We received the following email the other day....Look like timescales are going back to normal!
This email is intended for information only. Customers are not required to take any further action at this stage.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the setting up of the Ukraine visa schemes to support Ukrainians wishing to come to the UK, visa status and information staff were diverted from normal work to support the UK Government response. This resulted in temporary service impacts across a range of visa routes.
For Marriage and Family Entry Clearance applications, the service standard of 60 days was increased to 120 days and Priority Visa services were suspended. We are operating within this revised service standard and are hopeful that we will soon be able to reinstate our normal service standard and resume Priority visa services for new customers.
As part of our operational recovery, Visa, Status and Information Services are pleased to announce that we will be offering a Priority Visa service for customers with an existing undecided application, ahead of this service resuming for new applications.
There will be an additional fee of £573 payable for this service which will enable your existing application to be considered within 15 days, rather than the standard 30-day Priority Visa service.
You will shortly receive a further email offering you this option with further details on how you can apply. We will be contacting applicants in date order, with the oldest outstanding applications contacted first. At that point, we will also advise you on current processing times, so you are able to make an informed choice as to whether you wish to proceed with the Priority Visa service.
Should you wish to proceed at that stage you must confirm using the details in the email after which you will be sent a link that will enable you to make the payment.
Once we have confirmed that your payment has been received, your application will be assessed within 15 full working days after the date we confirm we received your payment. For example, if we confirm your payment is received on 16 January 2023, the 15 working day processing time commences on 17 January 2023.
For customers who do not wish to use the Priority Visa service, we will continue to process standard applications in date order.
Please note the additional fee does not guarantee a visa will be issued, only that the application will be considered earlier. Should the case be determined complex or require additional information, we may not be able to conclude the application within the 15 days, and no refund will be made.