Does This Sound Like A Knock Back?

[bwalker1973]

Last friday 30th April I submitted my wife documents for the settlement visa, everything was in order, asked the lady if I was missing anything, she said no everything seems ok.

Submitted full application, marriage certificate, sponsor letter, full financial details, proof of ownership of 2 properties, 2 british birth certificates relating to children, photos, plus many other things.

Received a text message on friday afternoon saying this has been submitted to the British Embassy.

Monday afternoon, received a text message saying it has been processed, and has been sent via courier service.

I know that these settlement visa's usually take upto 12 weeks, and being processed under 1 day, but does this sound like an instant knock back.

I know all the documents were in order, as they kept the originals and copies upon submission.

Not received anything from the post yet, nobody from the embassy phoned either on monday.

Reference Number *******************

Application date 30 Apr 2010

Status Processed application returned to courier : 04 May 2010

Edited May 5, 2010 by bwalker1973

[torrenova]

I never understand why it takes so long unless the waiting time is due to it sitting in someone's in box, waiting to be processed. If all documents are far in excess of what would be required, then surely it is a matter of hours, if not minutes to say yes.

I hope it means you have received it. Do let us know.

As a point of note, my Japanese ex wife received her settlement visa while she waited in Tokyo !

Edited May 5, 2010 by torrenova

[jasonr3255]

I never understand why it takes so long unless the waiting time is due to it sitting in someone's in box, waiting to be processed. If all documents are far in excess of what would be required, then surely it is a matter of hours, if not minutes to say yes.

I hope it means you have received it. Do let us know.

As a point of note, my Japanese ex wife received her settlement visa while she waited in Tokyo !

Computer generated error for sure, there is no way in hel_l that they have even opened the envelope your application is contained in. No need to panic not a knock back they are all looked at in chronolgical order they are recieved. If you check some of the other threads submission 8th March are being returned Today and yesterday.

Good Luck......

[theoldgit]

No it doesn't sound like a knock back, though it's very quick either way, maybe you have struck lucky as a result of the red shirts, ie less apps and they are catching up.

Think positive, there is nothing you can do now and you will know the strength of the application, good luck and let us know.

[sumrit]

I never understand why it takes so long unless the waiting time is due to it sitting in someone's in box

We had applied for my wife and stepdaughters settlement visas in March last year (at the start of the horrendous waiting times). After waiting thirteen weeks with no contact at all (and a story from another poster who'd applied at the same time that their application had been lost/mislaid) I finally managed to phone and get through to somebody in the British Embassy visa section and asked if they could at least confirm they had our application in their system and it wasn't 'lost' as well, which they did. About TEN MINUTES LATER somebody from the visa section phoned my wife to say their visas were granted and their passports could be collected from the VFS centre the following day.

Now it could have a coincidence and they were actioning their applications as I phoned, or they could have rubber stamped them quickly because my wife had already had several UK visit visas, we'll never know, but sadly they stopped all direct calls to the visa section the following day.

[Thongkorn]

Its standard practise to send a tex message, saying that your visa application has been processed and forwarded to the Embassy.

[7by7]

Applications are usually processed in the order they are received, and it is certainly possible that, as theoldgit says, the occasional closure of the VAC due to the demonstrations and subsequent drop in applications has allowed the entry clearance office to clear any backlog.

Although it was for a visit visa, not settlement, in Dec 2008 my sister in law submitted her application and received a text the following day to say her passport was ready for collection; so such quick turnaround times are not unknown.

[bwalker1973]

Don't know how come everyones is taking 2-3 months, I got mine in 1 day, plus 3 days courier service.

27 months.

[torrenova]

Don't know how come everyones is taking 2-3 months, I got mine in 1 day, plus 3 days courier service.

27 months.

I would say that it has everything to do with the quality of the application. They will get blokes sending in handwritten applications on the back of envelopes wanting to take the hooker they met last night back to Blighty etc. There are rules and if you pass those tests you get a visa. If your application is poor, then they are going to have to make an assessment and that probably gets checked. That will take time.

If you have ever recruited people for a job and asked for any form of paperwork submission from candidates, then you will know the seemingly impossible level of incompetence which people display. I suspect the same occurs to visa applications. Some fly through and others sit on a "to do" pile.

[7by7]

Obviously some applications are going to take longer to process than others, for various reasons.

However, when one submits the application is also, I believe, a major factor. There are a fixed number of ECOs at the embassy; submit the application at a busy time and it is going to take longer for that application to be looked at than if submitting at a quieter time.

Best advice is to follow the UKBA guideline

We strive to operate a fast and effective visa service and aim to process non-settlement applications within 15 working days. If you are applying to settle in the UK, in most cases we aim to process your application within 12 weeks.

Although usually, in Bangkok, the processing time is shorter than this, as last year showed there are times when, for reasons usually outside of the embassy's control, it may be longer.

Remember that if applying early you can ask for the visa's start date to be postponed for up to three months.