Visa Processing Delay in Bangladesh

Hi everyone,
My wife submitted her application for a spouse visa on the 2nd April 2012 in Sylhet Bangladesh. Using the online tracking on the VFS Global website, I know that the British High Commission in Dhaka received her application on 10th April. Well 13 weeks has now passed and the online tracking still shows "Visa Application is under process at the British High Commission, Dhaka, 10/04/2012".

According to the service standards on the UKBA website, 95% of settlement applications are supposed to be decided in 12 weeks, and 100% in 24 weeks. They did publish a story at one point saying nationwide strikes in bangladesh are causing a delay in applications arriving to and leaving from the High Commission in Dhaka. However, those strikes happened after Dhaka had received my wife's application, and the strikes occurred only on a few days here and there, no more than a week in total I would say.

I did contact the High Commission to find out the status of our application, but we received a generic reply which didn't mention anything specific to our own application. Does anyone have any information as to the delays in Bangladesh, or is anyone else on this forum in a similar situation as myself? Would be good to know. Thanks.

Don't worry you are in the same boat as everyone else from the Indo subcontinent. Average wait is now nearly 4 months.

batleykhan wrote:Don't worry you are in the same boat as everyone else from the Indo subcontinent. Average wait is now nearly 4 months.

Thanks for the reassuring reply.

my wife applied on 27th march 2012 from dhaka vfs and we are still waiting! BHC said due to large number of applications the usual 60 day turnaround time has been exceeded but they are doing everything possible to minimise the delay. i find this unacceptable that they take this extortionate amount of of money for the processing, yet they cannot increase the staffing to process the visas on time.

shahed007 wrote:my wife applied on 27th march 2012 from dhaka vfs and we are still waiting! BHC said due to large number of applications the usual 60 day turnaround time has been exceeded but they are doing everything possible to minimise the delay. i find this unacceptable that they take this extortionate amount of of money for the processing, yet they cannot increase the staffing to process the visas on time.

In normal circumstances, when one pays for a service there is a mutual understanding between the vendor and the customer as to what service will be provided and within what time frame. In this sense, applying for a decision from UKBA is no different. However, unfortunately for us, they've always said that some settlement applications can take up to six months, and no guarantee was made that our own respective applications would be processed within three months. It seems there is nothing we can do except to patiently wait.

ruuh wrote:

shahed007 wrote:my wife applied on 27th march 2012 from dhaka vfs and we are still waiting! BHC said due to large number of applications the usual 60 day turnaround time has been exceeded but they are doing everything possible to minimise the delay. i find this unacceptable that they take this extortionate amount of of money for the processing, yet they cannot increase the staffing to process the visas on time.

In normal circumstances, when one pays for a service there is a mutual understanding between the vendor and the customer as to what service will be provided and within what time frame. In this sense, applying for a decision from UKBA is no different. However, unfortunately for us, they've always said that some settlement applications can take up to six months, and no guarantee was made that our own respective applications would be processed within three months. It seems there is nothing we can do except to patiently wait.

Vendor and customer?

Does UKBA advertise visas for sale?


Immigration applications are considered under various immigration acts and not under Sale of Goods ACT.

asim72 wrote:

ruuh wrote:

shahed007 wrote:my wife applied on 27th march 2012 from dhaka vfs and we are still waiting! BHC said due to large number of applications the usual 60 day turnaround time has been exceeded but they are doing everything possible to minimise the delay. i find this unacceptable that they take this extortionate amount of of money for the processing, yet they cannot increase the staffing to process the visas on time.

In normal circumstances, when one pays for a service there is a mutual understanding between the vendor and the customer as to what service will be provided and within what time frame. In this sense, applying for a decision from UKBA is no different. However, unfortunately for us, they've always said that some settlement applications can take up to six months, and no guarantee was made that our own respective applications would be processed within three months. It seems there is nothing we can do except to patiently wait.

Vendor and customer?

Does UKBA advertise visas for sale?


Immigration applications are considered under various immigration acts and not under Sale of Goods ACT.

I'm fully aware that Visas are not for sale and I wasn't suggesting that they were. I was responding in the context of applying with a fee, and expecting a decision to be made on the application within a certain time period. One of the roles of UKBA is to receive applications and to give decisions on those applications, so in that sense you could call the applicant the customer and UKBA the vendor. However, I think we are digressing from the topic which was processing delays in Bangladesh, so let's leave this point here.

visa granted and collected on 4/7/12

shahed007 wrote:visa granted and collected on 4/7/12

WOW! Congratulations Shahed. I am very happy for you.

Ruuh - what happened to your visa? Any updates? I applied on 17 april and it is still under process

deeku wrote:Ruuh - what happened to your visa? Any updates? I applied on 17 april and it is still under process

No news I'm afraid. My wife went to the VFS office in Sylhet yesterday to see if they can shed some light on the delay. They simply told us to wait some more. Almost 15 weeks now.

You guys have any idea about applications from West Africa? Thinking of calling.

ruuh wrote:

deeku wrote:Ruuh - what happened to your visa? Any updates? I applied on 17 april and it is still under process

No news I'm afraid. My wife went to the VFS office in Sylhet yesterday to see if they can shed some light on the delay. They simply told us to wait some more. Almost 15 weeks now.

Hi Ruuh,
My wife applied for her spouse visa on the 27/03/12 at the VSF center in Sylhet Gardens Towers. Just like shahed007 but rather he did it directly at Dhaka.

Ours showed the applications was received on the 4th April 2012. So i reckoned we would hear something by the 4th July 2012. It's already 15th July and we're in the same boat as you. The tracking shows the same old "under process" message. The odd thing is some people are getting their visa early too. Don't really know what to say about that. Typical Bangladesh!!

It has already going on 17 weeks soon. My thinking is that the decision has been made by the embassy but the delivery to Sylhet has been delayed.
Since the 4th April 2012 when they changed the rules for general visas there was an influx of applications this too has most certainly clogged the system further.

The only good news i can add to this is that i personally know a manager at VSF Global BD and he told me a few days ago that they have just received papers from people who applied on the 7th of March at Sylhet. So i'm presuming there is a full month of delays.

Keep me updated.

Thank you for the update SDLondon. Well, it looks like your wife applied one week before mine. Therefore, I would ask you to kindly update this thread as soon as there are any further developments as far as you are concerned. It will give hope to the rest of us inshaAllah.

The information you have posted about VFS Global in Sylhet receiving paperwork dated 7th march is very helpful indeed. At least now we have some concrete idea of where they're at processing-wise. The only thing both VFS and UKBA told us was to wait some more; though friendly, it was not very helpful at all.

Likewise, I'll update the thread if there is news inshaAllah. All the best.

Assist_ark wrote:You guys have any idea about applications from West Africa? Thinking of calling.

If you have waited over 12 weeks, you might as well give them a call to find out.

Hi guys,

We applied for my husband in sylhet on Feb 13th and we were granted the visa on 2nd May.
Nowhere as near as long as you guys, but I do remember the frustration and torture and I found reading these forums helpful for my anxiety

It was our wedding anniversary in April and I was hoping for a miracle, so I called the British High Commision in Dhaka, the guy was really helpful and told me to fax or email them my concerns and they would get back. I did, and though the information wasnt great to hear, it was actually quite helpful.

This is the email address for anyone who wants to contact regarding their Bangladesh visa:
Email: Immigration.Enquiries@fco.gov.uk

Be warned though, I pushed my luck and emailed them again at the end of April, and I got slightly snippy email. I was just incredibly anxious.

This is their contact numbers:

Fax: 88 (02) 8823666
Tel: 88(02) 8822705-9

This is their website, gives you an idea of the hours they work and other numbers if you need:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-liv ... ion-dhaka/

There is also a UKBA wesbite that usually updated every 1-2/3 months and you knew roughly how many applications had been processed each month and waiting times of each VFS office, this link shows for Sylhet, but you can change it about for your own vfs office.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/count ... angname=UK English#resultTableAnchor

I just had a look at that, the times don't look so promising.

Good luck to you all and hope your reunited with your other halves soon.

SDLondon,

Do you have any updates from your friend at VFS Global in Sylhet? It would be great to know when they received the last batch of applications from the High Commission and what dates those applications were made on. When are they expecting their next batch?

Any help is much appreciated.

Well the UKBA website finally has some new information about their processing times. I think they skipped May and decided to show June data straight after April. Anyway, the summary for applications submitted in Sylhet is:

• 0% of applications processed in June had been processed within 40 working days
  80% of applications processed in June had been processed within 60 working days i.e. three months
  99% of applications processed in June had been processed within 90 working days i.e. four and a half months
  100% of applications processed in June had been processed within 120 working days i.e. six months

I signed up to this message board after reading the info on this thread. It seems we're all in the same boat here. My wife applied on May 28th in Sylhet. Currently we have the status of "Processed application is in transit". Its been like this since May 29th....

@farhadinho
It looks like they have made a decision on your application and your wife should receive the invitation to go and collect her documents soon. I hope it is good news for you both.

I wonder why our application is taking so long then .. considering my wife applied on April 2nd. It seems a bit random.

I re-read your comment. You are syaing it has been marked as processed since May. Wow ... obviously something wrong with the updates.

I had to wait around 5 months for my appeal to be looked at (sent appeal mid feb, embassy received near end of march).

I found out last week from the embassy that the appeal is being withdrawn and my wife will be getting a visa so got her to do the medical again @ the medi-aid centre in Sylhet... It turns out from the xray she allegedly has a spot on a lung and needs to be screened for TB....

Does anyone have a partner who has recently had to go through the same process? Any ideas on how long this TB screening process takes? They said she will have to come back for three days to give sputum samples - but apparently this process could take around 2 months???

Thanks in advance...

ruuh wrote:@farhadinho
It looks like they have made a decision on your application and your wife should receive the invitation to go and collect her documents soon. I hope it is good news for you both.

I wonder why our application is taking so long then .. considering my wife applied on April 2nd. It seems a bit random.

I dont think they've made a decision. My wife applied on May 28th. And since the 29th May, the day after the application, we've had the "processed application i in transit" message. Not too sure what it means, but it hasnt changed since then.

I think your application should be due for approval soon though. Seems like its about time.

ruuh wrote:I re-read your comment. You are syaing it has been marked as processed since May. Wow ... obviously something wrong with the updates.

Hmmm... what should it say just after application? Its all really confusing. I'm quite worried now. I feel like i have no idea where our documents are and at what stage the application process is up to.

@farhad
I think the processed status that you are referring to refers to the processing of vfs.
After that the status is something like application forwarded to the high commission in dhaka, and after that the status something like application is in progress. This stage usually takes the most amount of time so I think you really need to check with vfs sylhet as to whether the application has been forwarded to the high commission.