urgent treatment request for Tier 1

Hi All,
I had applied for Tier1 (General) on 25th August 2008. I am switching from WP to Tier 1 within UK. I am an Indian national applying from UK.
My problem is that I need to travel back to India on 30th September and report back to my company in India. Now I wanted to give an urgent treatment request to the Home Office to consider my application as I need both passports (me and my wife) to travel back.

I called up HO today and they said that I can send in an urgent request letter stating reason and other details with supporting evidence if any. But they also cautioned me saying that if HO or the Case Worker is not able to meet the deadline ( 30th Sept...set by me as my travel date) while processing my application then they will withdraw my application and send me back my documents without processing. They also told me that they will not inform me before withdrawing my application.

Now I am in a fix. I really need to travel on 30th Sept ( +-2 to 3 days). Cant take any holidays to keep me in UK to wait for another month for the Tier 1 visa. But I really dont want to lose my application since I will not be able to apply again due to less points for age.

Please note that my Leave to Remain is valid for another year from now.
Please advise what I should do?
Was any such clause present when others submitted their Urgent treatment requests?
Should I submit a UT request risking a withdrawal if HO doesnt meet deadlines?
How can they withdraw my application without asking/informing me ? Have they done this ever earlier to anyone............

Please help.

Thanks in advance
LG

Nothing much that you can do. If there is no way that you can stay back in UK beyond 30-Sep (+ 2/3 days), then you need your passports o travel and you must make a request for urgent treatment and return of passports before 30-Sep.

Given the short timeline (2 weeks to 30-Sep), it seems unlikely that your application will be decided upon so quickly (personal opinion) - unless it is in the last stags of evaluation.

But since you've applied only 3 weeks ago, it is highly likely that your application hasn't been assigned to a CW yet (UKBA should be able to tell you that) and if this is indeed the case, there is no use for an urgent treatment (yet unassigned application to be approved and passport stampled in 5-7 working days, and that too by UKBA! ).

So, in effect, an urgent treatment with applicant providing a <10 working days timeframe will (in my opinion) be treated as a withdrawal request rather than an urgent treatment request.

Did you know before applyig on 25-Aug that you were to travel around 30-Sep?? If so, it was a risky thing to do anyway!

regards

Thanks for your advice Sushdmehta.
Actually we didnt know that we had to travel by the end of September.
How many days buffer can be given for the urgent treatment request to be considered. Will 3 weeks (15 working days)suffice or 4 weeks?

I can somehow arrange to take some leave (without any salary ) to wait for the tier 1 visa rather than losing the tier 1 application altogether ( as I cannot apply again due to age constraint and less point

Hoping for the best.

Regards
CP

Don't assume anything. It is upto UKBA to decide whether they should entertain your urgent treatment request or ignore it alltogether!!

If UKBA does decide to treat your application urgently, I don't think there is a defined timeline that they would (or must) make a decision within. Every application is evaluated based on the evidences provided and if the CW feels that it will not be possible to complete the process (that he / she must follow) within the timeframe you have asked for, he will simply treat your urgent treatment request as a withdrawal request. That is the reason UKBA has already advised you that they might withdraw your application without informing you!

On the other hand, if UKBA decides that your urgent treatment request doesn't have a strong basis, they might just withdraw your application rightaway and return everything (but the money) to you.

Remember, a urgent treatment request is exactly what it is - a request, not an order or instruction! It does not guartantee that your application will be treated urgently. The decision lies with UKBA.

I believe the service standard is about 10 weeks (from the payment being cleared), but you can check the latest from UKBA.

regards