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please help~~ UKBA messed up document and delay application

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 7:43 pm
by 9588
please can anyone help with this?

i applied ILR under 5years- work permit via PEO through solicitor in May2010. submitted all the documents which they were happy with apart from a letter from my wife's ESOL college.(the one we had were in difference format to their liking)

we were asked to provide another one within 14days. we quickly got a fresh one from the college and submitted to them 3 days later through the solicitor. they sent the letter by recorded delivery and was signed and received by UKBA.

after about 8 weeks, we received a letter from UKBA saying they still have not received my letter. my solicitor explained to them that a letter was sent to them earlier. and also we sent them another one just in case they lost it internally.

i m really upset about what happened because after all these time, we are still waiting for our ILR. also do not know what is going on there.
it is anxious moment everyday for us and it is really unpleasant.

is there any way i can find out how my application is being processed or is there any way to make a complaint? :oops:

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 8:33 pm
by kiwigirl25
Your solicitor should be able to assist with your queries and be able to complain on your behalf if they deem it necessary. However your solicitor may advise against it as the published target for ILRs is 6 months.

It's a positive that they have chased your letter as it means they are actively processing your application.

Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 10:14 am
by oldno7
Hi 9588

Almost the exact thing happend with our application. Except that our posted ESOL letter did not get lost. We and our solicitor were able to confirm delivery date from tracking number.
Eventually my wife got her ILR 3 months later after the application was started.
You have done the right thing by having a solicitor involved. This will add to any credibility about your application and also letter delivery. I am sure the HO wont argue against you as much as if you didn't have a third party.
ILR applications are extremely tense often with long waiting times.
As long as your ESOL letter mentions that the course was done with HO approved material, Then you have little to worry about. Just have faith.

HO wont respond to any queries until after your application is 14 weeks old. We got our ILR on the 12th week!
Wishing you all the best. Waiting hurts, but have patience and try to remain positive.

Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 12:17 pm
by kiwigirl25
Hi oldno7

You've made some good points. However:

UKBA will not respond to queries after 14 weeks. If you contact them you will get a scripted response of "your application has not yet been processed". I defy you to find someone who has queried their application after 14 weeks and has received a decent informed response.

Solicitor respresentation adding credibility to your application? I used a OCIS qualified solicitor and I've been waiting 6 months. So I don't think I have been treated any differently than someone who didn't used a solicitor. The benefit of using a solicitor is a thorough application, they ensure that all areas are covered so questions are answered immediately. I would only use a solicitor if your case is complex, otherwise a complete waste of money and time. The only time I think solicitors add credibility during the application process is when there is a need to complain. They know the UKBA process inside out therefore the right words to use and know the right people to contact to raise a complaint. That is why I advised the OP to complain via their solicitor.

As I said in my previous post, see UKBA chasing you as a positive. This is a very rare occasion and it most definitely means they are actively looking at your application...9588.

Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:07 pm
by 9588
its a complete waste of time by UKBA.

Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:46 pm
by oldno7
kiwigirl25 wrote:Hi oldno7

You've made some good points. However:

UKBA will not respond to queries after 14 weeks. If you contact them you will get a scripted response of "your application has not yet been processed". I defy you to find someone who has queried their application after 14 weeks and has received a decent informed response.

Solicitor respresentation adding credibility to your application? I used a OCIS qualified solicitor and I've been waiting 6 months. So I don't think I have been treated any differently than someone who didn't used a solicitor. The benefit of using a solicitor is a thorough application, they ensure that all areas are covered so questions are answered immediately. I would only use a solicitor if your case is complex, otherwise a complete waste of money and time. The only time I think solicitors add credibility during the application process is when there is a need to complain. They know the UKBA process inside out therefore the right words to use and know the right people to contact to raise a complaint. That is why I advised the OP to complain via their solicitor.

As I said in my previous post, see UKBA chasing you as a positive. This is a very rare occasion and it most definitely means they are actively looking at your application...9588.
Hi Kiwigirl25,

I have noted your comments.

Regarding the 14 weeks, This is what is stated on the recorded messages when calling the UKBA enquiry number. Certainly during my wifes application earlier this year.
I also distinctly remember asking the UKBA phone operative about my wifes visa status then. The staff member said exactly the same thing, no enquiry answers unless the application is 14 weeks or over.
I have not had the opportunity to speak to anyone who has though. I was gearing up for it mentally for our application and by mercy of God never needed to, when we got her ILR in the 12th week.

In regards to solicitor representation. Our application was submitted by them, premium PEO service. On the first two attempts the HO rejected the application as being too early. At a later stage when I was disappointed by the time frame, Same-Day service being stretched out to 3 months! The solicitor made 2-3 representations and several phone calls to the HO.
I do believe that the two earlier applications being declined alone would have ordinarily meant the application fee being taken, wasted.
I sadly have the experience of having gone through an AIT tribuna - failed, And found out the hard way that unless you have a solicitor the HO/UKBA Just won't speak to you. This coupled with every tom, dick & harry friends and relations (Replace with Asian names) and their dad preaching about then defunct processes they went through decades earlier - Lead me to the conclusion that specialist immigration solicitor is the only way I would ever recommend approaching the HO/UKBA.

How many applications are as straight forward as you envisage when starting out?

I am second generation Bengali born here in the UK. I pay taxes all my life, I have British Citezenship. The passport is supposed to afford assistance to British Citezens. Those UKBA/HO staff are civil servants... Yet I have to pay commercial law firms on top of taxes and application fees so that I can be granted my human rights and have a family life.

Sorry for the rant, But that's why I use solicitors.

Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 10:54 am
by kiwigirl25
oldno7: You're playing with fire making comments such as your last paragraph. Do you want me to rant about being a British descendant with Grandfathers and Great Grandfathers fighting for Britain in both World Wars, but I have fight to remain in this country whilst people with no ancestoral links what-so-ever waltz in? I didn't think so.

Plus these comments aren't helping the OP. I am speaking from experience having past the 14 week mark and contacting UKBA at that point and subsequent times. They are quite frankly a waste of time. You will get no information what-so-ever from them no matter what the official site says. You can't complain until after 6 months. Fact... my solicitor confirm this and I'm sure if the OP contacts his solicitor they will be told the same.

Solicitors do help if they are able to get a PEO appointment on your behalf. If they aren't able to you're stuck in a queue with the rest of the postal applicants. Not all applicants are eligible for a PEO appointment, the rules changed this year.

Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 12:19 am
by oldno7
Kiwigirl25, Nobody on here has a monopoly on injustice or immigration related hardships. We are all united in our collective objective - to settlement.
The undertone of what you say is quite dark "... people with no ancestoral links what-so-ever waltz in?". I am not here to dwell on that though.

I will not dispute what you say about solicitors and 6 months, As I said I don't have experience of that myself. I simply quoted the official response I got.

To 9588, My apologies if my later post has side tracked your topic and plight. However the residual effect is that your topic has been bumped up the post list.
My continued wishes that yours and indeed Kiwigirl25's applications bring success.

Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 5:05 pm
by kiwigirl25
oldno7 wrote:Kiwigirl25, Nobody on here has a monopoly on injustice or immigration related hardships. We are all united in our collective objective - to settlement.
The undertone of what you say is quite dark "... people with no ancestoral links what-so-ever waltz in?". I am not here to dwell on that though.

.
Dark side? I think you're reading too much into my comment and I find it offensive that you have implied something of me that I am not. I have black and Asian friends who have British ancestory. If you knew your British history you will discovered that all kinds of nationailities "immigrated" to the UK over the past few hundreds of years, albiet some of them as slaves. Indian migrants in the 1800's as cheap labour when slavery was abolished. That's just a small example of immigration history. My cousins are part-Maori but are of British descent. My own family is not pure 100% British having immigrated here in the 1700s from France and Bermuda to take advantage of the shipping trade. Read up on British history you'll find it interesting.


Anyway 9588 I hope you get your issues with UKBA resolved and it's good news in the very near future.

Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 10:21 pm
by 9588
oldno7 + kiwigirl25

thanks for your valuable comments,##

i m just disappointed with the UKBA. as people like myself who 's given up the comfort in our native land and spent 5years working hard for very little money in this country.
paid our tax, followed all the procedures, submitted our document using recorded delivery. having been signed and received by UKBA

wonder how much more can we do???? :oops:

Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 2:48 pm
by 9588
lastest update~~~

Got ILR approved on Friday~~~~~ :lol:

having to get my local MP into the picture. the MP said UKBA have a hotline for MP's. and they need to answer to the MP accordingly....


without the helps from my MP. maybe like many others, i would still have been waiting waiting and waiting...

happy at last but what a torture with those agonising times...............