Timelines - settlement visas / Pretoria hub

[meroian]

Fellow applicants,

I decided to subscribe to this blog to help relieve the unrelenting side effects of my settlement visa application.

I submitted my application, gave bio-metrics, and paid the requisite fee in the UK embassy in Khartoum on 19 March 2017. It is the 3rd of March today and I heard nothing. I never even received the infamous email confirming that my application was received by the UKVI in Pretoria. Thankfully, however, I managed to seek and receive confirmation from a (ultra) highly influential senior official that my application was "being handled". That was 5 days ago. Until today, nothing.

It would bring me exceptional comfort if anyone would tell me:

(i) how long on average do non-premium applicants (whose applications get processed in Pretoria) take?

(2) Is March-May period considered busy?

(3) how long does it take an entry clearance officer to deal with a single application?

(4) how busy exactly are entry clearance officers? how may applications at a time are we talking?

(5) anyone with experience applying from Khartoum?

(6) I want to know how the "influencial" person (who is not residing in Pretoria) manage to get me confirmation on the status of my application over the weekend? is there a central database for high calibre people? Note that I had contacted the UKVI through the enquiry form a week before and they responded by saying "oh, we tracked your application but we see no updates, are you sure you have us the right application number?" #panic #confused.

Please share your experiences/views/ideas. Keep me company.

Meroian #fingerscrossed