Current UK spouse visa waiting times

[tevez32]

Does anyone have any recent experience of waiting times for a UK spouse visa. Staff at VFS said 3 months, UK website says 96% processed in 6 weeks. Has anyone applied recently and how long did it take from submitting application to receiving visa?

[7by7]

The official advice from UKVI is to allow three months for a settlement application to be processed; which is why the staff at VFS said this, too. The actual processing time may very well be shorter, and occasionally longer, than this; depending mainly upon demand.

The ECOs can only process x number of applications per day, so the more applications submitted at any one time, of all categories, the longer each application will take to reach the head of the queue and be processed.

As you say, the latest figures for applications decided (not submitted) in June show that in Bangkok 96% were decided within 30 working days (6 weeks).

But there is, of course, no guarantee that an application submitted now would be processed as quickly, more quickly or take longer.

[bigyin]

The staff at VFS always say 3 months whatever the actual processing times.

[scclarke]

My wife's application for a settlement visa has been in for 2 weeks now. Just a waiting game now, I'm afraid. I wonder how often they update the figures on the website, as the 96% relates to June. I also wonder if at this time of the year there is higher demand due to student visas, or if that's not relevant / affects settlement visa processing times.

[fbf]

My wife's application for a settlement visa has been in for 2 weeks now. Just a waiting game now, I'm afraid. I wonder how often they update the figures on the website, as the 96% relates to June. I also wonder if at this time of the year there is higher demand due to student visas, or if that's not relevant / affects settlement visa processing times.

My wife's application went in on 17th July, nearly 5 weeks ago (although I think it included 2 days' public holiday). I was checking the processing times too and it was showing the May figures until near the end of July (maybe around 25th but don't remember exactly). If they're at all consistent we'll see July figures before too long.

As the figures relate to applications that finish processing that month (obviously they can't use the submission date as it will go into the next month), it means if demand is increasing or things are slowing down, it takes a while to feed through into the stats. Even when things speed up, it will take a while to feed through. So, we just don't know.

[ukguy51]

Hi Guys

Wifes application submitted July 1st 2015 got back yesterday Refused. so 37 working days. Strange really as on refusal notice it was refused on July 30 sent to applicant on 17th Aug and wife got yesterday so 21 Day's to get to us from refusal ?

Edited August 20, 2015 by ukguy51

[bobrussell]

Hi Guys

Wifes application submitted July 1st 2015 got back yesterday Refused. so 37 working days. Strange really as on refusal notice it was refused on July 30 sent to applicant on 17th Aug and wife got yesterday so 21 Day's to get to us from refusal ?

I think they quite routinely massage the dates to improve performance rates.

Various excuses have included sending passports elsewhere for vignettes to be attached (history now!) and moving documents around. I think if you ask people here the decision will be dated long before the applicant hears the result.

The system has some quite bizarre idiosyncrasies to it!

[tevez32]

Today is the 22nd working day, hopefully it will be done soon as I plan to travel next week to pick my family up. Has anyone had a settlement visa issued recently? How many days did it take?

[fbf]

@tevez32 we are still waiting for ours, submitted 17th July.

That's 26 clear working days if we don't count the day of submission (I don't know if it counts or not) and three public holidays (assuming 30th and 31st July and 12th August were non-working days for the embassy).

I'll be happy for you if yours somehow comes through quicker, but you should probably have a plan B in case it doesn't come next week.

Official processing times were updated earlier this week. July figures look very similar to the June figures (I don't remember all, but 96% in 30 working days is unchanged).

I'll post an update when my wife's visa comes through.

Edited August 29, 2015 by fbf

[tevez32]

Thanks fbf,I'm in Thailand for a couple of weeks so hopefully it will come through in time. Otherwise I'll have to change my flights.

[fbf]

My wife got an email today saying the decision has been made:

YOUR UK VISA APPLICATION DECISION IS READY FOR COLLECTION : please read below

UK Visas and Immigration has made a decision on your visa application and this email explains how your documents will be returned to you.

• THAILAND APPLICANTS: your passport/documents will be ready for collection from the Bangkok visa application centre on the 2nd working day after you receive this email. Collection times are Monday-Friday 10.00 - 16.00 and Saturday 08.30 - 12.00.

[cut priority service and other countries]

ALL APPLICANTS: if you paid an additional courier or postage fee, documents will be sent to you.

By my reckoning she submitted the application 31 working days ago (30 if we don't count the day of submission).

She's opted for postal (EMS) delivery to the Chonburi region not far from Bangkok. I guess the visa needs to go from the British Embassy to VFS first, so I don't think we'll get the result of the decision, or the visa if granted, until Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

It's a slow and rather opaque process, but I hope this helps.

[tevez32]

Thanks, hope you get the visa. Today is the 27th working day for us, so hopefully we'll have a decision next week.

[fbf]

Documents received today. The outcome of the decision is:

Visa valid for 30 days as expected, so next we'll need to collect her BRP within 10 days of arrival.

Incidentally, she got an email today (same day the visa arrived) from VFS:

Dear X,

The processed visa application for GWF reference number - GWF######### was received at the UK Visa Application Centre on 9/4/2015 .

If a courier service was purchased from VFS Global, your processed application will be delivered to the chosen address.

If not, your documents can be collected during the designated passport collection times.

Please note this is an auto generated e-mail. Please do NOT reply to this email.

Celebrating 100 Million Applications!

It's also worth mentioning that the EMS postal service has an online tracking site, so she was able to see the documents sent yesterday and feel confident that they would arrive today (it showed them being out for delivery etc.)

In my opinion this has worked out better than collecting from VFS in Bangkok, because if I read the information correctly we would have needed to wait until Tuesday to collect. It also confirms a discussion that I had with my wife - we weren't sure if the documents would go straight from the embassy or via VFS. It seems they go via VFS, and more quickly than VFS's email system...

[tevez32]

Congratulations, hopefully we will get ours soon.

[scclarke]

Congratulations! We're on day 19 now, so hopefully only a couple of weeks from decision day for us.

Edited September 5, 2015 by scclarke

[fbf]

Thanks, and I hope you both get your visas granted too!

[Edit] I've just noticed something, and this is probably going to affect you tevez32:

Visa is valid from 12th September to 12th October. I'm not ot sure why, but I noticed when checking the BRP requirements.

She needs to collect her BRP within 10 days of arriving but the accompanying letter says it won't be available until 19th September. Therefore, had the visa been valid and she had travelled before 9th September, it would have been impossible to fulfil that requirement. Even so, if she arrives on 12th September, which is now very likely, she only has 4 days to pick up the BRP, but that includes the day of arrival and a Sunday when the post office is shut!

I don't know if they've always post dated the visa by a week, or if it's a new thing to avoid problems caused by the wait for a BRP, but anyway you'll need to factor this into your travel plans. Sorry!

Edited September 5, 2015 by fbf

[tevez32]

I've postponed my travel to Thailand, but I couldn't resist booking one way flights for the four of us leaving Thailand on the 30th September. Total cost was only £650 with finnair, so it's a bit of a gamble which could potentially save me £500.

[scclarke]

So, wife has received email and text from VFS today saying passport ready to collect. That's 28 working days.

I'll update tomorrow with decision. Fingers crossed!!!

[tevez32]

Us too, but it's been 34 working days in our case. The decision was made last week though according to the UKVI enquiry team. Good luck

[fbf]

Great news, and best of luck with the outcome! [edit: that's great news and best of luck to both of you then, and I note a slight variance in processing time but I guess that can be expected].

We're picking up the residents permit on Saturday, but in the meantime I've also managed to get a couple of utility bills changed to our joint names already. This is useful because it's needed for a bank account (adding to my account to make a joint account - now being processed after a visit to the bank showing passport and utility bill) and also for registering with the GP surgery (also being processed after showing the same - they don't really know about the need for a residents permit so we didn't need to wait for Saturday). Just FYI...

Edited September 17, 2015 by fbf

[scclarke]

Good info ref details for bank account and GP, fbj. Thanks.

[wooloomooloo]

... in the meantime I've also managed to get a couple of utility bills changed to our joint names already.

Keep hold of them too. Your wife will be needing utility bills and other official correspondence in her name / joint names for her ILR application. Get her added to the Council Tax bill as well.

[scclarke]

Passport and copy docs collected from VFS today - visa approved!

[emoji106][emoji636][emoji574]️

[tevez32]

Just received in post today and it's good news!

[fbf]

Keep hold of them too. Your wife will be needing utility bills and other official correspondence in her name / joint names for her ILR application. Get her added to the Council Tax bill as well.

Thanks, and yes that's a real "gotcha" in the system. Get visa, come to UK, relax... two years later, start thinking about an upcoming FLR application... oops! We need utility bills spread out over the whole period.

So yes, definitely going to be keeping these in a special folder (and scanned copies), including council tax.

I think in total the "starting life in the UK" check-list of practical things had this so far:

• Pick up biometric residents permit (BRP)
• Get utility bills (some, as not all allow it) and council tax bill into joint names
• Get her added onto the joint bank account
• Phone to apply for a NI number (a pointless process, as they send an application form in the post anyway)
• Register with GP
• Register with dentist
• Decide on/enrol for English lessons/course, if needed (my wife should be able to pass B1 already but it helps with building confidence and getting a job) - note, the academic term (and year) starts now, so this turned out to be something we wanted to do quickly

Although I'm confident my wife's English is above B1 (she did a placement test for her course yesterday and they'll be aiming her for B2/C1 level), she did inevitably find it difficult communicating in situations such as registering with the GP, buying a season ticket for the train, talking to the bank etc. Obviously I help a lot but sometimes she's required to talk directly (for data protection reasons) or I encourage her to do this anyway.

Still, a little patience and support goes a long way and it won't be long before she's settled in.

[fbf]

Sorry, meant to say this in the above post, but congratulations to both of you on getting the visas. Happy times!

[scclarke]

Thanks fbf. Hadn't considered starting an FLR file quite so soon, was just going to relax for a year or 2 without thinking of any more visa applications!

Sounds like you've got things very well organised, I'll try to do the same. I'm flying out the last week of October and we will return to the UK the following week, so not long now.

[fbf]

Thanks... I should add to the list too: don't forget to have some fun and enjoy the start of married life together!

[Waterloo]

Thanks fbf. Hadn't considered starting an FLR file quite so soon, was just going to relax for a year or 2 without thinking of any more visa applications!

Sounds like you've got things very well organised, I'll try to do the same. I'm flying out the last week of October and we will return to the UK the following week, so not long now.

This is good advice we didn't do it and were left scrabbling around when the time came