Spouse visa application

[LuSharmLu]

Hi everyone

I have been registered on this website for a while but never posted. I would like to say thankyou for all the valuable info.

My husband (Egyptian) and I (British) are taking his documents in Egypt tomorrow, I read somewhere that they only let the applicant in and noone else unless support is needed. Does anyone know if they will let me in as well? Thankyou in advance for your help

Online application was sent off 4th October 2015 so please keep your fingers crossed for us and good luck to those of you who are either waiting to hear or about to apply.

Kind Regards
Lu

[Casa]

Very unlikely that you will be allowed to enter with him.

[shakoorh]

Normally they don't even let you take your phone in.

[LuSharmLu]

Oh I thought that may be, I will just sit outside like a billy no mates.....

I was hoping to go in because we ended up paying for the IHS charge, then there was an issue with the world pay so we had to do a whole new application so we paid the IHS charge again. We were advised by Visa4uk that we could just get a refund but it is never that simple hey. I was then advised to ask when we go in. I will hope that the other half is not too stressed to remember.

Thanks for your replies

[dent.super]

hi LuSharmLu ..
best of luck to you and your partner.. I'm also from Egypt and next January I'm gonna apply join my wife, can you let us know what paperwork you and your partner have put forward?

[Ell10b]

Lu,

I wish you and your husband good luck with his visa application - hope all went well today

My husband was granted his visa in Cairo (Abu Dhabi) in August, taking 9 days in total (see my timeline in my signature), if you have paid for priority I would hope the same for you

I wasn't with my husband when he went to the VAC but I don't believe you would be permitted to enter with him and phones are taken from applicants.

All the best!

[LuSharmLu]

Lu,

I wish you and your husband good luck with his visa application - hope all went well today

My husband was granted his visa in Cairo (Abu Dhabi) in August, taking 9 days in total (see my timeline in my signature), if you have paid for priority I would hope the same for you

I wasn't with my husband when he went to the VAC but I don't believe you would be permitted to enter with him and phones are taken from applicants.

All the best!

Hi Ell10b

Congratulations on your husband's visa and thankyou for your advice.

I was allowed to sit downstairs and it was air conditioned so not too bad really. We didn't pay priority and hope we have provided enough evidence/ information for my husband to be granted his visa too.

I will try and keep people updated on here if I can.

Thanks again
Lu

[LuSharmLu]

hi LuSharmLu ..
best of luck to you and your partner.. I'm also from Egypt and next January I'm gonna apply join my wife, can you let us know what paperwork you and your partner have put forward?

Hi Dent.super

Wow things can change so frequently that I would strongly advice to keep an eye on things. I found information from this site very helpful.

We spent months gathering evidence but when I have caught my breath back a bit I will reply to you further and let you know what we provided. Hopefully you will know whether or not we were successful. I am still panicking that we may have forgotten to hand something in and the last 2 weeks in particular have been lack of sleep for me and my husband now time for some R&R.

Good luck for you though when you do

Thanks and best wishes Lu

[Macko54]

Hello, thanks for all of this information. I am British married to an Egyptian national and we would like to start the process to make the spouse visa application for him to come to live with me in London. I will be keeping an eye on these posts. Good luck with everything i hope it all goes well for you.
Macko

[Jules13]

My first post...

I have also applied for spouse visa for my Egyptian husband and we are now just waiting as everyone else.

Ell10b - congratulations on your success - I am now wishing we had paid for priority!

LuSharmLu - I think our applications went in at the same time (4th October 2015). We did not use priority service in case of refusal as we thought it would just be a waste of money.

We applied for a visit visa last year which was rejected on the grounds that they considered my husband did not have any reason to return to Egypt at the end of his visa.

I sent an update request enquiry a couple of weeks ago and received the following reply on 17 November 2015. Since that time we have received no further communication from them and the online tracking status has not changed, so was wondering if anyone else had received a similar email which was not followed up?

"Thank you for contacting the UK Visas and Immigration International Enquiry
Service.

We understand that you would like to know about the current status of your
visa application. I have tracked the status (GWF********* and date of birth
**/**/****) and found that the application has been processed and it should
be with you in the next few days.

Please note that your passport and documentation could still take some time
to reach you whilst being sent back from the decision making centre and
whilst other administrative formalities are completed. The visa application
centre will be in contact with you regarding the collection or delivery.

If you have purchased a courier service then your documents will be
dispatched to the delivery address you have provided. We appreciate your
patience while you wait to receive your documents."

This wording is obviously standard wording as it is the same email I got when I enquired about the previous visit visa which was refused soon after. I hope this is not an indication of the outcome for this visa, but don't know why we haven't received anything since (nearly 3 weeks later now).

Anyone with any ideas I would be grateful to hear - as everyone knows, the waiting is the most difficult part!

Jules

[LuSharmLu]

Hi Jules

It does look like we applied at the same time, I have refrained from contacting them as I thought that we had to wait 60 days. I also was not aware if that was 60 days from the online application or 60 days from the biometrics..... I wish I had paid the extra for the priority too but hey its done now.

I think I will email them now too, On the TLS centre it still shows no decision has been made. I check it daily to see if the box goes green.

I do remember reading somewhere on here that people have been told to not get in contact with the TLS centre until an appointment is given for them to go and the paperwork be there with their decision letter. I can't remember where I read this though.

Lu

[Jules13]

Hi Lu

The only reason I sent an email was because of all the Stupid stopping their flights, so I just said that if they had processed before the date we stated for travel, we would be happy for the vignette to start immediately.

That was when I got the reply to say that our application had been processed and we would receive in a few days... that was 3 weeks ago. As the flight situation doesn't seem so bad now I'm less concerned about that, but don't know why I was told it had been processed 3 weeks ago and still we have heard nothing (and the online tracking also hasn't changed to say decision made).

I haven't followed up again, and will just wait, but I can only assume the email they sent was a mistake even though the reference number, name and date of birth were all correct...

Good luck and let me know if you get any update. Maybe we will hear around the same time, although we had a previous visit visa refused so I don't know if that will make our processing time longer.

Jules

[LuSharmLu]

Hi Jules

What I meant but did not write well was that I wonder if we were to turn up to the office in Cairo whether the decision letter would be there with all the returned paperwork. I had read that others waited a while for the decision letter but ended up going to the office to collect it. Not sure if that was Cairo though.

I will definitely keep you posted and hopefully we will hear soon, I have just emailed them.

Keep in touch
Lu

[Jules13]

I just wish I could understand why they said it had been processed 3 weeks ago but still tracking not updated and we have not been told to go collect papers?

This whole waiting thing is difficult enough and we had kind of hoped there was a chance of being together for Christmas

[LuSharmLu]

Well we had a reply today saying there is no update, it said this could be due to either being recent application or I had given the wrong details.

This is because we tried applying at the end of September, after paying the IHS fee the system crashed and we couldn't pay the visa using the world pay app. We were advised to start a new application and get the previous one refunded.

I chased them to get it refunded, it took them weeks. I've emailed again hoping we'll get a different response.

I have been trying to put it out of my mind as much as possible, what is frustrating is friends and family keep asking if I've heard. I'm trying to not get frustrated but I do want to scream - NO - I Haven't bloody heard yet!! Thankfully I am not saying this yet but it's close....

What do you guys do to not get so upset waiting?

Lu

[LuSharmLu]

I just wish I could understand why they said it had been processed 3 weeks ago but still tracking not updated and we have not been told to go collect papers?

This whole waiting thing is difficult enough and we had kind of hoped there was a chance of being together for Christmas

Hope you get your answer soon!!

[Jules13]

Lu

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I'm not sure what the response I got 3 weeks ago was all about but something is wrong somewhere. I now don't think it is much use sending status update emails - your response was about as helpful as mine, so try not to dwell too much on it.

It drives you crazy when everyone asks on a daily basis if you've had news yet. As hard as it it, I think we just have to wait it out. Not seen my husband since end of June as we were saving money for the visa and now again in case we have to do it all again...

Don't give up hope and fingers crossed we will both have good news soon!

[LuSharmLu]

Lu

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I'm not sure what the response I got 3 weeks ago was all about but something is wrong somewhere. I now don't think it is much use sending status update emails - your response was about as helpful as mine, so try not to dwell too much on it.

It drives you crazy when everyone asks on a daily basis if you've had news yet. As hard as it it, I think we just have to wait it out. Not seen my husband since end of June as we were saving money for the visa and now again in case we have to do it all again...

Don't give up hope and fingers crossed we will both have good news soon!

Yes it is very costly, let's hope we all get reunited soon.

You take care too

Lu

[Jules13]

LuSharmLu

Hi, I went online today on the TLS tracking which has now disappeared - I now have no way of tracking when the decision has been made, but we have only received the previous enquiry response that "your application is still under process".

Just wondered is yours still working or have you had any news yet?

Jules

[Ghassenjen]

LuSharmLu

Hi, I went online today on the TLS tracking which has now disappeared - I now have no way of tracking when the decision has been made, but we have only received the previous enquiry response that "your application is still under process".

Just wondered is yours still working or have you had any news yet?

Jules

I also checked and I got the same no option for tracking the visa at all so u are not alone.

Jen

[Jules13]

LuSharmLu

Hi, I went online today on the TLS tracking which has now disappeared - I now have no way of tracking when the decision has been made, but we have only received the previous enquiry response that "your application is still under process".

Just wondered is yours still working or have you had any news yet?

Jules

I also checked and I got the same no option for tracking the visa at all so u are not alone.

Jen

Thanks Jen, good to know I am not the only one. Hope they fix the problem soon!

[Jules13]

Jen - thanks for confirming. Hope they put it back soon as I am 51 working days into waiting for spouse visa, with no way of tracking.

[Ghassenjen]

Jen - thanks for confirming. Hope they put it back soon as I am 51 working days into waiting for spouse visa, with no way of tracking.

I know I'm at 52 working days for my hubby's visa, we are so close. So annoying that we are unable to track it. Like u say fingers crossed they sort it soon or they may have a few angry wife's contacting them lol

[LuSharmLu]

LuSharmLu

Hi, I went online today on the TLS tracking which has now disappeared - I now have no way of tracking when the decision has been made, but we have only received the previous enquiry response that "your application is still under process".

Just wondered is yours still working or have you had any news yet?

Jules

Hi Jules

How are you both?

I also checked on the website today and we have no option to track. I read on Facebook it was a global issue.

I'm wondering whether to email again but I didn't get s response to my second email.

Does anyone know what has happened to the TLS tracking system?

Thanks
Lu x

[Jules13]

Hi LuSharmLu

I sent an email yesterday to say that tracking online wasn't working on their website, but got the standard reply of "your application is still under process" so nice to see they took note!

I also noticed that they are saying that processing times were 100% complete 30 days for November which is obviously a lie as I know there are at least 3 of us on the same timeline (Cairo) who have still not heard at 50+ days.

I have decided the emailing is a total waste of time and responses cannot be relied on, (if you remember I was told in an email response over a month ago that our application had been processed and we would receive papers in a few days).

I'm just going to wait for the email to come to say go collect as there seems little else to do. I just hope they can manage to do that right!

Keep me posted on your news.

Jules x