Sheffield Visa Section - EEA FAMILY PERMIT

[Merzit]

Today for my husband, 90 working days waiting.
Does anyone have the same situation of Visa as me? applied on May 26. (Link picture post it)

Hi Merzit,

It's depressing to read your news because we also applied from Madrid on 1 August. It's now been nearly 45 working days so it's dreadful to think we have another 45 days to go just to reach the point you're at.

Hello Willy

Yes.. sadly I am thinking I need wait all 120 working days... It is really sad that I applied from Europe, I have to wait the same time as another person who does so from another continent. Very unfair.
I hope we get good luck.

[europehelpme]

Guys get on the case of the hiriing manager who has just listed an advertisement for 25x new case workers.

They can't keep getting paid tax payers money and be totally unaccountable to nobody - ridiculous

This sort of mismanagement is really pooor. Atleast be transparent with us.

If it is going to take 90 days pre warn people so they can then make a judgement baed on the appropriate information.

[CR001]

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.go ... de=1557121

Guys, I suggest we get in touch with the people responsible for the hiring, who are most likely also managing this whole application process, to let them know how our lives are being ruined due to their mismanagement

Guys get on the case of the hiriing manager who has just listed an advertisement for 25x new case workers.

How on earth do you think an HR person or recruitment person is going to be able to help you on your application. Like any organisation, there are departmental teams within HO and they are not necessarily cross functioning.

Your situation has been created by your own volition, perhaps start pointing the figure of some blame towards yourself for being stuck in another country, as you were clearly and repetitively advised about the option of applying within the UK once married.

[Enka2018]

Hi everyone.
Anyone on forum wating more then 120 working days?

[Willyboy]

Today for my husband, 90 working days waiting.
Does anyone have the same situation of Visa as me? applied on May 26. (Link picture post it)

Hi Merzit,

It's depressing to read your news because we also applied from Madrid on 1 August. It's now been nearly 45 working days so it's dreadful to think we have another 45 days to go just to reach the point you're at.

Hello Willy

Yes.. sadly I am thinking I need wait all 120 working days... It is really sad that I applied from Europe, I have to wait the same time as another person who does so from another continent. Very unfair.
I hope we get good luck.

It's quite unbelievable but about five minutes after writing that mail to you saying we've been waiting nearly 45 days, I received an e-mail telling us that a decision has now been reached. We don't know if it's a yes or a no yet, but will have to wait for my wife's passport to come back, which can also take a while apparently.

It seems completely and utterly unfair on people like you, who applied well before us from the same country... I really am sorry

Our timeline for anyone interested (from Madrid):

1 Aug: Applied and biometrics taken
16 Aug: Your application has been received e-mail
18 Aug: Not straightfoward e-mail

...followed by two escalations, first on working day 16 and second on working day 31

3 Oct: Decision has been reached

I vaguely remember something mentioning that hearing from the visa application centre (rather than from Sheffield directly) might be a bad thing, meaning they've refused the application. I hope that's not the case cos we heard back from TLS in Madrid :-S

[europehelpme]

Is the home office delaying processing of all visa's or just the EEA FP?

I have had a look at some other application proessing timelines on these forums and it seems the 5 year Residence Permit is taking 4 months. If this is being processed in 4 is there a reason why EEA Fp is taking so much longer? Is it per department they process and the EEA FP is just understaffed.

[TalitaZ]

Today for my husband, 90 working days waiting.
Does anyone have the same situation of Visa as me? applied on May 26. (Link picture post it)

Hi Merzit,

It's depressing to read your news because we also applied from Madrid on 1 August. It's now been nearly 45 working days so it's dreadful to think we have another 45 days to go just to reach the point you're at.

Hello Willy

Yes.. sadly I am thinking I need wait all 120 working days... It is really sad that I applied from Europe, I have to wait the same time as another person who does so from another continent. Very unfair.
I hope we get good luck.

It's quite unbelievable but about five minutes after writing that mail to you saying we've been waiting nearly 45 days, I received an e-mail telling us that a decision has now been reached. We don't know if it's a yes or a no yet, but will have to wait for my wife's passport to come back, which can also take a while apparently.

It seems completely and utterly unfair on people like you, who applied well before us from the same country... I really am sorry

Our timeline for anyone interested (from Madrid):

1 Aug: Applied and biometrics taken
16 Aug: Your application has been received e-mail
18 Aug: Not straightfoward e-mail

...followed by two escalations, first on working day 16 and second on working day 31

3 Oct: Decision has been reached

I vaguely remember something mentioning that hearing from the visa application centre (rather than from Sheffield directly) might be a bad thing, meaning they've refused the application. I hope that's not the case cos we heard back from TLS in Madrid :-S

Hi Willy,

I received the 'decision' email from TLS too and the Visa was granted, so don't worry about where the email came from We had the passport back in 2 days after that email (from Dusseldorf)

Good luck,
Talita

[CR001]

Is the home office delaying processing of all visa's or just the EEA FP

All visa routes. Some members who applied for spouse settlements visas from abroad have been waiting since January to hear the outcome. Some members who have applied abroad for Tier 2 General have also had delays, one member been waiting since April. Same goes for ILR postal applications with some members waiting up to 18 months for a decision.

[Bollox]

Hi everyone.
Anyone on forum wating more then 120 working days?

Hey

127 days still counting. Escalated twice without any response.

Cheers

Irfan Patel

[Enka2018]

Hi everyone.
Anyone on forum wating more then 120 working days?

Hey

127 days still counting. Escalated twice without any response.

Cheers

Irfan Patel

Hi Irfan it's same here more then 120 days. Last hope was 120 days but they crossed that too don't know what is their new maximum processing time

[alexns93]

It's my 83rd day since I applied for EEA family permit. I really hope I will find out soon about decision. It seems like they are only dealing with applications from July to August, and before that nothing. It's not fair but I know that one day I'll get the answer, they cannot keep our passports forever, that's for sure. My 120th day of waiting process will be on 23rd of November. I called them to ask about to escalate my case again, because I escalated my case on 6th of september and now I need to call them again this friday when will be passed 21 working day, that's new.

Good luck to everyone!

[realbrit]

Today for my husband, 90 working days waiting.
Does anyone have the same situation of Visa as me? applied on May 26. (Link picture post it)

Hi Merzit,

It's depressing to read your news because we also applied from Madrid on 1 August. It's now been nearly 45 working days so it's dreadful to think we have another 45 days to go just to reach the point you're at.

Hello Willy

Yes.. sadly I am thinking I need wait all 120 working days... It is really sad that I applied from Europe, I have to wait the same time as another person who does so from another continent. Very unfair.
I hope we get good luck.

It's quite unbelievable but about five minutes after writing that mail to you saying we've been waiting nearly 45 days, I received an e-mail telling us that a decision has now been reached. We don't know if it's a yes or a no yet, but will have to wait for my wife's passport to come back, which can also take a while apparently.

It seems completely and utterly unfair on people like you, who applied well before us from the same country... I really am sorry

Our timeline for anyone interested (from Madrid):

1 Aug: Applied and biometrics taken
16 Aug: Your application has been received e-mail
18 Aug: Not straightfoward e-mail

...followed by two escalations, first on working day 16 and second on working day 31

3 Oct: Decision has been reached

I vaguely remember something mentioning that hearing from the visa application centre (rather than from Sheffield directly) might be a bad thing, meaning they've refused the application. I hope that's not the case cos we heard back from TLS in Madrid :-S

Was that an EEA family permit?

[realbrit]

I honestly don't care what the decision is at this point. We reached the 60th working day today. We are on the 13th day of a 15 day wait to receive a reply about an 'escalation' . If they don't inform us that they have made a decision, we will be withdrawing the application. I wonder how long it will take them to put a passport in an envelope and post it...

Unbelievable...

[realbrit]

It's my 83rd day since I applied for EEA family permit. I really hope I will find out soon about decision. It seems like they are only dealing with applications from July to August, and before that nothing. It's not fair but I know that one day I'll get the answer, they cannot keep our passports forever, that's for sure. My 120th day of waiting process will be on 23rd of November. I called them to ask about to escalate my case again, because I escalated my case on 6th of september and now I need to call them again this friday when will be passed 21 working day, that's new.

Good luck to everyone!

Why are they only dealing with applications between Jul - Aug? Where did you get that information?

[nicoleprdes]

Hi nicoleprdes, my partner applied for an EEA Family Permit at the UK Visa Office in Rome on the 22nd of August and she's still waiting. We received the "non straightforward" email.

How long have you waited for your visa?

Hello Everyone,

I have been reading this thread for awhile now since I applied for my EEA FP last July 17th. Everything I have read in here are so helpful. Congratulations to everyone who received their Permit and for those who are still waiting (like me) I really really hope it all works out.

I recently got married here in Italy with my boyfriend(now husband) of 2 years last June 10th, 2017. I applied for an EEA FP because I have been offered a job in Birmingham so my husband (Italian EEA national) and I decided to move in UK since I still have my Non EEA Passport thats why I need a permit.

My Job is supposed to starts this coming August 14th, 2017. Unfortunately I still dont have my passport and permit.

I wanted to share my timeline here and ask for any suggestion and help on what I should do.

July 17th - Application Submitted/ Biometrics taken in Rome, Italy.
July 18th - I checked/tracked my application in TLSContact site that my application was received by DMC
tma__application_received_by_dmc_description %s

July 28th - Received an email from ViSAINFO.SHEFO@fco.gov.uk ( I assume thats from UKVI) that my application have been received at the UK Decision making Centre.

July 31st - I paid the Email Inquiry to check what is the status since I have a Timeline to catch due the the Job offer that I have.

August 2 - Received an answer to my paid email (very unhelpful) telling me that its still under consideration. So.. That was a bust.

August 3 - Received and email from ViSAINFO.SHEFO@fco.gov.uk that my application is not straightforward.

Im aware the it takes 15 days for the processing of the application but since I started reading this thread I have come to know that once you received the not straightforward email that it might/will take longer.

I also checked the processing time that 98% will take 15 days and 100% will take 30 days for Rome, Italy.

I dont know if I should push it by calling them or escalating or complaining or just wait. the waiting has been killing me (and everyone else who is waiting) and knowing that I might lose my job offer because of this is also killing me.

Any thoughts? Thank you so much.

Hi Fantka,

Im sorry for a late reply. I waited for 4 weeks then my EEA permit came in the mail. It should not take long but, you really just have to wait.

[hachel]

Is the home office delaying processing of all visa's or just the EEA FP

All visa routes. Some members who applied for spouse settlements visas from abroad have been waiting since January to hear the outcome. Some members who have applied abroad for Tier 2 General have also had delays, one member been waiting since April. Same goes for ILR postal applications with some members waiting up to 18 months for a decision.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41096675

[nufchavq]

Is the home office delaying processing of all visa's or just the EEA FP

All visa routes. Some members who applied for spouse settlements visas from abroad have been waiting since January to hear the outcome. Some members who have applied abroad for Tier 2 General have also had delays, one member been waiting since April. Same goes for ILR postal applications with some members waiting up to 18 months for a decision.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-41096675

Hold on, guys! We'd need to wait for 1,001 days to beat the longest-standing case, apparently
Anyway, good job BBC

[europehelpme]

My friend got her ILR in 2 weeks.

So out of interest which streams are delayed?

Are they delaying british citizenship? Tier 2 routes, teir 5?

Seems a bit illogical to try to curb immigration by delaying decision making on those coming to work when the borders are still open to all European passport holders lol -

[europehelpme]

Hi all a useful article for you all

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/immig ... sa-delays/

[europehelpme]

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.go ... de=1557121

Guys, I suggest we get in touch with the people responsible for the hiring, who are most likely also managing this whole application process, to let them know how our lives are being ruined due to their mismanagement

Guys get on the case of the hiriing manager who has just listed an advertisement for 25x new case workers.

How on earth do you think an HR person or recruitment person is going to be able to help you on your application. Like any organisation, there are departmental teams within HO and they are not necessarily cross functioning.

Your situation has been created by your own volition, perhaps start pointing the figure of some blame towards yourself for being stuck in another country, as you were clearly and repetitively advised about the option of applying within the UK once married.

CR002 - advise given at the time was that I may have my application challenged as my marriage may have been considered to be a marriage of convenience. I acknowledged this risk and was willing to take on this risk as I knew my marriage was genuine. At no point was it advised the home office is assessing ALL applications as "not straightforward" and processing ALL decisions outside of guide timeframes included on their webpage.

Why have processing timeframes if no one is processed within them? Just delete it and be upfront and stop sugar coating the real situation so people can make decisions based on FACT's not political sugar coating.

This "not straightforward" phenomenon seems to have recently been introduced to excuse mismanagement.

[Enka2018]

So just need to pray coz no maximum processing time they can say not straight forward and wait for 1001days. Every complain u do they will reply that it's under consideration and application is not straight forward but they really don't enquire anything about the application l.

[degtom]

Congratz mate!

I am so thrilled to read your thread as they started to grant the visas for the applications who applied in July 2017.

However, i applied on the 3rd of July 2017 and escalated once only but no news. Received couple of standard emails, precisely the same on this thread.

Could you give me a hint on how to make it quicker?

Thank you.

I also received the same standard replies in our escalation. To be honest, we did not do anything else different from those in this thread, we just requested escalation every 15 days, as in the emails from them, they said to give them 15 working days.
In our last escalation calls and emails, we just highlighted the fact that it was more than 10times over the estimated 100% processing time for my country (which was 5 days!). We use that statistic as a fact as it is printed officially on their Home Office website (https://www.gov.uk/visa-processing-times).

We could not find other printed facts on how fast such permits need to be issued although over here on the forum, I read they are obliged to within 30 days but I wasn't able to verify such official numbers printed on their govt websites so I only used the statistic from their HO website. We did not talk about the distress of being apart because I figured that is an emotional thing which could end up very subjective and overwrought, so we tried to remain as factual and objective in our requests as possible.

We did not yet contact our local MP but I did research for my husband (who is living there and never had to contact his MP!) on how to do it.
MP is member of parliament and each area/borough has a few representatives who may be able to contact Home Office on your behalf.
Go to this webpage and make sure you switch to UK at the top, and key in your UK postal code: https://www.theyworkforyou.com

Hope this helps!

[TalitaZ]

Congratz mate!

I am so thrilled to read your thread as they started to grant the visas for the applications who applied in July 2017.

However, i applied on the 3rd of July 2017 and escalated once only but no news. Received couple of standard emails, precisely the same on this thread.

Could you give me a hint on how to make it quicker?

Thank you.

I also received the same standard replies in our escalation. To be honest, we did not do anything else different from those in this thread, we just requested escalation every 15 days, as in the emails from them, they said to give them 15 working days.
In our last escalation calls and emails, we just highlighted the fact that it was more than 10times over the estimated 100% processing time for my country (which was 5 days!). We use that statistic as a fact as it is printed officially on their Home Office website (https://www.gov.uk/visa-processing-times).

We could not find other printed facts on how fast such permits need to be issued although over here on the forum, I read they are obliged to within 30 days but I wasn't able to verify such official numbers printed on their govt websites so I only used the statistic from their HO website. We did not talk about the distress of being apart because I figured that is an emotional thing which could end up very subjective and overwrought, so we tried to remain as factual and objective in our requests as possible.

We did not yet contact our local MP but I did research for my husband (who is living there and never had to contact his MP!) on how to do it.
MP is member of parliament and each area/borough has a few representatives who may be able to contact Home Office on your behalf.
Go to this webpage and make sure you switch to UK at the top, and key in your UK postal code: https://www.theyworkforyou.com

Hope this helps!

If you want to quote them the law - you can use this line:

UKVI is breaching EU Law as according to Directive 2004/38/EC and (3. EUN2.3 Guidance):

Priority must be given to applications for EEA family permits.
2.2.1. Entry visas
As provided in Article 5(2), Member States may require third country family members moving with or joining an EU citizen to whom the Directive applies to have an entry visa.
Such family members have not only the right to enter the territory of the Member State but also the right to obtain an entry visa. This distinguishes them from other third country nationals, who have no such right.
Third country family members should be issued as soon as possible and on the basis of an
accelerated procedure with a free of charge short-term entry visa. By analogy with Article 23 of the Visa Code19, the Commission considers that delays of more than four weeks are not reasonable.

[Willyboy]

Hi Merzit,

It's depressing to read your news because we also applied from Madrid on 1 August. It's now been nearly 45 working days so it's dreadful to think we have another 45 days to go just to reach the point you're at.

Hello Willy

Yes.. sadly I am thinking I need wait all 120 working days... It is really sad that I applied from Europe, I have to wait the same time as another person who does so from another continent. Very unfair.
I hope we get good luck.

It's quite unbelievable but about five minutes after writing that mail to you saying we've been waiting nearly 45 days, I received an e-mail telling us that a decision has now been reached. We don't know if it's a yes or a no yet, but will have to wait for my wife's passport to come back, which can also take a while apparently.

It seems completely and utterly unfair on people like you, who applied well before us from the same country... I really am sorry

Our timeline for anyone interested (from Madrid):

1 Aug: Applied and biometrics taken
16 Aug: Your application has been received e-mail
18 Aug: Not straightfoward e-mail

...followed by two escalations, first on working day 16 and second on working day 31

3 Oct: Decision has been reached

I vaguely remember something mentioning that hearing from the visa application centre (rather than from Sheffield directly) might be a bad thing, meaning they've refused the application. I hope that's not the case cos we heard back from TLS in Madrid :-S

Was that an EEA family permit?

It was, yes. Apart from escalating twice, we also contacted our MP, who wrote to UVKI, though apparently without any reply. I'm not sure if his calling helped things along...

[europehelpme]

Congratz mate!

I am so thrilled to read your thread as they started to grant the visas for the applications who applied in July 2017.

However, i applied on the 3rd of July 2017 and escalated once only but no news. Received couple of standard emails, precisely the same on this thread.

Could you give me a hint on how to make it quicker?

Thank you.

I also received the same standard replies in our escalation. To be honest, we did not do anything else different from those in this thread, we just requested escalation every 15 days, as in the emails from them, they said to give them 15 working days.
In our last escalation calls and emails, we just highlighted the fact that it was more than 10times over the estimated 100% processing time for my country (which was 5 days!). We use that statistic as a fact as it is printed officially on their Home Office website (https://www.gov.uk/visa-processing-times).

We could not find other printed facts on how fast such permits need to be issued although over here on the forum, I read they are obliged to within 30 days but I wasn't able to verify such official numbers printed on their govt websites so I only used the statistic from their HO website. We did not talk about the distress of being apart because I figured that is an emotional thing which could end up very subjective and overwrought, so we tried to remain as factual and objective in our requests as possible.

We did not yet contact our local MP but I did research for my husband (who is living there and never had to contact his MP!) on how to do it.
MP is member of parliament and each area/borough has a few representatives who may be able to contact Home Office on your behalf.
Go to this webpage and make sure you switch to UK at the top, and key in your UK postal code: https://www.theyworkforyou.com

Hope this helps!

Congratulations. I bet the time apart makes the reunion feel even sweeter!

Where they responding once the 15 day escalation period lapsed or where they quiet? Did they respond once you re-escalated? Or was it all radio silence? I plan to escalate again on working day 20 but I am hoping I would have received an update within that period. Or am I just dreaming?