Priority Spouse Visa FALL Timeline (Oct-Dec)

Do you mean the $1900 service?  If so, that service is not being discontinued.  It's been taking 3-4 weeks for people to get the documents received emails.

Sorry, that's the VFS We-scan-your-documents-for-you-keep-your-passport service, not just the front-of-the-queue service. It'll be four weeks tomorrow, so here's hoping! I'm just worried that it'll then be thirty working days from that, which would be awful - we're hoping to be together in the UK in early January.

Sorry, that's the VFS We-scan-your-documents-for-you-keep-your-passport service, not just the front-of-the-queue service. It'll be four weeks tomorrow, so here's hoping! I'm just worried that it'll then be thirty working days from that, which would be awful - we're hoping to be together in the UK in early January.

Did you select standard priority for $800ish or the $1900 one?

Did you select standard priority for $800ish or the $1900 one?

The $1900 one - I just double checked and you're right, that isn't going away so I must have misread something! Apologies, I misunderstood what you meant there.

The $1900 one - I just double checked and you're right, that isn't going away so I must have misread something! Apologies, I misunderstood what you meant there.

Cool, just want to ensure I'm setting the correct expectations.  Someone who used that service heard back yesterday - 18 business days from when her documents were received in Sheffield. 

Which is great as it used to be that the Gold service (what you've used) was an absolute shambles and waste of money.  However, with the recent switch to scanning in the USA for all applications, it may be the faster option now.  Fingers crossed!

Thank you everyone. I'm still in shock.

@elee27  I believe i was on a similar timeline as yours. I'm guessing to start counting once received in NY. But that's just my theory!

Cheers!

I think I’m exactly a week behind you!

Sooo let's discuss, does anybody else feel like paying priority is a waste of money (I kinda do).

1. Very few have gotten approved before the 30WD.
2. Alot of us pay priority and then if they want to give themself more time, we get sent the dreaded NSF email, so now might be 60WD.
3. Shouldnt the priority processing team increase to help with the demand.
4. There is noone to email, call (without paying another fee, to get the most vague response)

 I know it's our choice but atleast we should get the service we pay for.  It just seems like we rolled our car windows down and threw $900 away. That's how the 'priority service' feels to me.

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Sooo let's discuss, does anybody else feel like paying priority is a waste of money (I kinda do).

1. Very few have gotten approved before the 30WD.
2. Alot of us pay priority and then if they want to give themself more time, we get sent the dreaded NSF email, so now might be 60WD.
3. Shouldnt the priority processing team increase to help with the demand.
4. There is noone to email, call (without paying another fee, to get the most vague response)

 I know it's our choice but atleast we should get the service we pay for.  It just seems like we rolled our car windows down and threw $900 away. That's how the 'priority service' feels to me.

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The new process via NYC is new, so if the processing is extending significantly beyond 30 business days you may be able to get a refund. Unfortunately over the last year applicants with dependents do seem to take longer as they complete additional checks (I'm not sure if that's the case for you). I would save any communication you receive and be prepared for the British tradition of a strongly worded letter after you have your visa. Priority has been worth it in the past, and we are all waiting to see how the new process goes!

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Sooo let's discuss, does anybody else feel like paying priority is a waste of money (I kinda do).

1. Very few have gotten approved before the 30WD.
2. Alot of us pay priority and then if they want to give themself more time, we get sent the dreaded NSF email, so now might be 60WD.
3. Shouldnt the priority processing team increase to help with the demand.
4. There is noone to email, call (without paying another fee, to get the most vague response)

 I know it's our choice but atleast we should get the service we pay for.  It just seems like we rolled our car windows down and threw $900 away. That's how the 'priority service' feels to me.

Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

Personally, I always recommend using priority if you can afford it.

Over the last 5 years or so, it's been pretty much consistently taking half the time for priority than non-priority, and from what I've seen on the forum, quite a lot of people have regretted NOT buying priority, but almost no one has wished they HADN'T bought it.

Bear in mind that:

- 30 working days is standard for priority now, and has been for the last 2 years... that's unlikely to change, and it's about the fastest you'll get the visa.
- if a non-priority application gets a NSF email, it could take up to 120 working days vs. the 60 working days that a priority application with NSF could take
- there is no separate 'priority processing team'... all applications are processed by the same team.

The only difference between priority and non-priority is where in the line your application is placed when it arrives in Sheffield. It only takes 1-2 hours for the ECO to pick up an application and make a decision... and that's the same whether it's priority or non-priority. So the rest of the time is just your application sitting in line. The non-priority applications are at the back of the line, so they take longer to get to than the priority applications, therefore, you are paying to 'skip the line' (I liken it to using a Fast Pass at Disneyland... the length of the ride is the same for everyone, but you get to skip much of the line with priority).

If I were doing it again now I would definitely do priority (regular priority, NOT the $1900 one). But I wouldn't be holding my breath and as there are no guarantees, I definitely wouldn't even hope for a refund for a wait over 30 days.

Much of it is psychological in as much as, you know you've done everything you can to shorten the wait. You don't want to spend all that time kicking yourself for not having used priority if you didn't.

The new process via NYC is new, so if the processing is extending significantly beyond 30 business days you may be able to get a refund. Unfortunately over the last year applicants with dependents do seem to take longer as they complete additional checks (I'm not sure if that's the case for you). I would save any communication you receive and be prepared for the British tradition of a strongly worded letter after you have your visa. Priority has been worth it in the past, and we are all waiting to see how the new process goes!

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I'm just talking in general not with the fact that I have dependents (I know my case is special). I just feel in general it's a RIP off.

I paid priority because I want to get approved in 60 wds instead of 120 wds or more.

I've been  lurking in this group a long time and seems like the 30 wd is the standard and anything below that is a unicorn situation. I genuinely feel like the unicorn situation should be the standard and 30 wd, the unicorn (a reverse of what's happening now)

But I think the absolute worst thing is having no-one to communicate with (especially with this NYC disaster)

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I've been  lurking in this group a long time and seems like the 30 wd is the standard and anything below that is a unicorn situation. I genuinely feel like the unicorn situation should be the standard and 30 wd, the unicorn (a reverse of what's happening now)

Oh, the unicorn situation USED to be the standard (in fact, much better than the unicorn situation was the standard), but not anymore .

For my first 10 years on the forum, apart from in the summer and close to Christmas, the standard was:
- priority = 2-5 working days (sometimes even 1-2 working days)
- non-priority = 1-2 weeks (sometimes less than 1 week)

In fact, when I first joined the forum, you could pay a visa expeditor $100-150 to hand-deliver your application to the consulate and you would get a decision within 24 hours (sometimes even within 4 hours), and your visa would be in your hands as soon as the expeditor sent it back to you.

However, between January and March 2017, Sheffield started processing settlement applications from many more countries (used to be 4 countries, now it's several dozen countries), and the processing times slowed to an average of 30 working days for priority, because they are now processing thousands more applications each month.

Oh, the unicorn situation USED to be the standard (in fact, much better than the unicorn situation was the standard), but not anymore .

For my first 10 years on the forum, apart from in the summer and close to Christmas, the standard was:
- priority = 2-5 working days (sometimes even 1-2 working days)
- non-priority = 1-2 weeks (sometimes less than 1 week)

In fact, when I first joined the forum, you could pay a visa expeditor $100-150 to hand-deliver your application to the consulate and you would get a decision within 24 hours (sometimes even within 4 hours), and your visa would be in your hands as soon as the expeditor sent it back to you.

However, between January and March 2017, Sheffield started processing settlement applications from many more countries (used to be 4 countries, now it's several dozen countries), and the processing times slowed to an average of 30 working days for priority, because they are now processing thousands more applications each month.

I remember prior to the 2012 rules, being married over a certain amount of time generally guaranteed approval without having to meet any standards. I miss those days.

Right now, hubby and I will be happy if we can apply March 1st and get the approval by early April.

I remember prior to the 2012 rules, being married over a certain amount of time generally guaranteed approval without having to meet any standards. I miss those days.

Right now, hubby and I will be happy if we can apply March 1st and get the approval by early April.

Yeah, if you had been married and living together outside the UK for more than 4 years, you could apply for ILE (Indefinite Leave to Enter)... but you needed to take the Life in the UK (KOL) test first. At that time, you could take the test as a visitor to the UK, so people would fly to the UK, take the test, fly back to the US and apply for ILE... and that would be it - no more visas. They just needed to live in the UK for 3 years and they could apply for UK citizenship.

Or, if you couldn't pass the KOL test first, you could apply for a spousal visa with a 'KOL Req'd' endorsement, and then you could apply for ILR as soon as you had passed the KOL test.

Unfortunately, they then changed it so you needed to be resident in the UK (with a visa and proof of address) in order to take the KOL test, so the only option was to apply for the spousal visa with KOL Req'd and so not many people could apply for ILE.

But the new 2012 rules came in and they got rid of the ILE/KOL Req'd options .

For my first 10 years on the forum, apart from in the summer and close to Christmas, the standard was:
- priority = 2-5 working days (sometimes even 1-2 working days)
- non-priority = 1-2 weeks (sometimes less than 1 week)

In fact, when I first joined the forum, you could pay a visa expeditor $100-150 to hand-deliver your application to the consulate and you would get a decision within 24 hours (sometimes even within 4 hours), and your visa would be in your hands as soon as the expeditor sent it back to you.

Every time I see these old processing times & learn about how this used to work, I try to not get TOO bitter. 

Every time I see these old processing times & learn about how this used to work, I try to not get TOO bitter. 

Well, it's unlikely to get any easier or any cheaper in the future so just be glad you're applying now rather than later!