EEA Family Permit for Spouse is taking too long

[EEACitizenLivingInUK]

Hi,

My wife submitted her EEA family permit application in Islamabad on 16 August. I thought of our case to be a very straight forward one and was expecting an outcome within 15 days as that is also what she was told while submitting the application.

We received a standard email on 19 Aug from Sheffield visa section that they have received our application.

We then received another standard email on 24 Aug stating:
"We aim to process non settlement applications within 15 working days ....
Unfortunately, the processing of your application has not been straightforward and we will be unable to decide your application within our customer service targets. We are continuing to work on your application and aim to make a decision as soon as possible...."

I then emailed visa enquiry service on 05 Oct (after 8 weeks) to find out what is really going on. They in their response said on the same day: "We have now escalated this case to the relevant department who will investigate your case and will be back in contact as soon as possible"

However, no one has contacted us. 9 weeks (63 days) have now passed and we are just waiting.

According to their own figures for Islamabad till last month, they used to process 75% of EEA applications within 15 days and 98% within 45 days. Numbers on their websites have suddenly changed quite dramatically in this month but they still claim to process all within 60 days. In our case it has gone even beyond that. It seems to me now that after that Brexit vote they are deliberately holding the applications simply to cause distress even though the law has not changed as yet but they may already have received unofficial instructions to come up with reasons and excuses to delay and refuse as many as they can.

Are there any other EEA family (spouse) permit applicants out there who had to wait longer than this or is it just us?

Thanks.

[noajthan]

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity (and incompetence), but don't rule out malice.

[EEACitizenLivingInUK]

Did anyone applying for spouse EEA family permit have to wait 10 weeks or over (starting from biometrics till getting back passport)?

[EEACitizenLivingInUK]

I've asked them again yesterday to tell me what do the words "escalation" and "as soon as possible" mean in their email of 5th October (that complete email sentence is present in my first post) as over 2 weeks have passed since that so called escalation and we are now in the 10 week of waiting and nothing is happening.

They have replied today saying: "With regards to your query, we can see that your enquiry has been escalated onto the relevant department who are investigating your case. However, as soon as there has been an update or any information in regards to your case you will be immediately notified."

This UK Visas and Immigration international enquiry service has proven to be completely useless. They have no authority, no real information, no progress details, no timescale, no nothing. They can't guide or advise on anything. I don't know what they are there for apart from having just a few fixed templates to send to people upon enquiry which does not help at all.

[EEACitizenLivingInUK]

10 weeks are over today. Tomorrow we'll enter into 11th.

Any suggestion?

[EEACitizenLivingInUK]

According to the citizens advice website, MP can find out reason for the delay and can help speed up the visa application. So, I decided to get his help.

MP's staff says that they have been informed by the visa office that the application is under process.

I told them that I already know it's under process for two and a half months. I wanted them to find out the reason for its being under process for this long and if they can ask the visa office to complete this never ending processing. However, MP's office has simply refused to do anything further.

[EEACitizenLivingInUK]

Hello,

It has been 80 days since our applying for the EEA Family Permit in Islamabad. So we are into the 12th week of waiting without knowing what is going on.

We sent an enquiry to the home office. They just said that it is under process and that's it.

We then asked the MP to intervene. They also just said that it is under process and that they have no further info.

Does anyone here on this forum knows what options do I have left now?

Thanks.

[noajthan]

Posts merged.
No need for multiple posts.

No options really; just sit tight and hope for best.

[EEACitizenLivingInUK]

Can they take forever?

There must be some set maximum time that they would be allowed to take before which they must send our documents back?

[EEACitizenLivingInUK]

If they don't return our documents back then do we continue to wait forever?

[noajthan]

If they don't return our documents back then do we continue to wait forever?

Obviously you get a response sooner or later. All there is to do is wait for it.

[infors]

Did you get a response in the end, or some kind of resolution? We have just received a similar e-mail after applying about 15 days ago and now are very scared. Has anyone else received this e-mail and has experience of how it goes?

[Casa]

Did you get a response in the end, or some kind of resolution? We have just received a similar e-mail after applying about 15 days ago and now are very scared. Has anyone else received this e-mail and has experience of how it goes?

I doubt that there's any cause for concern after only 15 days