Priority Spouse Visa FALL Timeline (Oct-Dec)

Hi, did anyone get decision made emails so far this week? I know there was a rash of them last week; haven’t seen one this week.

Meanwhile I’m going on 70 BD..

There were decisions on Mon but I didn't see a post on any forum yet about a decision on Tue. Feels like that's because everyone else has got their visa promptly. One guy who posted on Mon waited 80bd and his visa had expired a month ago when it arrived. Nice. Good luck resolving that when it's impossible to reach anyone who can help or knows anything.

Remind me: did you get a complex case email? I didn't. My application has simply been abandoned.

Applications are arriving and being processed fast every day, while mine is sitting there waiting and nobody looked at it for 3 months. It's an unfair broken process.

I'm now at 40bd since the first email from UKVI. 50 bd if you counted from biometrics.

There were decisions on Mon but I didn't see a post on any forum yet about a decision on Tue. Feels like that's because everyone else has got their visa promptly. One guy who posted on Mon waited 80bd and his visa had expired a month ago when it arrived. Nice. Good luck resolving that when it's impossible to reach anyone who can help or knows anything.

This has happened to a couple of people before. They made a complaint to UKVI and it was sorted out quickly.

Remind me: did you get a complex case email? I didn't. My application has simply been abandoned.

Applications are arriving and being processed fast every day, while mine is sitting there waiting and nobody looked at it for 3 months. It's an unfair broken process.

I'm now at 40bd since the first email from UKVI. 50 bd if you counted from biometrics.

Your application has not been abandoned. In my 11.5 years ok the forum and having seen thousands of applications processed, not a single one has ever been abandoned.

You are at 40 BD (the count starts from the email for US applications) which means you are still well within current timelines for processing.

There are a number of reasons your application could be taking longer than some of the others:
- it is in a pile which is taking longer to process than other piles due to the applications ahead of yours being more complicated
- some ECOs may be working faster than others on their pile of applications
- the ECO with your application in their pile may have gone sick
- some applications may have been taken out of order and processed first to make the monthly stats look good
- your application may have required extra checks so it has been put to one side while those checks are carried out
- if the applicant has ever been refused a visa or refused entry to the U.K., this usually makes their application more complicated and it can potentially add 2-3 weeks onto the processing time while they look into the reasons for refusal



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This has happened to a couple of people before. They made a complaint to UKVI and it was sorted out quickly.

Your application has not been abandoned. In my 11.5 years ok the forum and having seen thousands of applications processed, not a single one has ever been abandoned.

You are at 40 BD (the count starts from the email for US applications) which means you are still well within current timelines for processing.

There are a number of reasons your application could be taking longer than some of the others:
- it is in a pile which is taking longer to process than other piles due to the applications ahead of yours being more complicated
- some ECOs may be working faster than others on their pile of applications
- the ECO with your application in their pile may have gone sick
- some applications may have been taken out of order and processed first to make the monthly stats look good
- your application may have required extra checks so it has been put to one side while those checks are carried out
- if the applicant has ever been refused a visa or refused entry to the U.K., this usually makes their application more complicated and it can potentially add 2-3 weeks onto the processing time while they look into the reasons for refusal

Already escalated three times and complained to UKVI and the HO. No response to any of that. Nobody has looked at my application for 3 months. Others are flying through in 24 days. Badly broken system.

Already escalated three times and complained to UKVI and the HO. No response to any of that. Nobody has looked at my application for 3 months. Others are flying through in 24 days. Badly broken system.

Escalation is not a thing - it’s something the call centre tells you they will do but then don’t actually do anything. In fact, it’s been theorised that ‘escalating’ may actually slow down the application processing time.

Complaining to UKVI will do nothing unless they have passed their service standards time of 60 working days without making a decision (and without sending a non-straightforward email)... you won’t reach 60 BD until late September, so all you can do is wait at the moment.

But 3 months? You just said it’s been 40 BD... that’s only 2 months, not 3. Also, most Priority applications are currently taking 35-40 BD, possibly even 45 BD, so you seem right on schedule for a straightforward application... though one of your previous posts mentioned previous refusals, which will likely make the application non-straightforward (though you may not actually get a non-straightforward email) and so may add extra time to your processing.

Applications that have taken only 24 BD are likely to be anomalies rather than the norm.

Remember, 99% of the processing time is your application sitting in line waiting for someone to pick it up. Once they pick it up (likely sometime between business day 35 and 45), they will either make a decision within 1-2 hours, or the application will be referred for extra checks. If the latter happens, it could be another couple of weeks after that before a decision can be made, depending on how long the checks take.


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There were decisions on Mon but I didn't see a post on any forum yet about a decision on Tue. Feels like that's because everyone else has got their visa promptly. One guy who posted on Mon waited 80bd and his visa had expired a month ago when it arrived. Nice. Good luck resolving that when it's impossible to reach anyone who can help or knows anything.

Remind me: did you get a complex case email? I didn't. My application has simply been abandoned.

Applications are arriving and being processed fast every day, while mine is sitting there waiting and nobody looked at it for 3 months. It's an unfair broken process.

I'm now at 40bd since the first email from UKVI. 50 bd if you counted from biometrics.

Yeah, I got the ‘not-straightforward’ nonsense email. But remarkably it happened like this:

After 45 BD of waiting since receipt email I decided to waste the £5 and complain.

July 24th - complaint email to UKVI
July 25th - response ‘really someone is working on it just wait!’
July 25th - email saying ‘non-straightforward’
July 26th - requesting payment of IHS because of Their Glitch in the system.

What the above tells me is that my $1,750 priority visa applications were sitting around gathering dust before I emailed and someone went ‘oh, yeah, that’s right here’; well this doesn’t look right, we need the IHS fee.

This is a horribly broken system. Confiscation of passports, lack of transparency, ridiculous random fees, and no accountability. I’m pursuing every means possible to complain and seek my priority fee back. Based on the above timeline I think it’s safe to say they left my two applications to gather dust.


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What the above tells me is that my $1,750 priority visa applications were sitting around gathering dust before I emailed and someone went ‘oh, yeah, that’s right here’; well this doesn’t look right, we need the IHS fee.

You did the Gold Service?  That's really naughty of them to then give the not-straight-forward nonsense.  We can add your experience to the long list of "don't use the gold service" reasons, I'm afraid...   

Hi, did anyone get decision made emails so far this week? I know there was a rash of them last week; haven’t seen one this week.

Meanwhile I’m going on 70 BD..


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Oh my gosh, 70 days.. how are you holding up

You did the Gold Service?  That's really naughty of them to then give the not-straight-forward nonsense.  We can add your experience to the long list of "don't use the gold service" reasons, I'm afraid...   

I don't think so. I think he is adding the cost of multiple applications.

I don't think so. I think he is adding the cost of multiple applications.

Ah!  Let's hope it wasn't "gold". 

I don't think so. I think he is adding the cost of multiple applications.

You are right. Two applications priority, with an amusingly bad exchange rate and no option to pay in GBP. Another UKVI fail.


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Well, I’m financial in a poor place, I’m missing my young kids and wife. They are living in an 800 sqf. House with my in laws, whilst my children should be in school. I’m going to work everyday just muddling through. Because there is nothing I can do!

I would of reversed course weeks ago, but at this point we’re committed and it’s better to see it through. But this ridiculous process is not the best way to start a new life in the UK.

The worst part is, how do you think my wife views the UK after this shameful process? They confiscated her passport and sort of caged her in. She can’t leave the US even visit me.

I’m sure once everyone gets the approval, they just forget about how poor this process is and never bother again. Something needs to be changed. My parents never had to deal with this massive BS bureaucracy; they are dumbfounded when I try to explain the hoops we have to jump through.


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The worst part is, how do you think my wife views the UK after this shameful process? They confiscated her passport and sort of caged her in. She can’t leave the US even visit me.

I know it's tough but she has not had her passport confiscated.   She applied for a visa and submitting the passport is part of that process.

If she did want her passport back before a decision is made, she could cancel the application and it would be returned to her.

Also, she is not caged in the US. The US allows for a second passport in cases where the primary one is being used for visa processing in another country. If she had wanted to, she could have applied for one and you could have met her in a third country.

Well, I’m financial in a poor place, I’m missing my young kids and wife. They are living in an 800 sqf. House with my in laws, whilst my children should be in school. I’m going to work everyday just muddling through. Because there is nothing I can do!

I would of reversed course weeks ago, but at this point we’re committed and it’s better to see it through. But this ridiculous process is not the best way to start a new life in the UK.

The worst part is, how do you think my wife views the UK after this shameful process? They confiscated her passport and sort of caged her in. She can’t leave the US even visit me.

I’m sure once everyone gets the approval, they just forget about how poor this process is and never bother again. Something needs to be changed. My parents never had to deal with this massive BS bureaucracy; they are dumbfounded when I try to explain the hoops we have to jump through.


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I'm not going to sugarcoat it.  This is just the first glimpse into how the UK feels about immigration that you guys will experience over the next 5 years +.  It's not nice.  But hopefully she will make a small difference to those around her in educating them on the process and the sheer expense involved.  I know my final payment of nearly £5,000 last year while on maternity leave dug deep.  But at least with that payment, my journey as an immigrant officially ended.

Though people try in good humor to banter that I'm not REALLY British....  HA!  Nice try! 

Big hugs.  I hate how this process often separates families.  Kids need their parents.  Both of them.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it.  This is just the first glimpse into how the UK feels about immigration that you guys will experience over the next 5 years +.  It's not nice.  But hopefully she will make a small difference to those around her in educating them on the process and the sheer expense involved.  I know my final payment of nearly £5,000 last year while on maternity leave dug deep.  But at least with that payment, my journey as an immigrant officially ended.

Though people try in good humor to banter that I'm not REALLY British....  HA!  Nice try! 

Big hugs.  I hate how this process often separates families.  Kids need their parents.  Both of them.

Well, I never thought it would be easy. The whole thing is a life experience and I/we accept that to a degree. But I have to vent somewhere! 


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Well, I never thought it would be easy. The whole thing is a life experience and I/we accept that to a degree. But I have to vent somewhere! 


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Vent all you need to!