UK visa application from USA news????

Hello,

So just to be sure, for those of us who will be filing shortly.  Are we sending our documents to NY now ?

Ideally, you will be instructed when you apply, and then you can clear it up for us. Congratulations on being a pioneer! 

So just to be sure, for those of us who will be filing shortly.  Are we sending our documents to NY now ?

It looks like that.

When you complete the online application, it should advise where to post your supporting documents.  Hopefully, it will list the NY scanning hub as the destination if, indeed, that's where all USA applications are going nowadays.

Other than a quiet change on the website, I can't find any official announcements about this.  It's frustrating because the call line is notorious for bad advice and even the official UK website hasn't historically been accurate (still advising settlement applications to be posted to NY when the processing centre had shifted to the UK). 

On a FB group this morning someone had just bought shipping through VFS and the shipping label had a NY address on it, so the change must be happening immediately

Isn't this just a paper cutting exercise? With scanned documents being sent to Sheffield for a decision, so that the officers in Sheffield still decide?

They seem to be doing this with new welfare claims now, documents scanned at one office to the place where the decision is made. And under the welfare reforms, where 6 income based benefits are replaced by one new beneift called Universal Credit, claimants are saying that they report a change in their circumstances through their online Universal Credit claim: no more writing ot phoning with a change to their benefits claim. No more benefit overpayments to be paid back, as there is for those still on the Tax Credit benefit.

I'm thinking this could improve tracking possibilities as well. With digital work queues, balancing workload and creating monitoring tools around it is much easier than paper. I just worry about scanning mistakes and no way to have them corrected until it's too late.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I'm thinking this could improve tracking possibilities as well. With digital work queues, balancing workload and creating monitoring tools around it.

Hopefully the next in the queue taken by the officer, rather than an application getting stuck in a bundle because one up front was not straightforward.

I just worry about scanning mistakes and no way to have them corrected until it's too late.

That was my thought too. If they emailed the documents scanned  to the applicant too, then they could check themselves for any missed documents.

If this is the case, it’s coming back around full circle!

Back when I joined the forum in 2007, all USA applications were processed in either LA, New York or Chicago, and the city you sent your application from was determined by what state you lived in.

Then they changed it so all applications were sent to and processed in New York.

And then in March 2013, they moved settlement applications to Sheffield, but for the first few months, New York would forward on any settlement applications to Sheffield (mainly because the instructions on the UKVI website were wrong).

Looks like maybe we’re going back to that again!

I remember reading something about that in the paper. Something like, Blair had given the decision making for US citizens to the US, but because of all the errors, where they gave visas to people who should not have been granted one, they took the decision making for some (all?) back to the UK? I'm not sure what paper the online article was in, so the article might have been full of errors.Although I think it was on the news on tv too?

I suspect they are having to revert to having applications processed away from Sheffield because of overload? When we applied for our spousal visa in 2014, it was processed in Jamaica. Even though we more than met the requirements, I still wonder if we would have been granted it if it had been processed in Sheffield. We had very little evidence apart from 15 photos covering our nearly fifty years of marriage! There is no home postal system in the Bahamas so everything is sent to a PO Box. And we have seen cases on this very forum, of couples, sometimes married for years with children, being refused on the grounds that their relationship is not genuine!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I suspect they are having to revert to having applications processed away from Sheffield because of overload?

A lot of contracts are being offered for government services, to reduce the cost to the taxpayers e.g. government staff (salaries, pensions, retiring early for whatever reason costs) sick days etc; buildings for government staff (cost of providing and maintaining the buildings they work in) etc.

Sital won this contract in 2017(?). From Kate's link

"Contact us

You can contact our international contact service provided by Sitel UK who work in partnership with UKVI."
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/usa-apply-for-a-uk-visa/apply-for-a-uk-visa-in-the-usa#contact-us


and
https://www.sitel.com/news_item/sitel-group-awarded-contract-deliver-uk-visa-international-domestic-customer-service-operations/


The welfare reforms has reduced these staffing and building costs too. Before, thousands of councils all over the UK, and the DWP (in various places over the country) and HMRC, dealt with various income based benefits. If we were going the other way, taking it from one department and giving it to thousand of offices across the UK, people would think we were mad! Plus now, claimants report changes to their claim on their online account and they can see this proof, whereas before, if the staff failed to act on these reported changes, the claimant had to request a copy of the telephone call to prove they did tell the staff.

More government provided jobs (or contracted out jobs) are meant to be moving out of London too, if they don't need to be in London. For decades now, UK government jobs have also been moved to areas to provide work in areas of high employment. NI has gained the most jobs from this policy, with Scotland not far behind NI. It's why Wales asked for all the govenment jobs in Scotland to be moved to Wales, if Scotland voted to leave.

I remember reading something about that in the paper. Something like, Blair had given the decision making for US citizens to the US, but because of all the errors, where they gave visas to people who should not have been granted one, they took the decision making for some (all?) back to the UK? I'm not sure what paper the online article was in, so the article might have been full of errors.Although I think it was on the news on tv too?

The majority of US applications are still processed in New York (visitor, work, student visas etc.)

The only US applications processed in Sheffield are settlement visas (fiancé/spouse/partner/child etc.). As far as I know, the reason for the move to Sheffield was to give a more streamlined and consistent decision-making process.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My fear is when people take a 5 inch bundle of paperwork as they have every photo they've ever had together and loads of written statements, etc.  Will the NY office have to hire people to sift through all the noise to find the required documents and only send what's necessary or will they scan the entire bundle?  I wonder if they are using sophisticated scanning software that is intelligent or not.  I suspect not.... 

My fear is when people take a 5 inch bundle of paperwork as they have every photo they've ever had together and loads of written statements, etc.  Will the NY office have to hire people to sift through all the noise to find the required documents and only send what's necessary or will they scan the entire bundle?  I wonder if they are using sophisticated scanning software that is intelligent or not.  I suspect not.... 

If it works anything like what I've used (on the analytics side) they will likely have barcodes to go with each section of documents which will group them in the right places. I genuinely can't imagine them just dumping it all in the system!  (IBM's filenet is the basis for all the image systems I've worked with)

On the less advanced side of things (although filenet has existed for a long time) they may have to select options before scanning. That leads to significantly more human error!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

The majority of US applications are still processed in New York (visitor, work, student visas etc.)

Are those visas processed in the relevant country, or the nearest country who can? I've seen students from countries like India and Pakistan, (immigrationboard.com posts) saying they have to go for an interview for their Tier 4 visa to the UK. Some applicants saying they collect their Visitor visas.

My fear is when people take a 5 inch bundle of paperwork as they have every photo they've ever had together and loads of written statements, etc.  Will the NY office have to hire people to sift through all the noise to find the required documents and only send what's necessary or will they scan the entire bundle?  I wonder if they are using sophisticated scanning software that is intelligent or not.  I suspect not.... 

Sital say this-
"The contract will see Sitel Group providing additional innovative digital and self-service capabilities that will support Government in delivering its wider objectives"
https://www.sitel.com/news_item/sitel-group-awarded-contract-deliver-uk-visa-international-domestic-customer-service-operations/

Will it be Sital staff scanning?

Are those visas processed in the relevant country, or the nearest country who can? I've seen students from countries like India and Pakistan, (immigrationboard.com posts) saying they have to go for an interview for their Tier 4 visa to the UK. Some applicants saying they collect their Visitor visas.

I don’t know. I’m talking about applications submitted in the US only, which have a completely different application submission system than other countries.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk