**** COVID19 and UKVCAS Appointments **** (ONLY discuss here)

[typhoon476]

This morning I was going through LinkedIn account of UKVCAS’s managing director. In his bio he describes himself as “obsessively focusing on customers problems”
It makes me really laugh at their incompetence to not even see that they’re disastrous company entrusted to resolve immigration problems.

His customer is UKVI not us. He cares about them and the board members. We are nothing to him. Simple as that.

Exactly. I wonder if all this is incompetence or there is another ulterior motive around it. Is anyone in UKVI getting kickbacks from this cosy deal with Sopra Steria? It all smells really fishy. I hope some journalist can investigate this. Are there any whistleblowers out there?

[Beril]

Hello Everyone,

I’d like to say hello as a new person here. I found this website so useful and helpful especially when these uncertain times, it is good to have different comments/opinions to have a better view.
I’ve submitted my registration form on July 5th and got an email from the UKSCAS about eligibility to use the IDV App on Aug 5th and decided to Opt In. I just didn’t wanted to be pushed at the end of the queue while we all don’t know which way will be the fastest..

As you may be aware, They published a new information on the UKSCAS appointment website on 8th Aug, says that “ At the current time, we are continuing to only open the booking system to existing registered customers in date order, working from the earliest to the latest date we received applications. If you are not on the date list, are eligible for biometric reuse or are a new customer, you will not be yet able to see or book available appointments on our website.” It looks like I will be waiting in both ways and thought that would be better to stick with app. Especially if the second wave of Covid comes back, waiting an appointment date would be unbearable.

I’ll keep update you all if I hear anything else about the readiness of the IDV app.
Thanks,

[Quickresponse]

I applied on 12th of April.

4th of July email received for reuse biomentric.

I was double minded to opt out or not. I waited so long till now so why not wait for this app. This process have taught me how to be super patient ha !

This reuse of biomentric better work as mentioned or else this is going to make me so mad.

Fingers crossed.

How much for core and enhance appointments ?

[Enrique1]

Hi Cullinan,

I have been following the posts and very thankful with your and everyone's positive! replies and information you supply. I think it is wortless. I have an enquiry regarding one of your previous comments on travel while awaiting the ILR decision for my application.
I received biometric reuse email and now need to travel abroad. My Tier2 visa expires in 2022. So question is can I travel in the meantime as there are different views on this and my call to CIH help line confused me as the guy was like not motivated giving answers but said I can travel and they will not be asking any original copy of the submitted documents at all, so no risk of not being able to do this in case would be requested while I am away. Any info from anyone welcome.
Thank you

[typhoon476]

Hi Cullinan,

I have been following the posts and very thankful with your and everyone's positive! replies and information you supply. I think it is wortless. I have an enquiry regarding one of your previous comments on travel while awaiting the ILR decision for my application.
I received biometric reuse email and now need to travel abroad. My Tier2 visa expires in 2022. So question is can I travel in the meantime as there are different views on this and my call to CIH help line confused me as the guy was like not motivated giving answers but said I can travel and they will not be asking any original copy of the submitted documents at all, so no risk of not being able to do this in case would be requested while I am away. Any info from anyone welcome.
Thank you

If you travel abroad while your ILR application has not been decided, it might be considered as withdrawn and you will not get a decision. Check out article 34K:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... ementleave

"""
34K. Where proof of identity provided under paragraph 34(5) has been returned to the applicant pending a decision on their application for leave to remain and the applicant travels outside the common travel area their application for leave to remain shall, provided that it has not been determined, be treated as withdrawn on the date that the applicant left the common travel area.
"""

[CULLINAN]

Hi Cullinan,

So question is can I travel in the meantime as there are different views on this

Hello, no you can NOT travel. You most probably would have read my comments in the British Citizenship (BC) forum. Note, ILR falls under the immigration rules and British Citizenship falls under the Nationality Law.

If you have applied for ILR or any immigration application, you can NOT travel even if you have the originals. The previous user rightly pointed it out. If you do, your application will be considered withdrawn.

Anyone who ALREADY has ILR and has applied for BC, has no restrictions to travel.

Hope it is clear now.

[Amy_R88]

hi, is there anyone that has received an email to book appointment after opting out IDV app.

[stonelove]

No I guess we all waiting on this so called email to book an appointment, may be one day it will arrive so the wait goes on

[Thomas_84]

My honest thought is that they will open up booking today. The reason for them saying to expect the email this week is that for some reason their mail servers seem to be very slow and appears to send out emails over several days.
I also think that if it was not today, 5pm seems to be an odd deadline if they didn’t want to send out mails today. They could have just said before 11:59pm Monday or something to that effect.

Thought I’d add my own conjectures

Will their email contain a special link to book appointments? All they have to do I assume is inform the people who Opted out that their accounts have been enabled to book appointments now...

I opted out of that IDV app & I am still waiting for their email. Even wasted more than 100 £ calling them since no one is picking the phone. Let's hope this agony will end this week at least.

Regards,
A depressed immigrant

[Thomas_84]

No I guess we all waiting on this so called email to book an appointment, may be one day it will arrive so the wait goes on

Hope that email comes this week itself before Friday at least.

[atao]

Imgaine the parent (SopraSteria) is offering IT solutions to its clients... IT and solutions... the shortest funniest joke ever

[iamawonder]

Imgaine the parent (SopraSteria) is offering IT solutions to its clients... IT and solutions... the shortest funniest joke ever

Although a lot of people like me are waiting for the much anticipated IDV app, but not really sure what's really the purpose of this IDV app? if they are re-using the fingerprints, why can't they reuse the facial image? Fingerprint reuse is anyway for those who recently provided a fingerprint for another application (in last 2-3 years). So, how much is the face really going to change in this period? If at all, they need a fresh image, it can very well be submitted as a scanned copy of UK standard passport picture. They could even publish standards for the scanned image or appoint photo studios to scan a standardized passport picture.
The purpose of the app to speed up the process. On the contrary, it is just delaying things!
I guess UK government and 'Apps' are not meant for each other...Remember the contract tracing app nonsense and finally dropping the whole thing!!!
This is extremely frustrating to say the least!

[Aerotony]

Just called the UKVCAS. They said 1) the Home Office randomly picked people to join the ‘biometric reuse’ group, and 2) currently there are more than 15000 applicants waiting for the appointment or IDV app 3) there’s no ETA for the appointment booking email for the applicants choose to opt out.

[Aerotony]

Imgaine the parent (SopraSteria) is offering IT solutions to its clients... IT and solutions... the shortest funniest joke ever

Although a lot of people like me are waiting for the much anticipated IDV app, but not really sure what's really the purpose of this IDV app? if they are re-using the fingerprints, why can't they reuse the facial image? Fingerprint reuse is anyway for those who recently provided a fingerprint for another application (in last 2-3 years). So, how much is the face really going to change in this period? If at all, they need a fresh image, it can very well be submitted as a scanned copy of UK standard passport picture. They could even publish standards for the scanned image or appoint photo studios to scan a standardized passport picture.
The purpose of the app to speed up the process. On the contrary, it is just delaying things!
I guess UK government and 'Apps' are not meant for each other...Remember the contract tracing app nonsense and finally dropping the whole thing!!!
This is extremely frustrating to say the least!

The app will ask you to nod or blink during the verification process, or they’ll shine strong blue/red/white light on the screen and analyze the shadow on your face, to make sure they’re taking a photo of a real person instead of a photo.

[Ptnbbr]

Just called the UKVCAS. They said 1) the Home Office randomly picked people to join the ‘biometric reuse’ group, and 2) currently there are more than 15000 applicants waiting for the appointment or IDV app 3) there’s no ETA for the appointment booking email for the applicants choose to opt out.

they clearly stated that emails will be sent this week, and the fact that 15000 waiting in general - this is clearly their own doing: processing June and July people before March, April and May and artificially creating this disaster

[iamawonder]

Imgaine the parent (SopraSteria) is offering IT solutions to its clients... IT and solutions... the shortest funniest joke ever

Although a lot of people like me are waiting for the much anticipated IDV app, but not really sure what's really the purpose of this IDV app? if they are re-using the fingerprints, why can't they reuse the facial image? Fingerprint reuse is anyway for those who recently provided a fingerprint for another application (in last 2-3 years). So, how much is the face really going to change in this period? If at all, they need a fresh image, it can very well be submitted as a scanned copy of UK standard passport picture. They could even publish standards for the scanned image or appoint photo studios to scan a standardized passport picture.
The purpose of the app to speed up the process. On the contrary, it is just delaying things!
I guess UK government and 'Apps' are not meant for each other...Remember the contract tracing app nonsense and finally dropping the whole thing!!!
This is extremely frustrating to say the least!

The app will ask you to nod or blink during the verification process, or they’ll shine strong blue/red/white light on the screen and analyze the shadow on your face, to make sure they’re taking a photo of a real person instead of a photo.

But how's that different from sending a standardized scanned copy through the registered email address which the officer can just match with the last image they have on record before approving the application? Why take such a long route?

[tbp]

If they didn't close down for whole 2 months, this wouldn't happen. I can understand the immediate closure right after lockdown, but stopping an essential service for whole 2 months while doing nothing was a disaster.

Supermarkets implemented the changes super quick, protecting shoppers and their employees. In Aldi where I live, they installed the protective screens in a week for instance. Morrisons installed safe systems within weeks in the middle of pandemic. They were productive and carried on improving the queueing systems. And supermarkets didn't have appointment systems. They welcomed thousands of people a day. And these businesses have hundreds and hundreds of stores across the country.

But UKVCAS with only handful of offices, a service which accepts people by appointment only, couldn't sort out the problems for almost 5 months now. Clearly Sopra Steria is not fit for purpose.

Just called the UKVCAS. They said 1) the Home Office randomly picked people to join the ‘biometric reuse’ group, and 2) currently there are more than 15000 applicants waiting for the appointment or IDV app 3) there’s no ETA for the appointment booking email for the applicants choose to opt out.

[Aerotony]

Imgaine the parent (SopraSteria) is offering IT solutions to its clients... IT and solutions... the shortest funniest joke ever

Although a lot of people like me are waiting for the much anticipated IDV app, but not really sure what's really the purpose of this IDV app? if they are re-using the fingerprints, why can't they reuse the facial image? Fingerprint reuse is anyway for those who recently provided a fingerprint for another application (in last 2-3 years). So, how much is the face really going to change in this period? If at all, they need a fresh image, it can very well be submitted as a scanned copy of UK standard passport picture. They could even publish standards for the scanned image or appoint photo studios to scan a standardized passport picture.
The purpose of the app to speed up the process. On the contrary, it is just delaying things!
I guess UK government and 'Apps' are not meant for each other...Remember the contract tracing app nonsense and finally dropping the whole thing!!!
This is extremely frustrating to say the least!

The app will ask you to nod or blink during the verification process, or they’ll shine strong blue/red/white light on the screen and analyze the shadow on your face, to make sure they’re taking a photo of a real person instead of a photo.

But how's that different from sending a standardized scanned copy through the registered email address which the officer can just match with the last image they have on record before approving the application? Why take such a long route?

I totally agree with you. British citizens can renew their passport by submitting a picture to their automatic verification system, but we have to attend an appointment to get our photo taken. This doesn’t make sense. Also the Home Office has already got an app for EU citizens to do the same thing, why don’t they just modify the app?

[Ptnbbr]

If they didn't close down for whole 2 months, this wouldn't happen. I can understand the immediate closure right after lockdown, but stopping an essential service for whole 2 months while doing nothing was a disaster.

Supermarkets implemented the changes super quick, protecting shoppers and their employees. In Aldi where I live, they installed the protective screens in a week for instance. Morrisons installed safe systems within weeks in the middle of pandemic. They were productive and carried on improving the queueing systems. And supermarkets didn't have appointment systems. They welcomed thousands of people a day. And these businesses have hundreds and hundreds of stores across the country.

But UKVCAS with only handful of offices, a service which accepts people by appointment only, couldn't sort out the problems for almost 5 months now. Clearly Sopra Steria is not fit for purpose.

Just called the UKVCAS. They said 1) the Home Office randomly picked people to join the ‘biometric reuse’ group, and 2) currently there are more than 15000 applicants waiting for the appointment or IDV app 3) there’s no ETA for the appointment booking email for the applicants choose to opt out.

sounds reasonable, but we are where we are, I am at risk of loosing job, and I do not understand anything at this stage...total mess and disappointment

[iamawonder]

If they didn't close down for whole 2 months, this wouldn't happen. I can understand the immediate closure right after lockdown, but stopping an essential service for whole 2 months while doing nothing was a disaster.

Supermarkets implemented the changes super quick, protecting shoppers and their employees. In Aldi where I live, they installed the protective screens in a week for instance. Morrisons installed safe systems within weeks in the middle of pandemic. They were productive and carried on improving the queueing systems. And supermarkets didn't have appointment systems. They welcomed thousands of people a day. And these businesses have hundreds and hundreds of stores across the country.

But UKVCAS with only handful of offices, a service which accepts people by appointment only, couldn't sort out the problems for almost 5 months now. Clearly Sopra Steria is not fit for purpose.

Just called the UKVCAS. They said 1) the Home Office randomly picked people to join the ‘biometric reuse’ group, and 2) currently there are more than 15000 applicants waiting for the appointment or IDV app 3) there’s no ETA for the appointment booking email for the applicants choose to opt out.

We are just some helpless immigrants!! How much ever we help the UK economy run and flourish, we would still be treated with no dignity and respect! Our inconvenience is least of Home Office's concern!

[Barry465]

If they didn't close down for whole 2 months, this wouldn't happen. I can understand the immediate closure right after lockdown, but stopping an essential service for whole 2 months while doing nothing was a disaster.

Supermarkets implemented the changes super quick, protecting shoppers and their employees. In Aldi where I live, they installed the protective screens in a week for instance. Morrisons installed safe systems within weeks in the middle of pandemic. They were productive and carried on improving the queueing systems. And supermarkets didn't have appointment systems. They welcomed thousands of people a day. And these businesses have hundreds and hundreds of stores across the country.

But UKVCAS with only handful of offices, a service which accepts people by appointment only, couldn't sort out the problems for almost 5 months now. Clearly Sopra Steria is not fit for purpose.

Just called the UKVCAS. They said 1) the Home Office randomly picked people to join the ‘biometric reuse’ group, and 2) currently there are more than 15000 applicants waiting for the appointment or IDV app 3) there’s no ETA for the appointment booking email for the applicants choose to opt out.

For me this is the biggest travesty and the biggest sign of incompetence. They should have cut off the applications, yet they continued to allow people to pay - whilst not really doing anything. Aka they were happy to accept peoples money. If they wanted to take months to get the social distancing stuff in order, fine, but then the income stream should have been cut off.

To be honest, the biggest mistake that people made was continuing to apply over lockdown. As it ensured that the urgency wasn't there.

[Parisiana]

Just called the UKVCAS. They said 1) the Home Office randomly picked people to join the ‘biometric reuse’ group, and 2) currently there are more than 15000 applicants waiting for the appointment or IDV app 3) there’s no ETA for the appointment booking email for the applicants choose to opt out.

What do you mean by there is no ETA for opt out emails? They said emails will be sent during week of 10 August 2020. I hope they meant no ETA during the week of 10 August 2020, which means they have until Sunday to send these emails out...

[AnILRApplicant]

I'm sorry but this backlog is artificial.

UKVCAS needed to have on the 22nd of June (when they reverted to paid appointments again) done the following.

1. Opened up the booking system for 4 months rather than the current 1 month system.
2. They should have given people from 27 March to 30 April 1 week for priority access to book an appt.
3. Then invited people from May to book as well the following week
4. Then people from June the week after.
5. Then finally open the system up for everyone else.

This is what they were trying to achieve - put people who applied earlier first - and they could have done so. They didnt need to do anything else.

This would have probably meant up to 2 months to get an appt but people wouldnt have lived in uncertainty. They had a lot of unused slots in the current system - that wouldn't have happened. They would never have had to create an app that will only fully go live in November 2020

[Goldfinger1]

I'm sorry but this backlog is artificial.

UKVCAS needed to have on the 22nd of June (when they reverted to paid appointments again) done the following.

1. Opened up the booking system for 4 months rather than the current 1 month system.
2. They should have given people from 27 March to 30 April 1 week for priority access to book an appt.
3. Then invited people from May to book as well the following week
4. Then people from June the week after.
5. Then finally open the system up for everyone else.

This is what they were trying to achieve - put people who applied earlier first - and they could have done so. They didnt need to do anything else.

This would have probably meant up to 2 months to get an appt but people wouldnt have lived in uncertainty. They had a lot of unused slots in the current system - that wouldn't have happened. They would never have had to create an app that will only fully go live in November 2020

That's true

[Shaaz2029]

It’s all money making exercise.