Settlement Gold Premium Service Appointment

You are allowed to designate someone else to pick up your passport and documents for you in person at the premium center. There is a form to fill out, and they would need to have that, the receipt they gave you at the appointment (signed by you), and your driver's license or ID. You could potentially do that and have that person ship it to you wherever you are. 

http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/usa/pdf/Pickup-Authorisation-Form.pdf

While someone else could pick it up, you can’t have them send it on to you the UK, because you have to receive the visa OUTSIDE the UK and then use it to enter the UK.

If it’s a spousal visa, the vignette will only be valid for 30 days to enter the UK, and it MUST be stamped with your entry date within those 30 days or you won’t be able to pick up your BRP card.

So you need to be in the US to receive the visa in order activate it when you enter the UK.


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While someone else could pick it up, you can’t have them send it on to you the UK, because you have to receive the visa OUTSIDE the UK and then use it to enter the UK.

If it’s a spousal visa, the vignette will only be valid for 30 days to enter the UK, and it MUST be stamped with your entry date within those 30 days or you won’t be able to pick up your BRP card.

So you need to be in the US to receive the visa in order activate it when you enter the UK.


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Do you have to receive it in the US or just outside the UK?

Also, I edited the post where I said they need your ID to collect it cause that was wrong lol.

No decision e-mail yet. 

I did get my ToR approved in 1 day though, so that's nice as my crate is being picked up tomorrow. 

Do you have to receive it in the US or just outside the UK?

No one applying from the US has ever been outside the US to receive it, because they have had to send their passport to Sheffield with their application. So it hasn’t been possible to travel while the application has been processing before.


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You are allowed to designate someone else to pick up your passport and documents for you in person at the premium center.

Interesting! Thanks for sharing that Dani! They didn't tell us anything about this option. Did you find this on their website?  Or perhaps the VFS employees at the Seattle office were just better informed?

No decision e-mail yet. 

I did get my ToR approved in 1 day though, so that's nice as my crate is being picked up tomorrow. 

Same here - no email yet 

I'm betting you'll hear first though, Dani... I'm thinking your case is more straightforward. That and we went overboard with our evidence!

I haven't started any other paperwork yet - don't want to jinx it. I'd better start looking at this stuff in the moving forum though... As I understand it the ToR is for customs, so we'll need it to ship any belongings? Oh and then there's everything we need to bring the cat with us! At least there's plenty of things to keep us busy while we wait 

Interesting! Thanks for sharing that Dani! They didn't tell us anything about this option. Did you find this on their website?  Or perhaps the VFS employees at the Seattle office were just better informed?

Yeah I did find it on the website but I think they mentioned it too.
This message is under each city's info: *If you will be sending someone else to pick up your documents, they must bring a signed authorization letter, your biometric receipt, and their photo ID.

 It's on this page: http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/usa/applicationcentre.html

It clearly poses even more questions about travel outside the US during the process.

ToR wasn't too bad (it helps prevent being taxed on importing your own stuff) but I hear it can take awhile so you might want to sort what exactly you want to ship to make it easy on yourself when you're ready to apply and it won't jinx your visa lol.

Yeah I did find it on the website but I think they mentioned it too.
This message is under each city's info: *If you will be sending someone else to pick up your documents, they must bring a signed authorization letter, your biometric receipt, and their photo ID.

Thanks for pointing that out! They also say I didn't need to bother with bringing my own passport photos. Wish I'd seen that before we went out of our way to get "UK sized" passport photos 

It clearly poses even more questions about travel outside the US during the process.

Indeed! I'm still waiting on them to respond to my question about whether they can give me a week or two to send in my passport, after receiving a positive decision from UKVI. If we don't hear back from them or just get a decision soon, I might just have to skip Christmas in the UK, fly over for a couple days in Jan for my interview and then immediately return.

ToR wasn't too bad (it helps prevent being taxed on importing your own stuff) but I hear it can take awhile so you might want to sort what exactly you want to ship to make it easy on yourself when you're ready to apply and it won't jinx your visa lol.

Good to know... I just looked at the HMRC site for the ToR1 - apparently we'll need it for the cat too. We were fortunate that my partner's parents allowed us to use their house to meet the accommodation requirement of the visa. It's been a struggle finding a pet friendly landlord. If we get lucky and find a furnished flat/house that will allow the cat, we shouldn't have to ship much.

Thanks all you guys, I didn't know about needing to enter the UK under the visa within 30 days.

30 days is more time to organize a trip than a two day "limited time" to getting the passport back to the VFS office though. So if I could send it in immediately and then go in two weeks later to pick it up, or have it sent to me and go somewhere other than USA, it just makes things so much more flexible.

Someone just told me about the option to get a second US passport. It's a completely legitimate thing, I'm wondering why I haven't heard of it as an option? It seems like it would be especially useful for FLgator86.

https://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/second-passport.html

Thanks all you guys, I didn't know about needing to enter the UK under the visa within 30 days.

Your 30 days will be determined by the Intended Travel Date you put on the application. It can be tricky to time it just right.

Your visa will either be valid from:
- the Intended Travel Date
Or
- about 7 days before the Intended Travel Date
Or
- the date the visa decision is made (if the Intended Travel Date has passed)
Or
- a few days after the visa decision is made (if the Intended Travel Date has passed)

30 days is more time to organize a trip than a two day "limited time" to getting the passport back to the VFS office though. So if I could send it in immediately and then go in two weeks later to pick it up, or have it sent to me and go somewhere other than USA, it just makes things so much more flexible.

Personally, I would not risk travelling at all while your visa is being processed.

If you miss your 30-day window you have to apply for a new 30-day visa vignette, which means going through another online application process, sending your passport to New York and paying another £169 for the replacement vignette (and possibly several hundred dollars more for priority processing if you need it quickly).

Someone just told me about the option to get a second US passport. It's a completely legitimate thing, I'm wondering why I haven't heard of it as an option? It seems like it would be especially useful for FLgator86.

It’s because it’s not something you are supposed to do. When you have a visa processing you are expected not to travel while it is being processed. A second passport is really supposed to be for emergencies only.



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Someone just told me about the option to get a second US passport. It's a completely legitimate thing, I'm wondering why I haven't heard of it as an option? It seems like it would be especially useful for FLgator86.

https://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/second-passport.html

A second passport is totally legitimate.  And it's so people can have a passport processing for a visa and still be able to travel.  What it's NOT designed for, is using the second passport to enter the country for which you have a visa application in for.  This is what we still don't know about the Gold service - are you allowed to travel to the UK while your  visa is pending?  I suspect no.  I suspect the Gold service is for people who need to travel frequently outside the country but that the UK is exempt.  But of course it doesn't say this anywhere.  What happens if you have entered the UK on your passport and your UK visa is refused?  You are in the country and at risk of being illegal.

The second passport hasn't ever worked for normal processing before as it's linked to the first passport and they'll see you have a visa application.

What's not clear is if those using Gold can travel to the UK or not.  As I said, I suspect no, but it's clear as mud.

I'm thinking your case is more straightforward.

What makes your application not straight forward?

Thanks all you guys, I didn't know about needing to enter the UK under the visa within 30 days.

Someone just told me about the option to get a second US passport. It's a completely legitimate thing, I'm wondering why I haven't heard of it as an option? It seems like it would be especially useful for FLgator86.

https://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/second-passport.html

Yeah, I had no idea this was even possible. We've tried calling UKVI directly at their £1.37/min help line. All the tales of incompetence about their customer service folks notwithstanding.

They kept putting us on hold to ask the supervisor questions. At first they flat out said I'd need to cancel my application to get my passport back. When we explained a second time about the gold service allowing you to keep the passport, they seemed totally uninformed. Eventually we were told I could enter the UK as a tourist and return to collect the visa. I'm far from confident about this now. Still haven't booked a ticket because I'm leery about whether the border force agent is going to see I have a settlement application pending when they scan my passport. We noted 14 Dec as my intended date of travel on the application form.

Still no decision email as of this morning so I'm really wondering how they can justify the extra fees for "gold premium," considering the experience Dani and I have had. Thinking positively though and still hopeful about the priority service, given the apparently speedier processing times this time of year.

What makes your application not straight forward?

Just a guess on my part given the additional cohabitation evidence required, going the Unmarried Partner route. Plus all the seemingly superfluous evidence they'll have to sift through, thanks to our lawyer's advice. No clue though, to be honest. I've noted some people on here say there's no distinction and others say it tends to take a bit longer.

Just a guess on my part given the additional cohabitation evidence required, going the Unmarried Partner route. Plus all the seemingly superfluous evidence they'll have to sift through, thanks to our lawyer's advice. No clue though, to be honest. I've noted some people on here say there's no distinction and others say it tends to take a bit longer.

None of that makes your application non-straightforward.

You have a perfectly normal, straightforward situation, same as anyone else... and the only thing that might mean your application takes a bit longer is the large amount of evidence you sent, because it may well take them longer to sort through it... however, since it only takes a couple of hours to make a decision on a visa application, I can't imagine it would add more than a day or so.

A non-straightforward application is classed as one (or more) of the following:
- you have previous refused entries to the UK
- you have previous refused visas for the UK
- you have worked illegally in the UK
- you have been an illegal overstayer in the UK
- you have been deported or removed from the UK
- you have criminal convictions that may cause you to be ineligible for a visa