Maximum processing time for Tier 1 Ext. Application

Dear friends,

Our timeline is as follows:

15/03/17- Tier 1 entrepreneur 50K extension application submitted as a team

06/04/17 - Acknowledgement letter received with invitation for providing biometrics

11/04/17 - Biometrics were taken

23/04/17 - Complex letter received

05/10/17 - 1st MP contact to chase up the case

02/11/17 - Response from HO to MP saying that case is still under consideration and is subject to ongoing checks.

24/11/17 - Call from compliance officer to arrange an interview

28/11/17 - interviewed in home as the business was closed due to business change. Interview lasted for 4 hours, each member was interview in a separate room. Further documents from previous business and current business requested and we provided the documents.


19/12/17 - First SAR request sent

08/01/18 - 2nd MP contact to persuade to expedite the case as the delay has taken a heavy toll on our business and affected our personal life

26/01/18 - Response from HO for SAR request:
for me: 09 December 2017- new criminal record checks requested
for my teammate: 23 April 2017 - passed to incorrect case working team


29/01/18 - HO responded to MP saying that Application is under consideration. Unfortunately we are currently unable to expedite this application or provide a definite timeframe for a decision being made.


16/03/18 - 2nd SAR sent to HO.

04/04/18 - HO response to 2nd SAR:
for me: they have had contact from the MP regarding my case.
for my teammate: refused to provide you with a SAR as they have stated there has not been enough time passed since the previous SAR request.

This was surprising as we both requested the 1st SAR and 2nd SAR at the same time.


10/04/18 - decided to raise a complaint to HO based on HR grounds and adverse effects on our personal and work life.


23/04/18 - 3rd SAR sent to HO requesting interview notes.


We are not sure whether we should wait until we receive the interview notes and then submit the complaint or we should submit the complaint now regardless of the 3rd SAR response.


Does anyone know whether there is a maximum processing time as it's almost 13 months since we have submitted our extension application.


I would appreciate if anyone can comment about the above timeline and share his/her thoughts.

There is not time limit for tier 1 extension it can take months to years . one of my friend is waiting from last 2 years he tried everything contacted Ho plenty times mp involved etc . Still no news yet . His interview was conducted in january 2017 .

Your decison coming untill end of may

bizguy wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:52 pm

There is not time limit for tier 1 extension it can take months to year. one of my friend is waiting from last 2 years he tried everything contacted Ho plenty times mp involved etc . Still no news yet . His interview was conducted in january 2017 .

I can't believe HO spend two years to make a decision. Maybe your friend can vary his extension application to ilr as he completes 5 years already.

seems 12 months is a normal timeframe now.

miumiuuk wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:00 am

bizguy wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 24, 2018 7:52 pm

There is not time limit for tier 1 extension it can take months to year. one of my friend is waiting from last 2 years he tried everything contacted Ho plenty times mp involved etc . Still no news yet . His interview was conducted in january 2017 .

I can't believe HO spend two years to make a decision. Maybe your friend can vary his extension application to ilr as he completes 5 years already.

That is a good point. He/she can vary to ILR now

@temoham, patience is the key. and if you gonna complete 5 years on Tier 1 visa than why not vary the application to ILR, as stated by seniors.

Interesting to know that 2 years of wait (while extension) can lead to 5 years ILR. I was not aware of this!
but still a bit doubtful, if that is actually possible ?

kaps84 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:37 am

@temoham, patience is the key. and if you gonna complete 5 years on Tier 1 visa than why not vary the application to ILR, as stated by seniors.

Interesting to know that 2 years of wait (while extension) can lead to 5 years ILR. I was not aware of this!
but still a bit doubtful, if that is actually possible ?

I can't see anything that would prevent that. There is nothing in the settlement requirements to say that there should be an extension in between.

kaps84 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:37 am

@temoham, patience is the key. and if you gonna complete 5 years on Tier 1 visa than why not vary the application to ILR, as stated by seniors.

Interesting to know that 2 years of wait (while extension) can lead to 5 years ILR. I was not aware of this!
but still a bit doubtful, if that is actually possible ?

I know 3 people who got visa recently.
2 of them were rejected 1st application and they were on 2nd application.
2 got ilr in 6 months and 1 got after 8 months.
One strangest thing which I have seen recently is that one guy was on JR and he varied his application to ilr and got it, still not believing it though but it happened.
It freaked me out.

Thanks @Seniors, as always !

I have not started thinking beyond the tier 1 extension yet and hence this is something new to me. But it gives another hope for sooo many applicants (now waiting for more than a year).

So now it should be like this:
Either HO give the extension within couple of months (since another 12 months of job creation is required after* extension) or just delay it for more than 1yr 8months (which will add upto 5 years, based on initial visa of 3y 4m).

kaps84 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:16 am

Thanks @Seniors, as always !

I have not started thinking beyond the tier 1 extension yet and hence this is something new to me. But it gives another hope for sooo many applicants (now waiting for more than a year).

So now it should be like this:
Either HO give the extension within couple of months (since another 12 months of job creation is required after* extension) or just delay it for more than 1yr 8months (which will add upto 5 years, based on initial visa of 3y 4m).

Actually HO amended the rules in Jan to address some of this. If you extension is delayed for 1 yr 4 months (for example), you can still apply for ILR within 4 months of receiving extension. The 12 month job creation can be in the last 12 months (even if part of that is before extension)

nali78 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 24, 2018 9:34 pm

Your decison coming untill end of may

Dear Nali78, how do you know it will be decided by the end of May? I tried to figure out why you said end of May and I found out it's 6 months after interview. Does HO have such a timeframe?

There is no maximum processing time. You must wait to hear from UKVI. Every application is unique and will be decided in its own time frame. Some might take a long time to be processed and we cannot tell you why this happens.

Thanks ALL.

The point is our initial visa was granted on 18/03/14 and it had been valid until 18/03/17. So our initial visa had been valid for 3 years and not more. So we cannot vary our application to ILR until the review process would delay until March 2019!

Also, do we have to withdraw this application and submit an application for ILR or leave this application open and submit a separate application for ILR? This is not my concern at the moment.

Shall we submit a complaint or wait until we receive the interview notes?

You can vary to ILR when eligible only. You also cannot have two applications at any time, so its either you vary the existing application or withdraw it and apply again. Obviously the varying option is better as your section 3C protection remains intact. By checking the timeline post, you should see that your situation is not unique and many applicants are waiting to hear back for months. Unfortunately you must be patient and wait to hear back

marcnath wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:04 pm

kaps84 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:16 am

Thanks @Seniors, as always !

I have not started thinking beyond the tier 1 extension yet and hence this is something new to me. But it gives another hope for sooo many applicants (now waiting for more than a year).

So now it should be like this:
Either HO give the extension within couple of months (since another 12 months of job creation is required after* extension) or just delay it for more than 1yr 8months (which will add upto 5 years, based on initial visa of 3y 4m).

Actually HO amended the rules in Jan to address some of this. If you extension is delayed for 1 yr 4 months (for example), you can still apply for ILR within 4 months of receiving extension. The 12 month job creation can be in the last 12 months (even if part of that is before extension)

Good to know that @ marchnath that he can vary his application from ext to ilr . I will notify him that . I was wondering if he needs to get his extension first to fulfill the requirement of two full time jobs .

zimba88 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:35 pm

There is no maximum processing time. You must wait to hear from UKVI. Every application is unique and will be decided in its own time frame. Some might take a long time to be processed and we cannot tell you why this happens.

@zimba if you cannot help, please keep your mouth zip, this is a discussion board, people here are discussing and no one asked you why this is happening. Please keep this board friendly and do not try to be over smart policeman.

teddybear79 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 2:52 pm

zimba88 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:35 pm

There is no maximum processing time. You must wait to hear from UKVI. Every application is unique and will be decided in its own time frame. Some might take a long time to be processed and we cannot tell you why this happens.

@zimba if you cannot help, please keep your mouth zip, this is a discussion board, people here are discussing and no one asked you why this is happening. Please keep this board friendly and do not try to be over smart policeman.

Abuse of moderators WILL NOT be tolerated. Kindly suggest you refrain from posting if you are only going to insult the moderators or any other members.

@teddybear79, Zimba88 is one of the senior members (and a well deserved moderator now) of the forum. Moderators and senior members here are voluntarily helping others. Their efforts and guidance has not only helped many of us on the forum but also their contribution has made the forum what it is today.

Sometime, moderators have to be quite straight forward and firm while replying. This could be for various reasons like member's usual tendency to avoid:
reading forum rules,
visa policy guidance, and
often the tendency to avoid searching the forum for already asked questions.

Thanks for your understanding !

Dear Zimba,

I appreciate your comment however no one addressed my question!

temoham wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 25, 2018 3:45 pm

Dear Zimba,

I appreciate your comment however no one addressed my question!

Not sure which of your questions remain unanswered.

If it is whether you should complaint now or after you receive interview notes, it is really up to you. The general experience here seems to be that there is nothing that helps - complaints, MPs, etc. So, it really does not matter whether you complaint now or some time later as I am very sceptical about any effect it has.