Priority Spouse Visa FALL Timeline (Oct-Dec)

Good Luck Soccer4ja9! 

Thanks larrabee !!! 🤞🏻😬🙏

Hello! I’m going to I apply for priority around Jan. 8th, wondering if anyone here has applied for a UK spouse visa that has previously applied and been granted permanent residency in Australia. On the application for the U.K., it asks if you have been granted a visa in a Commonwealth country. Curious if this helps speed the visa process along. My husband is a dual citizen and we used to live in Australia, and I had PR there. Now we have moved to England. So this is round two of the residency visa application for me. Because I just LOVE paperwork.

Hello! I’m going to I apply for priority around Jan. 8th, wondering if anyone here has applied for a UK spouse visa that has previously applied and been granted permanent residency in Australia. On the application for the U.K., it asks if you have been granted a visa in a Commonwealth country. Curious if this helps speed the visa process along. My husband is a dual citizen and we used to live in Australia, and I had PR there. Now we have moved to England. So this is round two of the residency visa application for me. Because I just LOVE paperwork.

Hi, Lovepaperwork!  . Where are you going to apply from?

Your Australian residency won't have any affect on the outcome of the spouse visa. If you are applying from Australia it actually might take a bit longer than if you apply from the US.

Hello! I’m going to I apply for priority around Jan. 8th, wondering if anyone here has applied for a UK spouse visa that has previously applied and been granted permanent residency in Australia. On the application for the U.K., it asks if you have been granted a visa in a Commonwealth country. Curious if this helps speed the visa process along. My husband is a dual citizen and we used to live in Australia, and I had PR there. Now we have moved to England. So this is round two of the residency visa application for me. Because I just LOVE paperwork.

Just making sure you know you cannot apply from inside the UK.   

Hello everyone!

I just joined this group and hoping for some advice or at least support from other people in the same situation as we are!

My husband is Costa Rican and we have been married since 2010. I am 6 months pregnant, 26 weeks. We completed the application for his Visa on the 8th December. It wasn't in Sheffield, the process is completed in Bogota, Colombia.

UK Spouse Visa (Priority)
Married: 2010
Biometrics + docs sent:        7th December via interview in Panama City ( As Costa Rica does not have the office here - he had to fly to Panama to have all his documents scanned)

PRIORITY VISA PAID FOR.
Received Colombia email saying they had all paperwork and passport:   8th December 2017
Decision email:                    Waiting
Visa:                                   Waiting

I decided to be with my hubby in Costa Rica whilst we await the decision, as I dont want to spend months apart whilst I am pregnant. I work from home so I can work anywhere in the world, which makes it easier. I can fly for 6 more weeks and really hope we hear back soon.

I see on this group that everyone is applying via Sheffield, whereas we have done everything via Colombia, the email we received was from Colombia. This is the email we received on the 8th December.

Dear applicant,

Your application has been opened at the Bogota Visa section is being entered onto our I.T  system. It will now be placed in our managed queue awaiting allocation to an Entry Clearance Officer to assess.

UKVI aims to process:
If you purchased Super Priority Service (Only available for application smade in Bogota) we aim to process your application within 24 hours.
• All non settlement applications in 15 working days
• All settlement applications in 60 working days
• Priority paid applications will be given priority and placed at the front of our managed queue
The processing times begins from the day you submit your application, passport and biometric information.  During peak times when demand is high, it will not always be possible to meet the above target processing times.
You will receive  further e-mails:
• When your application has been allocated to an Entry Clearance Officer
• When your application has been finalised with return details

Withdrawing your application

If you wish to withdraw an application, you can request this by emailing: Bogotavisaqueries@fco.gov.uk
Sincerely,

UK Visa and Immigration, Bogota


Has anyone else applied from Bogota? And is there any time frame for the UK Visa applications from Bogota, not Sheffield. Im feeling a bit nervous as we are on day 13, which of course is not long to wait, and usually I would just enjoy being in Costa Rica, but Im nervous as im pregnant and really wish we could know as soon as possible. Any advice would be very very welcome. Good luck to everyone, I know this is a tough process for so many people and I know patience is needed!

Thank you!
Emilie

Hello everyone!

I just joined this group and hoping for some advice or at least support from other people in the same situation as we are!

My husband is Costa Rican and we have been married since 2010. I am 6 months pregnant, 26 weeks. We completed the application for his Visa on the 8th December. It wasn't in Sheffield, the process is completed in Bogota, Colombia.

UK Spouse Visa (Priority)
Married: 2010
Biometrics + docs sent:        7th December via interview in Panama City ( As Costa Rica does not have the office here - he had to fly to Panama to have all his documents scanned)

PRIORITY VISA PAID FOR.
Received Colombia email saying they had all paperwork and passport:   8th December 2017
Decision email:                    Waiting
Visa:                                   Waiting

I decided to be with my hubby in Costa Rica whilst we await the decision, as I dont want to spend months apart whilst I am pregnant. I work from home so I can work anywhere in the world, which makes it easier. I can fly for 6 more weeks and really hope we hear back soon.

I see on this group that everyone is applying via Sheffield, whereas we have done everything via Colombia, the email we received was from Colombia. This is the email we received on the 8th December.

Dear applicant,

Your application has been opened at the Bogota Visa section is being entered onto our I.T  system. It will now be placed in our managed queue awaiting allocation to an Entry Clearance Officer to assess.

UKVI aims to process:
If you purchased Super Priority Service (Only available for application smade in Bogota) we aim to process your application within 24 hours.
• All non settlement applications in 15 working days
• All settlement applications in 60 working days
• Priority paid applications will be given priority and placed at the front of our managed queue
The processing times begins from the day you submit your application, passport and biometric information.  During peak times when demand is high, it will not always be possible to meet the above target processing times.
You will receive  further e-mails:
• When your application has been allocated to an Entry Clearance Officer
• When your application has been finalised with return details

Withdrawing your application

If you wish to withdraw an application, you can request this by emailing: Bogotavisaqueries@fco.gov.uk
Sincerely,

UK Visa and Immigration, Bogota


Has anyone else applied from Bogota? And is there any time frame for the UK Visa applications from Bogota, not Sheffield. Im feeling a bit nervous as we are on day 13, which of course is not long to wait, and usually I would just enjoy being in Costa Rica, but Im nervous as im pregnant and really wish we could know as soon as possible. Any advice would be very very welcome. Good luck to everyone, I know this is a tough process for so many people and I know patience is needed!

Thank you!
Emilie

No idea I’m afraid on processing times.  As you are the UKC, you can always travel ahead if needed for the pregnancy.  Good luck!

Thank you for your reply! I know I can travel, but what if they say no, then im in England and my husband is in Costa Rica. I cant bare that situation. So best to stick together

Thank you for your reply! I know I can travel, but what if they say no, then im in England and my husband is in Costa Rica. I cant bare that situation. So best to stick together

Hi Emilie, Just be aware that once the visa is granted, your husband will only have 30 days to enter the UK and pick up his BRP, and you must either be in the UK first or travelling with him.  If you were stuck outside of the UK during the validity period of his vignette, he would not be able to travel there by himself.

Hi Emilie, Just be aware that once the visa is granted, your husband will only have 30 days to enter the UK and pick up his BRP, and you must either be in the UK first or travelling with him.  If you were stuck outside of the UK during the validity period of his vignette, he would not be able to travel there by himself.

Thanks Larrabee, I actually didnt know that! Looking at the stats you guys put up here, im hoping we will find out in good time. I can fly with British Airways up to 36 weeks with a doctors note if I need to, im 26 weeks right now, so fingers crossed with the priority we paid for, we should hear within 10 weeks. It seems most Visas are issued within 30-40 working days on average, so we should be ok! fingers crossed. It will be good once this is all over!! Thanks so much for your advice, its really helpful.
Emilie

Congratulations to all who have received their visas . We're still waiting on ours, and haven't heard anything back yet.

I'd be interested to hear your biometric story though.

Oh boy. So we had booked an appointment at a vfsglobal center in Chicago, to get my wife's biometrics taken, on the 18th October. When we arrived at the facility the man there told us that unfortunately they don't deal with settlement applications, and that we would instead have to book an appointment at an APU. He also told us that there was nowhere else in Chicago that would do it (??). Given that we were on our honeymoon and wanted to enjoy what little time I had left in the US together, we decided to book an appointment in St Louis at a time after my flight home, on the 31st October.

My wife turned up to the appointment in St Louis and they took her biometrics (once she'd shown them the receipt she had for the Chicago appointment); they also told her that they were unsure why the place in Chicago was unable to do it, and that they knew of places in Chicago that could. Bizarre.

The main irritation is that, had the system made it more clear that the center we booked an appointment at didn't take biometrics, we'd have had our application submitted at least two weeks earlier than we did. But such is the nature of this Kafkaesque visa process...

Oh boy. So we had booked an appointment at a vfsglobal center in Chicago, to get my wife's biometrics taken, on the 18th October. When we arrived at the facility the man there told us that unfortunately they don't deal with settlement applications, and that we would instead have to book an appointment at an APU. He also told us that there was nowhere else in Chicago that would do it (??). Given that we were on our honeymoon and wanted to enjoy what little time I had left in the US together, we decided to book an appointment in St Louis at a time after my flight home, on the 31st October.

It sounds like you maybe booked the wrong type of appointment by accident?

You don't give biometrics at a VFS Global centre, you give them at a USCIS Application Support Center run by US immigration on behalf of UKVI. The VFS Global Application Centres are for Gold/Silver/Bronze premium service in-person application submissions only (which costs an extra $1,600 for settlement applications!).

In Chicago, you give biometrics at the following address:
USCIS Application Support Center
5160 South Pulaski Road Suite 101,
Located next to Super Mall Chicago,
IL 60632-4253.

If you went to this address, you had the wrong appointment type:
Premium Application Centre
564 West Randolph Street
Regus Office - 2nd Floor
Chicago IL 60661

It sounds like you maybe booked the wrong type of appointment by accident?

Yup, I think that's exactly what happened; we were at the second address. We were filling in the application form online and following the advice of our lawyer (who I'm now sure wasn't giving us the best of direction - how I wish we had found this forum earlier). Why they weren't able to tell us at the place we visited that there were ASC locations in Chicago I don't really know.

We paid vfsglobal for a return courier service, but am I right in presuming that that's different to the Bronze/Silver/Gold premium services? As far as I understood it, that simply means they will ship documents back to you.

Why they weren't able to tell us at the place we visited that there were ASC locations in Chicago I don't really know.

They ought to know - but it might be that because the biometrics centres are US immigration centres, they weren't really aware of which ones were in the area.

We paid vfsglobal for a return courier service, but am I right in presuming that that's different to the Bronze/Silver/Gold premium services? As far as I understood it, that simply means they will ship documents back to you.

Yes, that's correct - the return shipping label is $141. Are you using Settlement Priority Processing as well (also purchased on VFS Global)?

The other Gold/Silver/Bronze services are premium fast-track application services, mainly offered to non-settlement applications, where you submit the application and documents in person at the Premium Centre, and your biometrics are taken at the same time.

Are you using Settlement Priority Processing as well (also purchased on VFS Global)?

Yes, I think so. VFS Global charged us $1974 in total.

Yes, I think so. VFS Global charged us $1974 in total.

That doesn’t sound right.

The shipping label is $141 return or $227 round trip. Settlement Priority Processing is $771.

So you should have paid either $912 or $998 to VFS Global.

For the online application on the visa4uk website, you should have paid:
$2050 plus about $800 for the IHS surcharge if it’s a spousal visa.

Also, if your application arrived in Sheffield on 10 November and you paid for priority, you should have received the visa by now... since priority applications processed in November were only taking about 15-20 working days and you’re at 32 working days now.


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