UKVCAS Super Priority Service

[cja_1234]

Looks like your local MP has more power as I still have not been able to get through the home office firewall to reach anyone at the casework team. I have contacts of my local MP's case workers so I can talk to them directly. They are very helpful but the only thing they can do is to call the "UKVI's MPs team", which is close but still no direct interaction with the UKVI casework team.

From what has happened to other people in this thread, I thought UKVI would start looking on our case once our complaint letters or MP's letters reach UKVI (after the 20 days turnaround time), but looks like this conclusion doesn't apply anymore as you wrote to them on 2nd Jan. Really bad news!

I have a similar situation as you - due to travel on Feb. Fortunately I didn't book anything for the last Xmas. Many people's Xmas holidays were ruined because of UKVI's fraud selling.

I will look on how to raise a Judicial review or complaint to Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. These may take long time and do not work, though.

Hi Timothy

I enrolled on 5 Dec, so 7 weeks for me now. The case worker emailed me after my MP send out an email to HO. His email went out on 13th Jan, and I received the letter about my delay on 15th.

Before that I have escalated three times, and received three generic email on it's going to be 6 month blablabla.

I think maybe there is another team doing the verification of documents, and the case worker need to know if the documents are genuine before she can make decision. But I agree with you, two month should be enough for them to verify everything. If this is standard process for every applicant, why would it take longer time to check on my documents compare to others in the same situation? Doesn't make sense.

I have no idea what to do now.. I wrote an complaint to complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk on 2nd Jan, but havent heard anything back yet. And my MP hasn't replied.

I hope all our waiting could end soon I was looking forward to go home for new year in February, probably not going to happen now.

Momozz

Hi mate,

When did you enrolled your biometrics?

I haven't got any luck to get through the casework team and actually have a reply from a real caseworker. All replies I got so far are from robotics saying the same thing. What have you done to get your caseworker emailed you directly?

It is almost 2 months for me now, whatever check they wanted to do should have been completed (if it is really the case). So I don't believe they are really doing any check, they just put cases require additional checks to the 6months queue...

Hi Timothy

It is 20 working days, not 20 calendar days. The deadline for them to respond your complaint email is by 30th January. Have you received the generic complaint acknowledgment email? It starts with the following paragraphs
----------------------------------
Thank you for your email. This is an automatically generated response which contains important information; please read it carefully.

COMPLAINTS



This email inbox is for complaints only.



If your email is a complaint about a service provided by UK Visas & Immigration, Home Office Immigration Enforcement or Border Force or the conduct of our staff, we will ensure that the matter is properly investigated. We aim to reply to you within 20 working days. If we need longer to investigate your complaint we will contact you and update you on progress. If you have provided us with a contact number we may contact you by phone about your complaint.



Where a complaint is being made on the behalf of another person, we are required to have the signed written authority of that person before we can reply to you. Please email us providing a signed authority if this applies to you. Otherwise we will be unable to disclose information to you.

[preet8899]

If you have submitted any other applications to the Home Office which have not yet been decided then submitting this application varies those previous applications. This means that only this application, which you are now completing, will now be considered.

Does that mean we don't need to withdraw the existing application and can just re-apply which
will void the existing one?

Thanks

[rkumar1202]

Thank you for all the forum members as they provide an excellent guidance for people who would like to apply for visa with Home office. Especially with the constant changing of home office rules, it would be impossible for normal people to keep track of whats the requirements for each visa at any one point of time.

Anyways Here is my experience of using the SOPRASTERIA/UKVCAS - Super Priority Service

Application: SET-O Tier 1 Dependent (ILR Aplication)
Appointment Date: 17/12/2018 @12.00
Appointment Centre: Croydon (Bedfont place)
Background: my wife entered uk in 12/12/2013 and got a visa extenstion in 2016 and met the 5 year requirement period. I'm self employed /she works in nhs and currently in maternity leave.


I'm glad to say that my wife's ILR application was successful and we recieved our BRP sent home on 19/12/2018 by 9.30 am

Experience:

Turned up at 11.35am in the Bedfont place centre in croydon and has been told to wait till 11.45 am before they could let us in. After security checks we went to the first floor, where we are quickly asked to do the Biometrics and in the next 10 minutes it was over. we were 2nd in the queue so was quite lucky and we were called straight away for the documents verification.

The lady who was at the desk doesn't know anything about individual cases or the application types and the relevant documents needed, she knows to sort out the supplied documents in relevant categories and reupload them if basic documents are not uploaded / missing.

I have already uploaded all the documents before going to the appointment, so it saved me a lot of time, few documents has been in the wrong category and she reuploaded them in the right category (the current passport / old passport with all pages needed in proof of application category). she went through the documents list and confirmed everything looks good and asked if we want anything else to submit as part of our application to support our case. we are done by 13.00 and out of the centre. The lady mentioned UKVI will contact you regarding the status in 24 hours. what she didn't tell is how they would contact you, they didn't contact us using email and they do via physical mail and it will take more than 24 hours.

List of Documents submitted:

1. My British Passport
2. My Wife’s Passport
3. Marriage certificate
4. Life in the UK Certificate
5. UK NARIC Certificate
6. Degree Certificate
7. IELTS Certificate
8. Cohabitation proof ( 6+ correspondence proof, includes utililty bills, council tax, Bank Statements,House Ownership Title etc.. for the last 2 years)
9. Biometric Permit
10. Last Grant Of Leave to Remain Approval Letter
11. Daughters Birth Certificate
12. Her Current Employment Letter
13. Her last six months Bank Statements
14. Her Last six months Pay Slips
15. Her Last years P60 / SA 302 form
16. My Last six months Bank Statements
17. My Last six months PaySlips / Dividends
18. My Accountant Letter confirming proof of Income
19. My Last year SA302 Summary

I have submitted a lot of documents regarding the financial requirement as my wife used to work and is currently in maternity leave, but you may need not submit all the financial documents.

We also had a section "the person you are joining" in the online application filled out wrong and i corrected them in the downloaded application and uploaded the corrected application and mentioned that in the covering letter to accept our corrected application.

Apart from no acknowledgment from the UKVCAS process and not knowing when/how UKVI will contact us, the process was smooth and we got our BRP delivered at 19/12/2018 by 9.30am

Hope someone finds this useful. Thanks

--
Regards,
Mohan

Hi Mohan,
I am in a similar situation and applying ILR for my wife and daughter. I have submitted the application online and I have questions regarding documents required. I am currently an IT contractor and my wife get a minimum salary as an employee of my limited company since September 2018. I also get the minimum salary from the company. plus some dividend for both.

1. Does she need to submit her salary slips and bank statements?
2. Do I need to submit my salary slips and bank statements as well?
3. For Cohabitation, we may not have letters from 6 different sources for my wife. We may have letters from 3-4 sources. will it work?
4. Do these correspondence have to be for all the months in last 2 years? Usually utility bills, council bills are not sent on paper these days
5. Do I need any other proof for my daughter other than her passport, BRP and birth certificate? I cant see any in your list.
6. Do I need to submit employment letter for my wife and myself even if we are employee of our own company?
7. My company is not one year old so far so I don't have any SA302 form. Do I need to submit any alternative for this form?


Many thanks for your help in advance mate.

Regards,
Rajnish

[auslanderlh]

Looks like your local MP has more power as I still have not been able to get through the home office firewall to reach anyone at the casework team. I have contacts of my local MP's case workers so I can talk to them directly. They are very helpful but the only thing they can do is to call the "UKVI's MPs team", which is close but still no direct interaction with the UKVI casework team.

From what has happened to other people in this thread, I thought UKVI would start looking on our case once our complaint letters or MP's letters reach UKVI (after the 20 days turnaround time), but looks like this conclusion doesn't apply anymore as you wrote to them on 2nd Jan. Really bad news!

I have a similar situation as you - due to travel on Feb. Fortunately I didn't book anything for the last Xmas. Many people's Xmas holidays were ruined because of UKVI's fraud selling.

I will look on how to raise a Judicial review or complaint to Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. These may take long time and do not work, though.

Hi Timothy

I enrolled on 5 Dec, so 7 weeks for me now. The case worker emailed me after my MP send out an email to HO. His email went out on 13th Jan, and I received the letter about my delay on 15th.

Before that I have escalated three times, and received three generic email on it's going to be 6 month blablabla.

I think maybe there is another team doing the verification of documents, and the case worker need to know if the documents are genuine before she can make decision. But I agree with you, two month should be enough for them to verify everything. If this is standard process for every applicant, why would it take longer time to check on my documents compare to others in the same situation? Doesn't make sense.

I have no idea what to do now.. I wrote an complaint to complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk on 2nd Jan, but havent heard anything back yet. And my MP hasn't replied.

I hope all our waiting could end soon I was looking forward to go home for new year in February, probably not going to happen now.

Momozz

Hi mate,

When did you enrolled your biometrics?

I haven't got any luck to get through the casework team and actually have a reply from a real caseworker. All replies I got so far are from robotics saying the same thing. What have you done to get your caseworker emailed you directly?

It is almost 2 months for me now, whatever check they wanted to do should have been completed (if it is really the case). So I don't believe they are really doing any check, they just put cases require additional checks to the 6months queue...

You are not alone guys. I attended the centre on 4th December, and also paid for super priority fee. No decision or response received after 7 weeks. I had contacted UKVI for four times (once per two weeks), but only received meaninglessness e-mail reply. It make you even more frustrated you see many successful cases in this forum that they could received the decision within a week at most.

[dilse4srk]

Just an update, i received approval letter for ILR from home office this morning and also BRP is on its way today. Fairly quick. I wish all other who are waiting best of luck. I hope you all get good news soon

[raghu.raju457]

Hello all,

I got by ILR approved on 5th Jan- used super-priority service and got decision within 24 hours.

Got letter confirming approval in 3 days.

However no BRP yet. Filled in a form on their website 3 days ago--got another mail saying NI number and Case number is needed. Rest of the info I had already given!

Are others experiencing delays in BRP as well?

HD

Hi epitutor

I am in the same boat my decision was on 17th January with the email but no BRP card yet!!!. We have received my wife's BRP but not mine both applied on the same day and got decision same day though.

[processman]

Dear Members

Here is my updates for 24-01-2019 bio-metrics

Category Applied : ILR Set(O) Tier 2 Migrant - 2 Employers

Date Applied online : 16-01-2019.

Biometrics Enrolled : 24-01-2019.

Total Bio-metrics appointment Duration : 19 mins

Biometrics Enrolled at : Sopra Steria Croydon

Decision Email Received : To be confirmed

Waiting for my decision letter and BRP.

Document list submitted

Current and previous employment offer letter ( PDF)
Employers letter with soc code (HR signed and attested scan copy)
Employers consolidated holiday letter for last 3 years ( current tier 2 switch)
6 months payslips (HR signed and attested scan copy)
Bank Statement for salary account ( 8 months PDF )
UK Graduation Certificate (scan copy)
Life in UK ( scan copy)
4x p60 ( 3 x current employers p60 are with attested sign & stamp)
1x p45
Travel history with all holidays entry and exit stamp
letter of consent for verification
passport copy
Council tax letter for Residence proof


Fingers Crossed



Thanks

[MukulMadan]

Hi Friends,

Anyone received a response lately? I have submitted super priority application on 22 Jan. Just want to get an idea how long would be the wait.

[CR001]

Hi Friends,

Anyone received a response lately? I have submitted super priority application on 22 Jan. Just want to get an idea how long would be the wait.

Taken the time to actually read through the thread at all to see experiences or should members just keep duplicating what they have already posted???

[yasheerkhan]

Hi Guys,


Here is my timeline :

Submitted application online : 28 Nov 2018
Appointment :13 Dec 2018
Centre : Cardiff Library
Contacted Home office : 4 times
Received email from Home office : 8 Jan 2019
Email to complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk : 17 Jan 2019
BR card received : 24 Jan 2019
Visa Issued : 22 Jan 2019


Thanks

Hi Guys,

Here is my timeline :

Submitted application online : 28 Nov 2018
Appointment :13 Dec 2018
Centre : Cardiff Library
Contacted Home office : 4 times
Received email from Home office : 8 Jan 2019


Thank you for contacting UKVI Contact Centre.

We aim to complete all applications within the 24-hour service standard. However, where we are not able to do this we will complete the application as quickly as possible and where delays in making the decision are not the fault of the customer, the super priority service fee will be refunded.

For further information about Front End Services please visit:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ukvis-new-f ... ed-to-know





UKVI is keen to continually review and improve its service to our customers. To help us to do so we would be grateful if you could complete a short online survey. Please access the survey using the following link:

https://www.homeofficesurveys.homeoffic ... k/s/KGXV4/



Yours sincerely,



UK Visas and Immigration

[yasheerkhan]

Has anyone apply for Premium service refund ? any idea how to apply for refund.

Thanks

[Timothy Tao]

Hi Folks,

I finally received the decision email yesterday. Time scale: 27 Nov online application, SET(O), 28 Nov biometric enrolment. I am really NOT delighted at this moment thinking about how much effort I had to put, how unhappy I was while waiting and following this case, and how many people are still suffering from the awful government department UKVI. I will definitely follow up with continuous complaints on this.

I am a researcher at university. As I have been following this thread since beginning, read all 92 pages of the posts, contributed 20+myself, and actually tried a lot of things myself. I consider myself have some real experience with this now and would like to share with you.

(1) Telephone escalation to UKVI service centre (03001232241, option 4 and then option 1) would not work at all. This conclusion is true no matter you are talking to a nice person (most probably a new staff) or you are talking to a bad person (most probably an experience elder staff). The truth is that your escalation will not reach/affect the casework team at UKVI. You will only get an automatically generated email response after checking Yes (decision has been made) or No (your application is still under consideration, which is the case to most of us here). Saying "it is within 6 months service standard" or saying "we're unable to decide within 24 hours decision..." doesn't make any difference, this is just a "click and send" operation by an operator at the UKVI service centre (not the caseworker) after received the requested update from UKVI casework team (it is still under consideration). The operator doesn't have any information to the issue of your application, the only information the operator has is whether your application is done or not done. Then the operator selects a type of generic email replies, and click "send".

(2) In theory, you cannot escalate for the second time within 5 working days and once you got an update (the so-called generic email), you are not eligible to raise an escalation again within 30 working days. However, if a new staff (i.e. unexperienced staff, as most of them are) picked up your phone, that person may raise an escalation for you regardless of the rules. This information is from several senior staffs at the call centre. Once again, these do not really matter because (1).

(3) The reason for a lengthy delay (1+month) is not strictly relevant to the nature of your case. I saw various reasons or no reason for cases to be allocated to an administrative check. However, the length of the check is probably relevant to the complexity of your case.

(4) My guess of the ultimate length of the administrative check is 8 weeks, I have not seen anyone not receiving a "visa granted" decision after 8 weeks. This doesn't include those who have serious issues which may result in a refusal.

(5) There are three ways at the moment could potentially push your case forward if you are in a hurry to get the visa.
(5.1)Complaint to complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk and wait for 20 working days.
(5.2) Write to xxxxxxx and they will forward your complaints to the UKVI casework team.
(5.3) Write to your local MP, they can help to chase your case via their direct connection to the UKVI MPs team.
(5.1) is not definately proven to be useful in my case, because I have not received a reply of the complaint until now. I guess (5.2) is similar, although they forwarded my email to the UKVI casework team, I have not received any reply as well. (5.3) contributed the most in my case, since my local MP is really really helpful, called every 3 days, wrote two formal letters to UKVI. However, this is only my guess. The UKVI MPs team has more information and access to our case but again cannot influence the casework team directly. The written letter from your MP would do, but that takes a long time as well (probably slightly faster than 20 working days, my MP still has not received any written response from UKVI to his 2 letters yet). Therefore, my guess is (3)and (4) may still hold, no matter what you do.

I will continue to complaint to UKVI together with my local MP even I have received a decision now.

[momozz]

Congratulations Timothy! At least your wait is over and you can go on your trip in February now! I hope you get the refund soon.

Have they told you why the long checks? Hopefully my is on its way as well, and we can know if you theory no.4 is true

Hi Folks,

I finally received the decision email yesterday. Time scale: 27 Nov online application, SET(O), 28 Nov biometric enrolment. I am really NOT delighted at this moment thinking about how much effort I had to put, how unhappy I was while waiting and following this case, and how many people are still suffering from the awful government department UKVI. I will definitely follow up with continuous complaints on this.

I am a researcher at university. As I have been following this thread since beginning, read all 92 pages of the posts, contributed 20+myself, and actually tried a lot of things myself. I consider myself have some real experience with this now and would like to share with you.

(1) Telephone escalation to UKVI service centre (03001232241, option 4 and then option 1) would not work at all. This conclusion is true no matter you are talking to a nice person (most probably a new staff) or you are talking to a bad person (most probably an experience elder staff). The truth is that your escalation will not reach/affect the casework team at UKVI. You will only get an automatically generated email response after checking Yes (decision has been made) or No (your application is still under consideration, which is the case to most of us here). Saying "it is within 6 months service standard" or saying "we're unable to decide within 24 hours decision..." doesn't make any difference, this is just a "click and send" operation by an operator at the UKVI service centre (not the caseworker) after received the requested update from UKVI casework team (it is still under consideration). The operator doesn't have any information to the issue of your application, the only information the operator has is whether your application is done or not done. Then the operator selects a type of generic email replies, and click "send".

(2) In theory, you cannot escalate for the second time within 5 working days and once you got an update (the so-called generic email), you are not eligible to raise an escalation again within 30 working days. However, if a new staff (i.e. unexperienced staff, as most of them are) picked up your phone, that person may raise an escalation for you regardless of the rules. This information is from several senior staffs at the call centre. Once again, these do not really matter because (1).

(3) The reason for a lengthy delay (1+month) is not strictly relevant to the nature of your case. I saw various reasons or no reason for cases to be allocated to an administrative check. However, the length of the check is probably relevant to the complexity of your case.

(4) My guess of the ultimate length of the administrative check is 8 weeks, I have not seen anyone not receiving a "visa granted" decision after 8 weeks. This doesn't include those who have serious issues which may result in a refusal.

(5) There are three ways at the moment could potentially push your case forward if you are in a hurry to get the visa.
(5.1)Complaint to complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk and wait for 20 working days.
(5.2) Write to SRSUKVACS@homeoffice.gov.uk and they will forward your complaints to the UKVI casework team.
(5.3) Write to your local MP, they can help to chase your case via their direct connection to the UKVI MPs team.
(5.1) is not definately proven to be useful in my case, because I have not received a reply of the complaint until now. I guess (5.2) is similar, although they forwarded my email to the UKVI casework team, I have not received any reply as well. (5.3) contributed the most in my case, since my local MP is really really helpful, called every 3 days, wrote two formal letters to UKVI. However, this is only my guess. The UKVI MPs team has more information and access to our case but again cannot influence the casework team directly. The written letter from your MP would do, but that takes a long time as well (probably slightly faster than 20 working days, my MP still has not received any written response from UKVI to his 2 letters yet). Therefore, my guess is (3)and (4) may still hold, no matter what you do.

I will continue to complaint to UKVI together with my local MP even I have received a decision now.

[vpunjabi7]

Hi All,

I have been following this thread since a while as I was about to apply for ILR. Just wanted to share my timeline with you all:

Type: Super Priority

Category Applied : ILR Set(O) Tier 2 Migrant - 2 Employers

Date Applied online : 02-01-2019.

Biometrics Enrolled : 21-01-2019.

Total Bio-metrics appointment Duration : 30 mins

Biometrics Enrolled at : Sopra Steria Croydon

Got an email from a caseworker on 22 Jan asking me to submit my employer letter again as I had forgotten to include my job title (doh! I only focused on the other key points that were required!). Sent him an updated letter and got a reply in 2 hours stating I had been granted ILR.

Decision Email Received : received from a caseworker as above (no official generic email from UKVI)

Waiting for my decision letter.

BRP received: 24-01-2019 at 8:15am.

I encourage all of you waiting to not lose hope and stay put. If my BRP can arrive within 3 days I'm sure others will follow soon too. Somebody on this thread did mention delayed BRP could be a location specific issue - I'm inclined to agree with that.

All the best folks!

Thanks,
Varun

[preet8899]

Hi Folks,

I finally received the decision email yesterday. Time scale: 27 Nov online application, SET(O), 28 Nov biometric enrolment. I am really NOT delighted at this moment thinking about how much effort I had to put, how unhappy I was while waiting and following this case, and how many people are still suffering from the awful government department UKVI. I will definitely follow up with continuous complaints on this.

I am a researcher at university. As I have been following this thread since beginning, read all 92 pages of the posts, contributed 20+myself, and actually tried a lot of things myself. I consider myself have some real experience with this now and would like to share with you.

(1) Telephone escalation to UKVI service centre (03001232241, option 4 and then option 1) would not work at all. This conclusion is true no matter you are talking to a nice person (most probably a new staff) or you are talking to a bad person (most probably an experience elder staff). The truth is that your escalation will not reach/affect the casework team at UKVI. You will only get an automatically generated email response after checking Yes (decision has been made) or No (your application is still under consideration, which is the case to most of us here). Saying "it is within 6 months service standard" or saying "we're unable to decide within 24 hours decision..." doesn't make any difference, this is just a "click and send" operation by an operator at the UKVI service centre (not the caseworker) after received the requested update from UKVI casework team (it is still under consideration). The operator doesn't have any information to the issue of your application, the only information the operator has is whether your application is done or not done. Then the operator selects a type of generic email replies, and click "send".

(2) In theory, you cannot escalate for the second time within 5 working days and once you got an update (the so-called generic email), you are not eligible to raise an escalation again within 30 working days. However, if a new staff (i.e. unexperienced staff, as most of them are) picked up your phone, that person may raise an escalation for you regardless of the rules. This information is from several senior staffs at the call centre. Once again, these do not really matter because (1).

(3) The reason for a lengthy delay (1+month) is not strictly relevant to the nature of your case. I saw various reasons or no reason for cases to be allocated to an administrative check. However, the length of the check is probably relevant to the complexity of your case.

(4) My guess of the ultimate length of the administrative check is 8 weeks, I have not seen anyone not receiving a "visa granted" decision after 8 weeks. This doesn't include those who have serious issues which may result in a refusal.

(5) There are three ways at the moment could potentially push your case forward if you are in a hurry to get the visa.
(5.1)Complaint to complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk and wait for 20 working days.
(5.2) Write to SRSUKVACS@homeoffice.gov.uk and they will forward your complaints to the UKVI casework team.
(5.3) Write to your local MP, they can help to chase your case via their direct connection to the UKVI MPs team.
(5.1) is not definately proven to be useful in my case, because I have not received a reply of the complaint until now. I guess (5.2) is similar, although they forwarded my email to the UKVI casework team, I have not received any reply as well. (5.3) contributed the most in my case, since my local MP is really really helpful, called every 3 days, wrote two formal letters to UKVI. However, this is only my guess. The UKVI MPs team has more information and access to our case but again cannot influence the casework team directly. The written letter from your MP would do, but that takes a long time as well (probably slightly faster than 20 working days, my MP still has not received any written response from UKVI to his 2 letters yet). Therefore, my guess is (3)and (4) may still hold, no matter what you do.

I will continue to complaint to UKVI together with my local MP even I have received a decision now.

Congratulations and thanks for the update.

[bhai86]

Many congrats!

I completely agree with you. I feel extremely lucky to have received my decision within 24 hours but most of us do tend to forget the pain once we receive the decision and move on. Someone needs to gather all cases which are taking weeks and weeks even after charging for 24hours service and go public about it (news paper etc).

[vibe123]

wohoo @Timothy. Well done on your patience mate and congrats

[yasheerkhan]

Hi Folks,

I finally received the decision email yesterday. Time scale: 27 Nov online application, SET(O), 28 Nov biometric enrolment. I am really NOT delighted at this moment thinking about how much effort I had to put, how unhappy I was while waiting and following this case, and how many people are still suffering from the awful government department UKVI. I will definitely follow up with continuous complaints on this.

I am a researcher at university. As I have been following this thread since beginning, read all 92 pages of the posts, contributed 20+myself, and actually tried a lot of things myself. I consider myself have some real experience with this now and would like to share with you.

(1) Telephone escalation to UKVI service centre (03001232241, option 4 and then option 1) would not work at all. This conclusion is true no matter you are talking to a nice person (most probably a new staff) or you are talking to a bad person (most probably an experience elder staff). The truth is that your escalation will not reach/affect the casework team at UKVI. You will only get an automatically generated email response after checking Yes (decision has been made) or No (your application is still under consideration, which is the case to most of us here). Saying "it is within 6 months service standard" or saying "we're unable to decide within 24 hours decision..." doesn't make any difference, this is just a "click and send" operation by an operator at the UKVI service centre (not the caseworker) after received the requested update from UKVI casework team (it is still under consideration). The operator doesn't have any information to the issue of your application, the only information the operator has is whether your application is done or not done. Then the operator selects a type of generic email replies, and click "send".

(2) In theory, you cannot escalate for the second time within 5 working days and once you got an update (the so-called generic email), you are not eligible to raise an escalation again within 30 working days. However, if a new staff (i.e. unexperienced staff, as most of them are) picked up your phone, that person may raise an escalation for you regardless of the rules. This information is from several senior staffs at the call centre. Once again, these do not really matter because (1).

(3) The reason for a lengthy delay (1+month) is not strictly relevant to the nature of your case. I saw various reasons or no reason for cases to be allocated to an administrative check. However, the length of the check is probably relevant to the complexity of your case.

(4) My guess of the ultimate length of the administrative check is 8 weeks, I have not seen anyone not receiving a "visa granted" decision after 8 weeks. This doesn't include those who have serious issues which may result in a refusal.

(5) There are three ways at the moment could potentially push your case forward if you are in a hurry to get the visa.
(5.1)Complaint to complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk and wait for 20 working days.
(5.2) Write to SRSUKVACS@homeoffice.gov.uk and they will forward your complaints to the UKVI casework team.
(5.3) Write to your local MP, they can help to chase your case via their direct connection to the UKVI MPs team.
(5.1) is not definately proven to be useful in my case, because I have not received a reply of the complaint until now. I guess (5.2) is similar, although they forwarded my email to the UKVI casework team, I have not received any reply as well. (5.3) contributed the most in my case, since my local MP is really really helpful, called every 3 days, wrote two formal letters to UKVI. However, this is only my guess. The UKVI MPs team has more information and access to our case but again cannot influence the casework team directly. The written letter from your MP would do, but that takes a long time as well (probably slightly faster than 20 working days, my MP still has not received any written response from UKVI to his 2 letters yet). Therefore, my guess is (3)and (4) may still hold, no matter what you do.

I will continue to complaint to UKVI together with my local MP even I have received a decision now.

Congratulations and thanks for the update.

Congratulations .. Do you know how to apply for refund?

[szt]

HI,

I have applied for Tier1 E Extension ( postal application) last month and the decision is still pending. Now I am eligible to apply ILR via LR ( 10 years route) and booked appointment ( super priority service ) for the next Monday at Croydon center.

As my original passports and all doc still with UKVA. is there anything I need to consider while at the appointment?

I did mention in the application as being unable to produce original passports at the time of appointment. But I do have I do have scanned copies of passports so I can upload in sopra steria.

In the online application, I mentioned designation as a self-employed ( Director), do I need to provide company documents?

At the end of the application, in documents list, it says dependent's documents ( like passports, Marriage certificate, Job) needs to provide. But as of now, she is not varying her application.
do I need to upload her documents as well or just leave it?

what documents do I need to upload for ILR LR?

passports blank pages as well?

I will write a cover letter about varying application.

If anyone comes across like this scenario, please be kind enough to advise me on this.

Thank you

[madihaali_304]

Many many congratulations Timothy! Very pleased for you!

[Timothy Tao]

initial information from UKVI MPs team
#1 confirmed my visa is indeed in super priority service but requires further checking
5 days later:
#2 confirmed my visa is awaiting for checking results
Then MP's caseworker forwarded my message to UKVI MPs team "whatever checks they are doing, that should be completed by now as it is 33 working days"
#3 confirmed my visa is still pending, but no further check is required.
2 days later, I received the email of visa granted.

Congratulations Timothy! At least your wait is over and you can go on your trip in February now! I hope you get the refund soon.

Have they told you why the long checks? Hopefully my is on its way as well, and we can know if you theory no.4 is true

Hi Folks,

I finally received the decision email yesterday. Time scale: 27 Nov online application, SET(O), 28 Nov biometric enrolment. I am really NOT delighted at this moment thinking about how much effort I had to put, how unhappy I was while waiting and following this case, and how many people are still suffering from the awful government department UKVI. I will definitely follow up with continuous complaints on this.

I am a researcher at university. As I have been following this thread since beginning, read all 92 pages of the posts, contributed 20+myself, and actually tried a lot of things myself. I consider myself have some real experience with this now and would like to share with you.

(1) Telephone escalation to UKVI service centre (03001232241, option 4 and then option 1) would not work at all. This conclusion is true no matter you are talking to a nice person (most probably a new staff) or you are talking to a bad person (most probably an experience elder staff). The truth is that your escalation will not reach/affect the casework team at UKVI. You will only get an automatically generated email response after checking Yes (decision has been made) or No (your application is still under consideration, which is the case to most of us here). Saying "it is within 6 months service standard" or saying "we're unable to decide within 24 hours decision..." doesn't make any difference, this is just a "click and send" operation by an operator at the UKVI service centre (not the caseworker) after received the requested update from UKVI casework team (it is still under consideration). The operator doesn't have any information to the issue of your application, the only information the operator has is whether your application is done or not done. Then the operator selects a type of generic email replies, and click "send".

(2) In theory, you cannot escalate for the second time within 5 working days and once you got an update (the so-called generic email), you are not eligible to raise an escalation again within 30 working days. However, if a new staff (i.e. unexperienced staff, as most of them are) picked up your phone, that person may raise an escalation for you regardless of the rules. This information is from several senior staffs at the call centre. Once again, these do not really matter because (1).

(3) The reason for a lengthy delay (1+month) is not strictly relevant to the nature of your case. I saw various reasons or no reason for cases to be allocated to an administrative check. However, the length of the check is probably relevant to the complexity of your case.

(4) My guess of the ultimate length of the administrative check is 8 weeks, I have not seen anyone not receiving a "visa granted" decision after 8 weeks. This doesn't include those who have serious issues which may result in a refusal.

(5) There are three ways at the moment could potentially push your case forward if you are in a hurry to get the visa.
(5.1)Complaint to complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk and wait for 20 working days.
(5.2) Write to xxxxxxxxxx and they will forward your complaints to the UKVI casework team.
(5.3) Write to your local MP, they can help to chase your case via their direct connection to the UKVI MPs team.
(5.1) is not definately proven to be useful in my case, because I have not received a reply of the complaint until now. I guess (5.2) is similar, although they forwarded my email to the UKVI casework team, I have not received any reply as well. (5.3) contributed the most in my case, since my local MP is really really helpful, called every 3 days, wrote two formal letters to UKVI. However, this is only my guess. The UKVI MPs team has more information and access to our case but again cannot influence the casework team directly. The written letter from your MP would do, but that takes a long time as well (probably slightly faster than 20 working days, my MP still has not received any written response from UKVI to his 2 letters yet). Therefore, my guess is (3)and (4) may still hold, no matter what you do.

I will continue to complaint to UKVI together with my local MP even I have received a decision now.

[Timothy Tao]

Cheers mate

Refund should be straightforward, just follow up with your complaint email.

[Ritchie12]

Hi Folks,

I finally received the decision email yesterday. Time scale: 27 Nov online application, SET(O), 28 Nov biometric enrolment. I am really NOT delighted at this moment thinking about how much effort ....

... will continue to complaint to UKVI together with my local MP even I have received a decision now.

Hey Timothy, I'm very pleased for you. You can see the light at the end of the wait now. You are very patient too.. That's a virtue. Congrats matey

[Ritchie12]

Hello guys, as many of you will know me and my family are on the ILR(LR) route.

I wanted to ask, did any of you uploads copies of previous (old) BRPs and Visas? We are due for appointment tomorrow and would appreciate any advice on this. Thanks

[processman]

Dear Members

Here is my updates for 24-01-2019 bio-metrics

Category Applied : ILR Set(O) Tier 2 Migrant - 2 Employers

Date Applied online : 16-01-2019.

Biometrics Enrolled : 24-01-2019.

Total Bio-metrics appointment Duration : 19 mins

Biometrics Enrolled at : Sopra Steria Croydon

Decision Email Received : 24/01/2019 (SAMEDAY)

Waiting for my BRP.

Document list submitted

Current and previous employment offer letter ( PDF)
Employers letter with soc code (HR signed and attested scan copy)
Employers consolidated holiday letter for last 3 years ( current tier 2 switch)
6 months payslips (HR signed and attested scan copy)
Bank Statement for salary account ( 8 months PDF )
UK Graduation Certificate (scan copy)
Life in UK ( scan copy)
4x p60 ( 3 x current employers p60 are with attested sign & stamp)
1x p45
Travel history with all holidays entry and exit stamp
letter of consent for verification
passport copy
Council tax letter for Residence proof





GODS' Grace its been approved and received confirmation on same day for the GRANT LEAVE TO REMAIN





Thanks