My UKVCAS appointment: this is what happened

[johnhkg]

Hi everyone,

Today I attended the Croydon Core Centre for a 2pm appointment as an applicant for British Citizenship.

All documents had been uploaded by me the week before. Last Friday I received an email from UKVCAS confirming that the documents were all correctly uploaded.

I arrived at 1.30pm and was told by security that doors would open at 1.50pm. Walked around and returned at 1.45pm to find a queue of about 20 people (not all applicants, but mostly it seemed). By the time the doors opened at 1.50pm about 50 people were waiting. No shelter from the rain if it’s raining. My mistake, should have stayed and been first in line.

It seems that they work on three-hour sessions with all applicants being given the same time slot, i.e. 2pm or 5pm.

The check in process and security at entrance hall is painfully slow. My spouse was with me and we were both allowed entry. Don’t forget your UKVCAS appointment confirmation, the email attachment that has the giant QR code. You can’t get in without it.

It took 25 minutes to get inside and get a queue number. Then 20 minutes in waiting area before being called forward to a booth to enter biometric data. It’s a DIY process. First booth did not work because verbal instructions were vague. Took 10 minutes to complete process. Back to waiting area and await being called forward to have documents checked.

A bit of confusion arose when all applicants waiting on 1st floor were asked to join the queue on ground floor, but the wait wasn’t so long, by 3.10pm I was called forward to have documents checked. Firstly they scanned the appointment confirmation and then bio page and all used pages of my passport. All other documents were then confirmed to have been correctly uploaded and were not asked for. HOWEVER, I was then asked for proof of address. Fortunately I had something with me (driving licence). I pointed out that this is not asked for in any of the previous UKVI or UKVCAS correspondence. The reply was that “it’s not mandatory.”

I was all finished and walking out of the door at 3.30pm. The waiting room was FULL.

I will continue to post details of my application's progress.

Best of luck everyone.

JohnHKG

[seansilva]

Thanks Johnhkg, Its quite important to share this experience with others. I thought the same and posted my experience with some tips. Unfortunately Admins move it out to one of my other older posts. Anyway I will repost my UKVCAS experience here,
@Admins - if you want to delete this, please go ahead do it to my other post.

I went to UKVCAS London premium lounge yesterday to submit my naturalisation documents and happy to share some insight of the experience. Upon arrival, the reception requested the booking confirmation document (the document you receive after scheduling the appointment and pay online on Sopra Steria UKVCAS website)

Tip 1: Don’t forget to print and take the confirmation document. Make sure, that you print the document using best resolution possible as during the appointment they need to scan the document. However, I still don’t understand why can’t they scan the QR code from your phone.

In addition to that, they asked whether you have already uploaded the documents to the website. Due to the number appointments and printer/scanner hardware incidents they usually run behind the schedule. It was 1.5 hrs waiting time for me.

Tip 2: Scan and upload the necessary documents before the appointment.

Yes, I know when you spend £200 extra, you expect them to scan and upload documents. But this only adds extra waiting time to your appointment and they may skip some important extra documents in a rush. For example, say you wanted to upload a scanned copy of previous passport or receipt of payment for an FPN, Sopra Steria will not see the need, as it is not mentioned in the document checklist. However, HO may have a different point of view.
Check list doesn’t ask for English language requirement anywhere, but it doesn’t mean you are exempt from the requirement.
In my case, I did upload the documents in pdf format use 300 dpi settings in scanner. Try to upload the documents into relevant section, it will be easier to find the documents.

The bottom line is this process may take some time to mature, Sopra Steria is still not in a position to serve complete HO application volumes.

[johnhkg]

Tip 1: Don’t forget to print and take the confirmation document. Make sure, that you print the document using best resolution possible as during the appointment they need to scan the document. However, I still don’t understand why can’t they scan the QR code from your phone.

When we did the checking in at reception and then again at the document checking stage they require the printed out version of the appointment confirmation so that they can scan the QR code. It may prove inconvenient for them to use your mobile phone screen to do this. As Sean says, please take a good quality print out with you.

[thesiupao]

Hi John,

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I am assuming you paid £35 for the Document Checking Service.

You said that 'All documents had been uploaded by me the week before. Last Friday I received an email from UKVCAS confirming that the documents were all correctly uploaded.'. I assume that 'correctly uploaded' means that they only confirm receipt of the correct documents, and it is not a confirmation that the quality of the documents are OK as well? I have assumed this because you say that during your appointment 'All other documents were then confirmed to have been correctly uploaded and were not asked for.', or is it just a double check of the documents (but then this undermines the Document Checking Service itself in the first place)?

Apologies for the interrogating post, I am about to book my appointment at the Croydon Core Centre as well and am trying to figure out if the Document Checking Service is really necessary?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Daniel

[johnhkg]

Hi John,

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I am assuming you paid £35 for the Document Checking Service.

You said that 'All documents had been uploaded by me the week before. Last Friday I received an email from UKVCAS confirming that the documents were all correctly uploaded.'. I assume that 'correctly uploaded' means that they only confirm receipt of the correct documents, and it is not a confirmation that the quality of the documents are OK as well? I have assumed this because you say that during your appointment 'All other documents were then confirmed to have been correctly uploaded and were not asked for.', or is it just a double check of the documents (but then this undermines the Document Checking Service itself in the first place)?

Apologies for the interrogating post, I am about to book my appointment at the Croydon Core Centre as well and am trying to figure out if the Document Checking Service is really necessary?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Daniel

Yes, I paid the £35 for document checking.

As far as I can understand things, UKVCAS will know what your document checklist consists of. Of course, it's possible that you will want to upload something extra like a letter of explanation? Their role is to ensure that all required documents are present and of good enough quality to read. Here's an extract from their email to me:-

Thank you for uploading your supporting evidence to the UK Visas and Citizenship Application Service website. We have now completed the following checks of the files that were available as of 14/12/18 :

· Checked for the presence of all mandatory documents

· Checked that all documents are legible

· Checked that all documents been uploaded to the correct category

· Checked for any obvious missing pages

· Checked that all uploaded documents are in either English or Welsh language, or have an accompanying English or Welsh translation.


Hope that helps.

[thesiupao]

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply, it was certainly helpful. It does seem as though they check the quality which is good news.

As part of my application, I need to provide a copy of my mum's old passports as it demonstrates my residency in the UK as a child (I am doing Form T). You mentioned that they still scanned all the used pages of your passport during the appointment. Is this because it was not part of the scanned documents which you had checked prior to the appointment?, or is it because passports need a different type of scanner?

My concern is that they will need to scan my mum's old passports during the appointment, which are currently in Malaysia!

Thanks again!

[johnhkg]

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply, it was certainly helpful. It does seem as though they check the quality which is good news.

As part of my application, I need to provide a copy of my mum's old passports as it demonstrates my residency in the UK as a child (I am doing Form T). You mentioned that they still scanned all the used pages of your passport during the appointment. Is this because it was not part of the scanned documents which you had checked prior to the appointment?, or is it because passports need a different type of scanner?

My concern is that they will need to scan my mum's old passports during the appointment, which are currently in Malaysia!

Thanks again!

You should be OK. They only checked and scanned the applicant's passport and they used a specific passport scanner which I presume was able to read the embedded code (or whatever that may be called). It looks like those you see at automated passport control lanes at UK airports. I didn't see what or how many pages they scanned of that passport. My spouse's passport is also part of the required documents, but this was not scanned again by UKVCAS. They have another scanner available for A4 documents.

[thesiupao]

Thanks for all the info, you've helped me out tremendously!

Fingers crossed for our applications!

[Nerazzuri]

Thanks Johnhkg, Its quite important to share this experience with others. I thought the same and posted my experience with some tips. Unfortunately Admins move it out to one of my other older posts. Anyway I will repost my UKVCAS experience here,
@Admins - if you want to delete this, please go ahead do it to my other post.

I went to UKVCAS London premium lounge yesterday to submit my naturalisation documents and happy to share some insight of the experience. Upon arrival, the reception requested the booking confirmation document (the document you receive after scheduling the appointment and pay online on Sopra Steria UKVCAS website)

Tip 1: Don’t forget to print and take the confirmation document. Make sure, that you print the document using best resolution possible as during the appointment they need to scan the document. However, I still don’t understand why can’t they scan the QR code from your phone.

In addition to that, they asked whether you have already uploaded the documents to the website. Due to the number appointments and printer/scanner hardware incidents they usually run behind the schedule. It was 1.5 hrs waiting time for me.

Tip 2: Scan and upload the necessary documents before the appointment.

Yes, I know when you spend £200 extra, you expect them to scan and upload documents. But this only adds extra waiting time to your appointment and they may skip some important extra documents in a rush. For example, say you wanted to upload a scanned copy of previous passport or receipt of payment for an FPN, Sopra Steria will not see the need, as it is not mentioned in the document checklist. However, HO may have a different point of view.
Check list doesn’t ask for English language requirement anywhere, but it doesn’t mean you are exempt from the requirement.
In my case, I did upload the documents in pdf format use 300 dpi settings in scanner. Try to upload the documents into relevant section, it will be easier to find the documents.

The bottom line is this process may take some time to mature, Sopra Steria is still not in a position to serve complete HO application volumes.

I think there’s still a lot of inconsistency in service from centre to centre.

I didn’t take a printed copy of the appointment with me, and I arrived 3 hours early, not long after they opened, but they scanned it off my phone, and allowed me to do it 3 hours early. It’s worth mentioning that this was a premium weekend appointment, and it was quiet at that centre at that time, so there wasn’t a queue. There was a slight delay because a cleaner had used a cloth on the biometric reader and corrupted it, so they had to swipe the glass on the readers out.

[Fargo]

Hi everyone,

Today I attended the Croydon Core Centre for a 2pm appointment as an applicant for British Citizenship.

All documents had been uploaded by me the week before. Last Friday I received an email from UKVCAS confirming that the documents were all correctly uploaded.

I arrived at 1.30pm and was told by security that doors would open at 1.50pm. Walked around and returned at 1.45pm to find a queue of about 20 people (not all applicants, but mostly it seemed). By the time the doors opened at 1.50pm about 50 people were waiting. No shelter from the rain if it’s raining. My mistake, should have stayed and been first in line.

It seems that they work on three-hour sessions with all applicants being given the same time slot, i.e. 2pm or 5pm.

The check in process and security at entrance hall is painfully slow. My spouse was with me and we were both allowed entry. Don’t forget your UKVCAS appointment confirmation, the email attachment that has the giant QR code. You can’t get in without it.

It took 25 minutes to get inside and get a queue number. Then 20 minutes in waiting area before being called forward to a booth to enter biometric data. It’s a DIY process. First booth did not work because verbal instructions were vague. Took 10 minutes to complete process. Back to waiting area and await being called forward to have documents checked.

A bit of confusion arose when all applicants waiting on 1st floor were asked to join the queue on ground floor, but the wait wasn’t so long, by 3.10pm I was called forward to have documents checked. Firstly they scanned the appointment confirmation and then bio page and all used pages of my passport. All other documents were then confirmed to have been correctly uploaded and were not asked for. HOWEVER, I was then asked for proof of address. Fortunately I had something with me (driving licence). I pointed out that this is not asked for in any of the previous UKVI or UKVCAS correspondence. The reply was that “it’s not mandatory.”

I was all finished and walking out of the door at 3.30pm. The waiting room was FULL.

I will continue to post details of my application's progress.

Best of luck everyone.

JohnHKG

"thank u for this information"

[Era]

Tip 1: Don’t forget to print and take the confirmation document. Make sure, that you print the document using best resolution possible as during the appointment they need to scan the document. However, I still don’t understand why can’t they scan the QR code from your phone.

Hi . Can you pleas say me why the UKVCAS don't send me the 6 digit code to booking pleas tbey send we will wend by email but they didnt. Thanks

When we did the checking in at reception and then again at the document checking stage they require the printed out version of the appointment confirmation so that they can scan the QR code. It may prove inconvenient for them to use your mobile phone screen to do this. As Sean says, please take a good quality print out with you.

[lindx]

Hi johnhkg! Thanks for sharing! May I ask what happened after you attended the appointment?

We are applying a dependent visa for our newborn baby. We went to our appointment on Jan 15th and they told us things were all done and there would be 6-8 weeks before there is a decision. However, after so many days I haven't received any kind of feedback or confirmation saying the application is received or being processed. On the .gov.uk application website, the status is "further actions- book appointment"; on the UKVCAS website, I seem to be able to "manage service" and "upload documents", the same as before we went to the appointment... I could see more documents uploaded to the system though (added by the staff at the UKVCAS centre apparently).

Does this sound normal to you? Besides, what is this "email from UKVCAS confirming that the documents were all correctly uploaded"? I don't think I ever received something like this.

Many thanks!

[johnhkg]

Hi johnhkg! Thanks for sharing! May I ask what happened after you attended the appointment?

We are applying a dependent visa for our newborn baby. We went to our appointment on Jan 15th and they told us things were all done and there would be 6-8 weeks before there is a decision. However, after so many days I haven't received any kind of feedback or confirmation saying the application is received or being processed. On the .gov.uk application website, the status is "further actions- book appointment"; on the UKVCAS website, I seem to be able to "manage service" and "upload documents", the same as before we went to the appointment... I could see more documents uploaded to the system though (added by the staff at the UKVCAS centre apparently).

Does this sound normal to you? Besides, what is this "email from UKVCAS confirming that the documents were all correctly uploaded"? I don't think I ever received something like this.

Many thanks!

Hi lindx,

yes, your experience is the same as mine and many others. The UKVCAS site still seems to be "live" but there is no need to worry. They have a poor system of communication and do not notify anyone about what they have done. Just be patient, some applicants from December already have been approved.

The email about "confirming that the documents were all correctly uploaded" was received by me because I paid the optional £35 to have my documents checked by UKVCAS. They do this check before the appointment and send an email to notify you if all is OK or if anything needs to be corrected.

[lindx]

That is so helpful! Thank you so much!