**** COVID19 and UKVCAS Appointments **** (ONLY discuss here)

Hi

I applied for naturalisation on the 13/05/2020. Only received acknowledgement.

On the 22nd of June, I am thinking about waking up extremely early and virtually camp at UKVCAS's website to try to book an appointment. I live in London but would rather take the round trip to Edinburgh and back if it means I get a decision earlier.

However, I am hoping they announce something about London service points before I make this awful exhausting trip.

I have applied for the naturalisation online , The date i have made the application by the time i have never spent more than 30 days out side UK but due to my job requirement now I have to travail to another country where i will have to spent more than 3 months how it will impact my application

1. If i will stay more than 3 months now will it impact my application ?
2. Can be able to book an appointment after 3 months date ?

This is the ILR subforum. This is NOT the British citizenship forum
Go to: british-citizenship/

bmnikhil1 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 18, 2020 1:35 pm

FYI, all.

TIER 2 General 5 years + 2 dependents - Priority Service
Actual date Biometrics Enrolled: 16/06/2020 (original appointment 02/04/2020)
Approval Received: Email 18/06/2020



No emails from UKVI to company about reduced salary or furlough status.

Hi bmnikhil,
Congratulations on your approval.
I would like to know when you apply for settlement what category were you on and were you furloughed when you applied and does the payslip show correct amount or furloughed salary?
Thank you very much.

As I understand for those who live in London there are 3 main locations for biometrics, right? Victoria, Croydon and Premium lounge. Are there more of them in normal times?

People who booked appointments in June and who live in London, could you please answer these questions:
1) Noticed many choose Croydon - why? Is Victoria location worse? Seems more central. Or centre in Victoria is small and Croydon just offers much more appointments?
2) Does premium lounge costs same as in normal times - 210-270? Or they cancelled the fees?

Also if I will find out that biometrics slots would be all booked for London, can I go to another town?

So my wife submitted her Bio-metrics today at the Leeds centre. All went well, and she was seen before her allocated time as we arrived an hour early.

Are we meant to get a confirmation e-mail of her application now, or is it a sit and wait game?

When was your original appointment date?

Priority visa processing service is a VISA SERVICE offered by UKVI. You choose this during application submission.

This is NOT related to the appointment booking services offered by UKVCAS or their operations.

Priority visa processing services are NOT offered by UKVI for now, possibly due to a large existing backlog of applications. You should continue with your application using the Standard service for now.

When you apply using the standard service, NO upgrade option is available to change your application to priority later

If you already applied and you're looking to book your appointment with UKVCAS, note the following:

Zimba wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 04, 2020 11:15 pm

The slots are not still open to applicants who applied after the closure of centres. So you must remain patient. They are prioritising people who booked their appointments before lockdown but could not attend due to closures

Just got the following updates from their twitter post:

We’re opening the booking system to applicants in date order, to be fair to everyone. We’re starting with people who registered with UKVCAS before the 27th March but did not have an appointment. Watch out for an email arriving 21/22nd June with more details.

We’re opening the booking system to customers in a fair and organised manner – working in date order from the earliest to the most recent registrations. We will issue updates as soon as we can.

The manager of Sopra Steria said they will release more information this week and I reckoned it will be opening most of the application centres in England

They have added future dates of re-opening other centres as well

Many people didn't register account with UKVCAS because they knew booking system is closed. Are they going to use visa application date for this prioritisation (this would be sensible). They for sure know application data as when you call them, they have all application info from Home Office.

Update: 19th Jun 2020

https://www.ukvcas.co.uk/flash-message- ... geId=56249

I registered on 13th of April.
when did everyone else registered?

Register or submitted?

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:32 pm

I registered on 13th of April.
when did everyone else registered?

Register or submitted?

Paul99 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:36 pm

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:32 pm

I registered on 13th of April.
when did everyone else registered?

Register or submitted?

Registered
I think it is the registration date that matters. And I am here waiting for the reopening of priority/ super priority service

What about yourself?

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:47 pm

Paul99 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:36 pm

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:32 pm

I registered on 13th of April.
when did everyone else registered?

Register or submitted?

Registered
I think it is the registration date that matters. And I am here waiting for the reopening of priority/ super priority service

What about yourself?

same boat

Paul99 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:50 pm

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:47 pm

Paul99 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:36 pm

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:32 pm

I registered on 13th of April.
when did everyone else registered?

Register or submitted?

Registered
I think it is the registration date that matters. And I am here waiting for the reopening of priority/ super priority service

What about yourself?

same boat

I don't quite understand their new post. It isn't clear if they are reopening the priority services. What is your interpretation?

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:54 pm

Paul99 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:50 pm

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:47 pm

Paul99 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:36 pm

Register or submitted?

Registered
I think it is the registration date that matters. And I am here waiting for the reopening of priority/ super priority service

What about yourself?

same boat

I don't quite understand their new post. It isn't clear if they are reopening the priority services. What is your interpretation?

Slowly resuming the process -Nothing cant be predicted based on the flash message !

Are you waiting almost 2 months ? So you have Enough Visa Expiry Date ?

Paul99 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:59 pm

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:54 pm

Paul99 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:50 pm

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:47 pm

Registered
I think it is the registration date that matters. And I am here waiting for the reopening of priority/ super priority service

What about yourself?

same boat

I don't quite understand their new post. It isn't clear if they are reopening the priority services. What is your interpretation?

Slowly resuming the process -Nothing cant be predicted based on the flash message !

Are you waiting almost 2 months ? So you have Enough Visa Expiry Date ?

ha
I just have a super anxious personality so registered early on to see what documents I need to prepare for the application.
My visa expires in Oct 2020 and I have a travel plan booked in Sept.
I lost my passport in 2017 with all my travel records (quite a long list). I have also requested my personal information from the Home office but turned out half of my travel records are missing. I predict my application case will take longer than normal people. So I really need to plan ahead. And most importantly I am desperate to FREEDOM!!!!!!!!

gc362952246 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 7:54 pm

I don't quite understand their new post. It isn't clear if they are reopening the priority services. What is your interpretation?

It is quite amazing that I almost daily repost (as below) that priority service has nothing to do with UKVCAS but I guess I have to post it every hour

Priority visa processing service is a VISA SERVICE offered by UKVI. You choose this during application submission.

This is NOT related to the appointment booking services offered by UKVCAS or their operations.

Priority visa processing services are NOT offered by UKVI for now, possibly due to a large existing backlog of applications. You should continue with your application using the Standard service for now.

When you apply using the standard service, NO upgrade option is available to change your application to priority later

If you already applied and you're looking to book your appointment with UKVCAS, here is the latest update from UKVCAS:

In order to be fair to everyone, we are now opening up the booking system in date order starting with people who registered with UKVCAS before the 27th March but did not have an appointment. We are working from the earliest to the most recent registrations as we think this is the fairest and best approach to take. If you are one of these customers, you will have an email from us on the 21st or 22nd of June asking you to book an appointment. The email will have full instructions about next actions.

https://www.ukvcas.co.uk/flash-message- ... geId=74833

I lodged a complain regarding the unclear situation of the super priority service because I believe it makes more sense that UKVI can inform applicants regarding the resumption of the service to help them during these times. Following is the response I received from the UKVI. I hope it will help people here on this forum.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted all UKVI services. Global travel and public health restrictions have resulted in the closure of Visa Application Centres (VACs) overseas and in the UK. We have therefore been unbale to operate at full capacity and some services have been delayed as a result. As global travel and public health restrictions begin to lift, UKVI is beginning a phased approach to resuming services, where local conditions allow. From 1st June, UKVCAS began a controlled, phased restart of operations at UKVCAS Service points. As part of Phase 1 restart UKVCAS has starting booking appointments for customers who had an existing appointment prior to the suspension of the service, and had their appointments postponed.

Unfortunately, at present we cannot confirm a date when the UKVCAS centres will be open for new customers to be able to book the Super Priority Visa service.

Whilst I understand this might not be the outcome you expected, I hope my response clarifies the position. If you are concerned about your situation please contact the Coronavirus Immigration Helpline at: CIH@homeoffice.gov.uk.

I believe I have addressed all the points you have raised. However, if you feel that there are specific aspects that have not been addressed you can request a review of our response within one month of the date on this correspondence by emailing us at:

complaintsreview@homeoffice.gov.uk.

Please ensure that you provide us with specific details setting out why you believe a review is required. This will enable us to provide you with a full response. You can also review the next stages of our complaints process at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisat ... -procedure.


Yours sincerely
"

Please note that there never been such a thing as a super priority appointment.

The super priority service is provided by UK Visa and Immigration (Home office) and has NOTHING to do with UKVCAS (which is a third party). UKVCAS operations has no relation to the return of super priority. It is up to UK Visa and Immigration (Home office) to bring the super priority processing back (they are the ones that process your visa application)

UKVCAS is ONLY in charge of collecting your documents and Biometrics and pass them on to UKVI for processing.

By submitting a super priority application, UKVI will aim to assign a caseworker to your application within 24 hours of your appointment, regardless of when or how and where you enrolled your Biometrics.

When you show up for your appointment, it does NOT matter whether you have applied for a standard or super priority visa application. ALL applicants must book an appointment with UKVCAS regardless of their application type.

The level of service you have requested from UKVI has no bearing on UKVCAS operations. I have been repeating this for months here and I hope this clears it up a little more.

Hi there, Can I register myself on UKVCAS system before the submission of my online application to UKVI?

Thanks