have been through so much to be together. We just got married in Florida a few weeks ago. I am so anxious now awaiting a decision because my application was sent separately. The supporting documents were sent by my immigration consultant (this was his advice). He provided mine and my daughters GWF reference numbers. I received an email that my application was received and then almost immediately I received an email that my supporting documents were not included.  It did say to disregard if I had already sent them in. I am going crazy (I know everyone here can relate!)

SPOUSE VISA TIMELINE (Priority)




Application Submitted Online: October 21, 2017
Biometrics : October 24,2017
Documents delivered per UPS: October 31. 2017
Application delivered per UPS: November 1. 2017
Received in Sheffield email: November 1, 2017
Missing Documentation email: November 1, 2017
Decision email:
Passport received:

I'm settling in London!

 btw I'm a bit concerned that my application isn't being processed in the priority batch. For some reason I put Expedited all over my envelope instead of "Priority Processing." The VFS receipt was at the top of my pile.

 Does anyone know how I can find out if it's being processed priority or not? I'm nervous that it is too late now

Hmm I'm not sure if there's a way to check that (maybe the experts on here can help?), but I would like to assume that writing "expedited" would get the same attention and treatment? I know assuming with immigration is never a good idea, but it would be insane to not at least check if the priority receipt was on top!

I am from NJ and met my husband on a fitness site 4 years ago. Crazy way to meet, but we knew right away we were soul mates. This is a second (and last!) marriage for both of us. We have been through so much to be together. We just got married in Florida a few weeks ago. I am so anxious now awaiting a decision because my application was sent separately. The supporting documents were sent by my immigration consultant (this was his advice). He provided mine and my daughters GWF reference numbers. I received an email that my application was received and then almost immediately I received an email that my supporting documents were not included.  It did say to disregard if I had already sent them in. I am going crazy (I know everyone here can relate!)

I saw your separate thread and am so sorry for the stress you have! Like others said over there, hopefully they match everything up and there's nothing but a minor delay (or, even better, not even that).

'We're all mad here'...so welcome

They have my documents!!! I received an email this morning that I did not pay for a return shipping label to return my documents bundle for myself and another email saying the same for my daughter. We originally didn't do that because our so called immigration expert while on the phone with us when we were filling out the application told us that that was not the place to pay for that....grrrr.

But this is good news. I was so worried they wouldn't link my app with my documents.

I wonder if this means they have reviewed everything and this is all they need or if they just noticed right away I hadn't paid and that's it?? Who knows.

They have my documents!!! I received an email this morning that I did not pay for a return shipping label to return my documents bundle for myself and another email saying the same for my daughter. We originally didn't do that because our so called immigration expert while on the phone with us when we were filling out the application told us that that was not the place to pay for that....grrrr.

But this is good news. I was so worried they wouldn't link my app with my documents.

I wonder if this means they have reviewed everything and this is all they need or if they just noticed right away I hadn't paid and that's it?? Who knows.

Great news.

A return shipping label is one of the initial documents they look for before placing the application in the pile for processing.   

They have my documents!!! I received an email this morning that I did not pay for a return shipping label to return my documents bundle for myself and another email saying the same for my daughter. We originally didn't do that because our so called immigration expert while on the phone with us when we were filling out the application told us that that was not the place to pay for that....grrrr.

But this is good news. I was so worried they wouldn't link my app with my documents.

I wonder if this means they have reviewed everything and this is all they need or if they just noticed right away I hadn't paid and that's it?? Who knows.

You’ll know you are at the end when they ask you to pay the IHS fee for your daughter.   

You’ll know you are at the end when they ask you to pay the IHS fee for your daughter.   

Thanks. I doubted things could move that quickly. I paid the IHS fee for myself in my application but I thought they said in my daughters that it wasn't required because of her age. She's 16. Am I not remembering correctly? Can't keep this all straight!

I'm settling in London!

 btw I'm a bit concerned that my application isn't being processed in the priority batch. For some reason I put Expedited all over my envelope instead of "Priority Processing." The VFS receipt was at the top of my pile.

 Does anyone know how I can find out if it's being processed priority or not? I'm nervous that it is too late now

I would love to know this also, keep getting paranoid thoughts about our application not going through as priority.

Thanks. I doubted things could move that quickly. I paid the IHS fee for myself in my application but I thought they said in my daughters that it wasn't required because of her age. She's 16. Am I not remembering correctly? Can't keep this all straight!

There’s a glitch in the IHS website where it tells you there is no charge for a child dependant, but you do have to pay the £600 for her too.

So, because it won’t let you pay it when you apply, you have to wait for UKVI to contact you to ask for the payment.


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So, because it won’t let you pay it when you apply, you have to wait for UKVI to contact you to ask for the payment.

And when they do that, you know that the visa's been approved because they wouldn't ask for the IHS payment if they were going to refuse the visa!

Another question. Before I found this forum I stupidly rang the hotline to try and get some info. They told me I could ring back after 30 business days and they would escalate my case to another team (can't remember exactly what they said). I'm guessing after reading some comments on here that this is a load of nonsense?!

Another question. Before I found this forum I stupidly rang the hotline to try and get some info. They told me I could ring back after 30 business days and they would escalate my case to another team (can't remember exactly what they said). I'm guessing after reading some comments on here that this is a load of nonsense?!

Yes, escalating means nothing.

As I near the end of BD 21 I wonder what the process is and I try to envision where my documents are. Are they sitting in a pile of other applications? Are they sitting on someone’s desk? But really I’ve got some actual questions...

1. They had to open the package when it arrived in order to email me confirmation of receipt, correct?

2. Is 21 BD normal? I know everyone in this lust is in the same boat. And I’ve got a few Oct. 9th buddies. But I was hoping I would have found out by now.

3. Is there a typical time of day that decision made emails are sent?

1. They had to open the package when it arrived in order to email me confirmation of receipt, correct?

Yes. They open it, send you an email, and place it in the waiting line.

2. Is 21 BD normal? I know everyone in this lust is in the same boat. And I’ve got a few Oct. 9th buddies. But I was hoping I would have found out by now.

Yes, very normal, given the processing times over the last few months. Between about April and early October, the standard processing time for a priority application was about 30-35 working days. It's hopefully going a bit faster now, but it's hard to know.

3. Is there a typical time of day that decision made emails are sent?

Not really - standard working hours are 9-5 Mon-Fri but over the summer people were getting emails during the day, late at night, and on the weekend... so they could arrive at any time.

As I near the end of BD 21 I wonder what the process is and I try to envision where my documents are. Are they sitting in a pile of other applications? Are they sitting on someone’s desk? But really I’ve got some actual questions...

Once your application is picked up by the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) to process, the actual decision only takes maybe 1-2 hours.

So, almost your entire processing time is your application just sitting in line with all the other applications, waiting for someone to pick it up. It's likely that each ECO is assigned a pile of applications to work through, and each ECO will probably work through them at a different pace.