On 9/16/2016 at 11:11 AM, rasg said:

We chose to go with the postal service. 500 quid was simply too much on principle. It was £1311 for the visa and NHS surcharge but when you add the cost of translations and the other associated costs it is crazy. That is without the Settlement (M) visa and the cost of the wedding too. I escaped very lightly on the cost of the wedding.

 

We submitted the visa via courier over a week ago now and still haven't had an acknowlegement.

 

What I am trying to find out and nobody has been able to confirm is when my wife will be able to work. Presumably she has to wait until she has her BRP?

 

HI RASG. Thanks for your help during the recent FLR application. I'm stiil trying to recover from the shock of it leaving the house!! The application was sent to them on September 14th and she got a letter from them on September 30th requesting her to enrol biometrics, so it looks like it takes about 2 weeks before you'll hear from them.

 

Just a  word of warning (which won't surprise you). The guidance notes which come with the letter state at one point that the applicant needs to bring ID (passport,ID card,Photo Driving Licence) to enrol biometrics. It's badly written, like all FLR guidance notes. I can confirm that as my wife has now enrolled her biometrics, NO ID IS REQUIRED. All that's needed is the Home Office letter which includes a bar code, and of course the £19.20 fee, which must be paid by cash or debit card. They don't accept credit cards.

 

Unlike every other aspect of this mind-numbing FLR process, enrolling biometrics was simple and took only a few minutes, after waiting in a queue in the PO for about half an hour.

 

RASG did your wife not have an NI number already before you sent the FLR application away? Mine did and has been working for over a year. Her employer just asked for proof  last week that her FLR application has been sent and she can keep working until the FLR decison is made.

HI RASG. Thanks for your help during the recent FLR application. I'm stiil trying to recover from the shock of it leaving the house!! The application was sent to them on September 14th and she got a letter from them on September 30th requesting her to enrol biometrics, so it looks like it takes about 2 weeks before you'll hear from them.

 

Just a  word of warning (which won't surprise you). The guidance notes which come with the letter state at one point that the applicant needs to bring ID (passport,ID card,Photo Driving Licence) to enrol biometrics. It's badly written, like all FLR guidance notes. I can confirm that as my wife has now enrolled her biometrics, NO ID IS REQUIRED. All that's needed is the Home Office letter which includes a bar code, and of course the £19.20 fee, which must be paid by cash or debit card. They don't accept credit cards.

 

Unlike every other aspect of this mind-numbing FLR process, enrolling biometrics was simple and took only a few minutes, after waiting in a queue in the PO for about half an hour.

 

Thanks for this. We had the Biometrics letter on Friday and nipped to Windsor and got it all done. There were a couple of questions that I hadn’t ticked on the FLR form. All done and sent, I couriered the application on the 7th and I was surprised when the letter came Friday. On closer inspection the letter came from the Initial Assessment Unit in Sheffield so it seems to be a sort of clearing house to pre check that a visa is likely to go through.

 

RASG did your wife not have an NI number already before you sent the FLR application away? Mine did and has been working for over a year. Her employer just asked for proof  last week that her FLR application has been sent and she can keep working until the FLR decison is made.

 

She came here in a Fiancée visa which was for six months. No working allowed until we get FLR. Hope the visa is soon. All our documents including our marriage certificate and passports are with them.

I see RASG, well I hope they process it soon. It says on the website, the majority are done within 8 weeks. If that's correct that wouldn't be bad. Here's hoping!

Hi all well i,m still waiting for a reply, so no visa as yet, however been doing some research and it says i can pay £400.00 to get a decision in 5 days. Has anyone else done this? Thanks

Quote

 

 

The fee for applying in person at a premium service centre used to be £400, but was increased last April to £500. Using a PSC usually means a same day decision.

 

I don't know if having submitted the application by post it is possible to switch to an in person application. All I can suggest is contacting UKVI and asking.

On ‎15‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 8:05 AM, bark said:

Please see all the details to me. I will get this thing sorted right away.

I am not busy right now.

Signed ex UK Prime Minister

And after today an ex MP as well.

Hi 7 by 7 i,ve rang the home office and lady on the telephone was unsure, she went to seek advise and said i could pay the 400 pounds to process the application quicker, however it put doubts in my mind as she didn,t no. i think i will pay as i,m getting desperate. I,ve inserted the website.

 

https://www.gov.uk/faster-reply-visa-application

That is a new service as far as I can see. I assume they just dig out the application from the waiting pile and process it!

Also a bit of a lottery as they will only process the first five each day!

Obviously if the delay is due to a complicated application then this may be money badly spent.

I also assume they only take payment if you are in the lucky 5!!

Good news today.

We couriered my wife's FLR application on the 6th September as her Fiancée visa expired on the 8th. I called a week later as I hadn’t had an acknowledgement and they don't send them immediately and it arrived three days later.

The letter to get BRP information done arrived after about three weeks and we popped to Windsor the same day and had it done.

The BRP arrived today via courier and ten minutes later the postman delivered all of our documents back. It took seven weeks. Not too bad and now the wife can work if she wants to.

Interesting bonus. The new visa's start date was yesterday.

On 10/27/2016 at 11:38 AM, rasg said:

Good news today.

We couriered my wife's FLR application on the 6th September as her Fiancée visa expired on the 8th. I called a week later as I hadn’t had an acknowledgement and they don't send them immediately and it arrived three days later.

The letter to get BRP information done arrived after about three weeks and we popped to Windsor the same day and had it done.

The BRP arrived today via courier and ten minutes later the postman delivered all of our documents back. It took seven weeks. Not too bad and now the wife can work if she wants to.

Interesting bonus. The new visa's start date was yesterday.

Glad to hear all went well RASG and many thanks for your help with my FLR form queries. Ours was sent the week after yours and came through without problems yesterday. Like yours, the whole process took exactly 7 weeks. Not bad really. Maybe one day they'll make the FLR application and guidance notes decipherable, although I doubt it!

Karen.....have you heard anything back from them yet?

Glad to hear all went well RASG and many thanks for your help with my FLR form queries. Ours was sent the week after yours and came through without problems yesterday. Like yours, the whole process took exactly 7 weeks. Not bad really. Maybe one day they'll make the FLR application and guidance notes decipherable, although I doubt it!

 

Pleased to hear it went well.

 

Decipherable? Probably too much to ask, surely?

 

I've started on the next one and also applied for a National Insurance number too... Appointment for the NI is on the 11th.

26 minutes ago, rasg said:

I've started on the next one and also applied for a National Insurance number too... Appointment for the NI is on the 11th.

 

Unless you've requested an appointment for national insurance (or it's done differently now to compared to 3 years ago), it's not usually necessary to attend in person. My wife's was done via a phone call to request the forms and then sending the forms back in the post. Don't know your situation but just mentioning in case. 

I have a feeling that the rules must have changed. I made the call to request the NI number and they booked us in for an appointment and told me which forms of ID etc were needed. It's no big deal.

You may be called for interview at a Job Centre prior to being issued with an NI number. Often you just send off the information to the address given when you phone to apply.

Oddly enough they were happy enough to see birth certificates without translations when my wife applied!