Priority Spouse Visa FALL Timeline (Oct-Dec)

I'm planning a feedback email to the lawyer in question, and the law firm. Positive in tone, of course.

And for future reference it was IAS - Immigration Advice Service Ltd. They have a very user friendly website, charged £100 for an 1 hour consult, and offered to handle the application on my behalf for a fee of £1,500.

I'm planning a feedback email to the lawyer in question, and the law firm. Positive in tone, of course.

And for future reference it was IAS - Immigration Advice Service Ltd. They have a very user friendly website, charged £100 for an 1 hour consult, and offered to handle the application on my behalf for a fee of £1,500.

It's not clear, are you recommending this company or warning people against it, as it seems they gave you incorrect advice?

Congratulations on your visa! 

It's not clear, are you recommending this company or warning people against it, as it seems they gave you incorrect advice?

Congratulations on your visa! 

Thank you! And thank you for your helpful advice here in the forum.

Re IAS,  the key advice they gave me in the consult was correct. The two bits of advice that were inaccurate I shall tell them about. The information about fees is just to help other people considering using an immigration lawyer. I would have said, that if you have found this forum and your application is straightforward, then you don't need a lawyer.

Thank you! And thank you for your helpful advice here in the forum.

Re IAS,  the key advice they gave me in the consult was correct. The two bits of advice that were inaccurate I shall tell them about. The information about fees is just to help other people considering using an immigration lawyer. I would have said, that if you have found this forum and your application is straightforward, then you don't need a lawyer.

Thanks!  Yes, it's important for people to realise that unless they have complicating factors such as a bad immigration or criminal history, there is no need to use a lawyer.

Thank you! And thank you for your helpful advice here in the forum.

Re IAS,  the key advice they gave me in the consult was correct. The two bits of advice that were inaccurate I shall tell them about. The information about fees is just to help other people considering using an immigration lawyer. I would have said, that if you have found this forum and your application is straightforward, then you don't need a lawyer.

Those are pretty big and important pieces of advice to get wrong and the fact that the lawyer said you needed those things is a massive red flag to me that they do not know what they are talking about and that their services should not be trusted.

I think someone else mentioned that firm the other day and was advised against using them because their website contains some inaccuracies/incorrect information.


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Thanks!  Yes, it's important for people to realise that unless they have complicating factors such as a bad immigration or criminal history, there is no need to use a lawyer.

My fiancé and I used IAS and honestly we don't regret using them. But now have gone through this visa process once and having a better understanding and finding this group we don't feel we need a solicitor for the FLR (M).

IAS was great because we had no idea what we were doing and I hadn't found this group before we hired them to represent us so it was worth the money. The only issue we had was lack on communication because our solicitor left the company during our visa process and the solicitor they replaced him with never kept contact or gave us updates or advice. Luckily we didn't have any ill side effects from the transition.

It did feel reassuring at the time. But I suspect the sad fact is that the more you need a lawyer to help you, the less likely you are to be able to pay for one.

Those are pretty big and important pieces of advice to get wrong and the fact that the lawyer said you needed those things is a massive red flag to me that they do not know what they are talking about and that their services should not be trusted.

I think someone else mentioned that firm the other day and was advised against using them because their website contains some inaccuracies/incorrect information.


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Yeah, I had a look after someone mentioned them. In the very first sentence in the spouse visa section, it says.

A Spouse Visa, also known as a UK Marriage Visa,...

I found another few glaring errors in 5 minutes of looking so felt comfortable mentioning that I had found inaccuracies on their website.

My fiancé and I used IAS and honestly we don't regret using them. But now have gone through this visa process once and having a better understanding and finding this group we don't feel we need a solicitor for the FLR (M).

IAS was great because we had no idea what we were doing and I hadn't found this group before we hired them to represent us so it was worth the money. The only issue we had was lack on communication because our solicitor left the company during our visa process and the solicitor they replaced him with never kept contact or gave us updates or advice. Luckily we didn't have any ill side effects from the transition.

Obviously some people prefer to use a lawyer and that's fine. But the message we're trying to get across is "want" to use a lawyer vs "need" to use a lawyer! The vast majority of our members do not need to use one. 

The second part of the message is, if you choose to use a lawyer, do your due diligence and make sure that they have the relevant experience.
Many are experts at finding ways around the rules for people in complicated situations who otherwise wouldn't qualify, but haven't any idea of how best to put a simple, qualifying application from the USA together!

Is this the most current timeline thread for the priority spouse visa? Just curious if anyone has had an application approved since the new process started in Sept of mailing everything to NYC.

Is this the most current timeline thread for the priority spouse visa? Just curious if anyone has had an application approved since the new process started in Sept of mailing everything to NYC.

It is the most current thread... despite the title, we only have one thread for priority processing now.

I don't think we have seen anyone approved (or refused) yet since they changed it to mailing everything to New York.

Woke up to my application received email today!

@aliceinchains3 have you got yours yet?

Woke up to my application received email today!

@aliceinchains3 have you got yours yet?

Congrats!! Did you send copies to NY in place of originals? Just curious.

Congrats!! Did you send copies to NY in place of originals? Just curious.

I did send copies, unless the original was already US letter sized.

Since that’s apparently a VERY recent change, I added a line in my cover letter stating that I provided copies based on the info sheet I received at biometrics but would be happy to provide the originals if necessary.

It's just so annoying. I mean it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to provide clear and unambiguous instructions... I'm convinced they keep things vague on purpose!