Still waiting for a decision.....

[Ace87]

Hi all
Just post some updates.
After long 19weeks we decided to email HO for the first time. We got reply yesterday (Sunday).
It said

Dear ________
Thank you for contacting UK Visas and Immigration International Contact Centre.
With regards to your enquiry about the status of your application, I can confirm that your application is being considered and is currently awaiting a decision.

I know it's an generic reply but hoping to get the approve decision .

Got the same, been waiting for 2 months since

My God,
I hope will take that long. I know lots here been waiting longer than me and I know what it's feels like.

Wish you all get APPROVED result soon.
So am I

[Ace87]

Hi all
Just post some updates.
After long 19weeks we decided to email HO for the first time. We got reply yesterday (Sunday).
It said

Dear ________
Thank you for contacting UK Visas and Immigration International Contact Centre.
With regards to your enquiry about the status of your application, I can confirm that your application is being considered and is currently awaiting a decision.

I know it's an generic reply but hoping to get the approve decision .

Got the same, been waiting for 2 months since

My God,
I hope will take that long. I know lots here been waiting longer than me and I know what it's feels like.

Wish you all get APPROVED result soon.
So am I

Oopss
I mean I hope will NOT take that long..
Sorry.

[samkahn]

Hi everyone,

I got this email yesterday:

"Thank you for applying for a UK visa. Your visa application remains under consideration.

We have previously communicated our customer service target for settlement applications as 60 working days. Unfortunately, we will be unable to decide your application within our customer service target. We apologise for any inconvenience that this might cause.

We are continuing to work on your application and aim to make a decision as soon as possible over the coming days.

We will write to you again if there is any change to this. Please do not attend the Visa Application Centre until you have been advised that your application has been decided and that your passport is ready for collection."

Does this mean we'll get a decision in a few days as mentioned or is this another generic email template they send?

Any advice would be helpful.

Thank you

HI
we got similer email on saturday 7 pm after escalation on 1st september , i think they just changed standard template ,

We also got the same email over the weekend. Does this mean we are getting a decision within the next few days, or that we have to wait another 60 days? (It's been over 120 days, since we applied).

[givezemra]

I am going to meet my wife in Pak, I have not seen her for 7 months. Do you think it is ok to go if my case is still under consideration? By the way it has been over the 6 months of their standard time

I don't think it matters. I went to see my husband for the bank holiday weekend as I hadn't seen him since April. If anything it will prove your relationship is genuine (if there is any doubt).

It's awful having to wait. Going through the same process every morning: checking emails to see if I've heard from HO, checked TLS website, check gov website using GWF number, check visa4uk website, check this forum for updates. It's like a ritual now for me. My husband submitted biometrics on 24th April. It's been 102 working days/21 weeks. I pray for a decision soon

[trsiam88]

HI All,

My wife has submitted an application for settlement in June of this year and we have been waiting quietly up until now for a decision, I raised the matter with the MP last friday and today I have received 2 emails stating the following:

First at 13.52 -
Asking for more documentation as follows -
1) From 23 April 2015, UKVI required applicants to submit results from an “IELTS for UKVI” test that was completed at an IELTS test centre authorised by UKVI to run IELTS tests for UK visa and immigration purposes. You must confirm at the time of registration that you wish to use your test result for these purposes. The IELTS test result you have provided is not recognised when attempting to verify your results on the UKVI IELTS website. I am therefore satisfied that the test certificate you have provided is not an “IELTS for UKVI” test. Please provide a certificafe to confirm that you have passed an “IELTS for UKVI” test.
Now the issue here was that my wife had previously done an IELTs Academic test for a university application and I assumed this was applicable for a settlement app too but I found out it was not after I had submitted the online application, so instead we went down the UK NARIC route and got 2 certificates of english language and comparability from UK NARIC and submitted those along with the IELTs certificate in the supporting documents.....I had mentioned in my covering letter that we have used UK NARIC but in the application I had previously mentioned IELTs to satisfy the english language requirement.

So they are now asking to submit an IELTs cert that is valid and acceptable for this, what should be our best bet on this?! (I am sure they have not seen the UK NARIC certificates and ignored them)

Second email at 13.58 (6 minutes later) -
Stating not straight forward as below -
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 am a bit confused now as to what I should be doing, the next IELTs exam date that I can get is for October, should I be writting to them and pointing to them towards the UK NARIC instead?

All help from you guys would be appreciated!

[CR001]

HI All,

My wife has submitted an application for settlement in June of this year and we have been waiting quietly up until now for a decision, I raised the matter with the MP last friday and today I have received 2 emails stating the following:

First at 13.52 -
Asking for more documentation as follows -
1) From 23 April 2015, UKVI required applicants to submit results from an “IELTS for UKVI” test that was completed at an IELTS test centre authorised by UKVI to run IELTS tests for UK visa and immigration purposes. You must confirm at the time of registration that you wish to use your test result for these purposes. The IELTS test result you have provided is not recognised when attempting to verify your results on the UKVI IELTS website. I am therefore satisfied that the test certificate you have provided is not an “IELTS for UKVI” test. Please provide a certificafe to confirm that you have passed an “IELTS for UKVI” test.
Now the issue here was that my wife had previously done an IELTs Academic test for a university application and I assumed this was applicable for a settlement app too but I found out it was not after I had submitted the online application, so instead we went down the UK NARIC route and got 2 certificates of english language and comparability from UK NARIC and submitted those along with the IELTs certificate in the supporting documents.....I had mentioned in my covering letter that we have used UK NARIC but in the application I had previously mentioned IELTs to satisfy the english language requirement.

So they are now asking to submit an IELTs cert that is valid and acceptable for this, what should be our best bet on this?! (I am sure they have not seen the UK NARIC certificates and ignored them)

Second email at 13.58 (6 minutes later) -
Stating not straight forward as below -
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 am a bit confused now as to what I should be doing, the next IELTs exam date that I can get is for October, should I be writting to them and pointing to them towards the UK NARIC instead?

All help from you guys would be appreciated!

Did you do the UKVI red route NARIC?

Did you submit the degree certificate the NARIC ELA is based on?

Why did you submit the IELTS if you knew it was not valid?

[trsiam88]

HI All,

My wife has submitted an application for settlement in June of this year and we have been waiting quietly up until now for a decision, I raised the matter with the MP last friday and today I have received 2 emails stating the following:

First at 13.52 -
Asking for more documentation as follows -
1) From 23 April 2015, UKVI required applicants to submit results from an “IELTS for UKVI” test that was completed at an IELTS test centre authorised by UKVI to run IELTS tests for UK visa and immigration purposes. You must confirm at the time of registration that you wish to use your test result for these purposes. The IELTS test result you have provided is not recognised when attempting to verify your results on the UKVI IELTS website. I am therefore satisfied that the test certificate you have provided is not an “IELTS for UKVI” test. Please provide a certificafe to confirm that you have passed an “IELTS for UKVI” test.
Now the issue here was that my wife had previously done an IELTs Academic test for a university application and I assumed this was applicable for a settlement app too but I found out it was not after I had submitted the online application, so instead we went down the UK NARIC route and got 2 certificates of english language and comparability from UK NARIC and submitted those along with the IELTs certificate in the supporting documents.....I had mentioned in my covering letter that we have used UK NARIC but in the application I had previously mentioned IELTs to satisfy the english language requirement.

So they are now asking to submit an IELTs cert that is valid and acceptable for this, what should be our best bet on this?! (I am sure they have not seen the UK NARIC certificates and ignored them)

Second email at 13.58 (6 minutes later) -
Stating not straight forward as below -
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 am a bit confused now as to what I should be doing, the next IELTs exam date that I can get is for October, should I be writting to them and pointing to them towards the UK NARIC instead?

All help from you guys would be appreciated!

Did you do the UKVI red route NARIC?

Did you submit the degree certificate the NARIC ELA is based on?

Why did you submit the IELTS if you knew it was not valid?

So I consulted UK Naric and what the best route would be and they mentioned that the English Language Assessment and the Statement of Comparability are both accepted by UKVI for visa applications and were the only ones that could be done via a fast track route.

I submitted the 2 certificates along with the original degree and the original transcripts from the university.

As I mentioned I had figured out it was the wrong IELTs after submitting the online application in which I had already mentioned that my wife would satisfy the english language requirement via IELTs, but I attached a covering letter mentioning that in actual fact this is done via UK NARIC instead.....So i submitted both in case they did not see an IELT certificate in the supporting docs and just blindly rejected the application.

Considering I only had 15 days after submission of the online application to sort this out, it had to be done fast track and my wife couldn't do another IELTs exam within those days and then submit that.

[M2sam]

I am going to meet my wife in Pak, I have not seen her for 7 months. Do you think it is ok to go if my case is still under consideration? By the way it has been over the 6 months of their standard time

I don't think it matters. I went to see my husband for the bank holiday weekend as I hadn't seen him since April. If anything it will prove your relationship is genuine (if there is any doubt).

It's awful having to wait. Going through the same process every morning: checking emails to see if I've heard from HO, checked TLS website, check gov website using GWF number, check visa4uk website, check this forum for updates. It's like a ritual now for me. My husband submitted biometrics on 24th April. It's been 102 working days/21 weeks. I pray for a decision soon

All we can do is pray and keep the faith. There's nothing we can do anyway to make a difference to the timescales of our applications. Thanks for your repluy.

[rijab]

we've got a mail
" thank u for applying for a UK visa.your visa application remains under consideration. we have previously communicated our customer service target for settlement application as 60 working days unfortunately , we will be unable to decide your application with in our customer service target.We apologies for the inconvenience this might cause.
we are continuing to work on your application and aim to make a decision as soon as possible over the coming days."
what will happen next to this?
if anyone got this kind of email in last few months then please tell me.am confused either this one is useless automated email or it really means something.

[Neosprin]

Hi Rijab,
Many of us have got the same worded email in the past few days. It's a standard email that comes once you get in touch with ukvi on phone, escalate or mark urgent.

[cinnamonbee]

Hello all,

I've been following the thread quietly. Just wanted to share my story for some insights, feedback and laughs.

Applied for visa in January and biometrics were on 7th February. In April I get a "not straightforward" email and at the end of May I get a hold email and a request to collect my documents and passports from the VFS office, which I did.
From what I've gathered my lawyer seems to have made a few errors along the way. Initially he sent all the documents to Sheffield directly (my visa processing centre, as I later found out, is Abu Dhabi).
In July, after chasing up the lawyer for his inaction and unhelpfulness, he RANDOMLY sent the documents including my husband's passport to the British Embassy in my country
Which of course I had to go and collect after the lawyer urgently messages saying the British Embassy are demanding that the documents sent in error be collected immediately
The lawyer then instructed me to go to the VFS office to resubmit the documents, according to him they accept walk in submissions--they don't!
Eventually somehow I did manage to speak with the VFS agents who spoke to the British Embassy and I was given an appointment to resubmit my documents including my passport. And alhamdulillah that was done.
But I've not heard back from anyone. Not even VFS confirming that I have submitted my documents like I did the first time.
Towards the end of August the lawyer contacted the visa enquiry service and I received an email from the Abu Dhabi office that is being processed.

I've been following this thread trying to figure out what can be a possible course of action. Haven't considered escalating it yet, is that a good course of action at this point? Or should I just wait it out?

[j4v3d]

Any recent decisions made for Pakistan applicants?

[trsiam88]

HI All,

My wife has submitted an application for settlement in June of this year and we have been waiting quietly up until now for a decision, I raised the matter with the MP last friday and today I have received 2 emails stating the following:

First at 13.52 -
Asking for more documentation as follows -
1) From 23 April 2015, UKVI required applicants to submit results from an “IELTS for UKVI” test that was completed at an IELTS test centre authorised by UKVI to run IELTS tests for UK visa and immigration purposes. You must confirm at the time of registration that you wish to use your test result for these purposes. The IELTS test result you have provided is not recognised when attempting to verify your results on the UKVI IELTS website. I am therefore satisfied that the test certificate you have provided is not an “IELTS for UKVI” test. Please provide a certificafe to confirm that you have passed an “IELTS for UKVI” test.
Now the issue here was that my wife had previously done an IELTs Academic test for a university application and I assumed this was applicable for a settlement app too but I found out it was not after I had submitted the online application, so instead we went down the UK NARIC route and got 2 certificates of english language and comparability from UK NARIC and submitted those along with the IELTs certificate in the supporting documents.....I had mentioned in my covering letter that we have used UK NARIC but in the application I had previously mentioned IELTs to satisfy the english language requirement.

So they are now asking to submit an IELTs cert that is valid and acceptable for this, what should be our best bet on this?! (I am sure they have not seen the UK NARIC certificates and ignored them)

Second email at 13.58 (6 minutes later) -
Stating not straight forward as below -
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 am a bit confused now as to what I should be doing, the next IELTs exam date that I can get is for October, should I be writting to them and pointing to them towards the UK NARIC instead?

All help from you guys would be appreciated!

Did you do the UKVI red route NARIC?

Did you submit the degree certificate the NARIC ELA is based on?

Why did you submit the IELTS if you knew it was not valid?

So I consulted UK Naric and what the best route would be and they mentioned that the English Language Assessment and the Statement of Comparability are both accepted by UKVI for visa applications and were the only ones that could be done via a fast track route.

I submitted the 2 certificates along with the original degree and the original transcripts from the university.

As I mentioned I had figured out it was the wrong IELTs after submitting the online application in which I had already mentioned that my wife would satisfy the english language requirement via IELTs, but I attached a covering letter mentioning that in actual fact this is done via UK NARIC instead.....So i submitted both in case they did not see an IELT certificate in the supporting docs and just blindly rejected the application.

Considering I only had 15 days after submission of the online application to sort this out, it had to be done fast track and my wife couldn't do another IELTs exam within those days and then submit that.

Any help on my case would be greatly appreciated!

[Emm]

After chasing UKVI several times for a decision letter,we finally got the letter by email today .Our Application was refused because I left My husband two days after our wedding and why didn't I visit him or why didn't he make an effort to visit me..ECO noted that I was pregnant at that time and I had our child in uk .He was satisfied with everything apart from the fact we haven't any asset together,and not visited each other for more than one year .I am definitely going for an Appeal.
Because I am a full time student ,I work ,I spent 3 weeks with my hubby before our wedding,we just got married a year ago so how can we have assets together?our only asset is our child and I could not travel in and out of Africa with heavy pregnancy .
Guys,do you think appeal is the best option for me please?

[frazy325]

I would recommend appeal to be honest. It can be quite easily justified as reason for refusal seems very dumb. Whts ure time line by the way and where did u apply from?

[j4v3d]

After chasing UKVI several times for a decision letter,we finally got the letter by email today .Our Application was refused because I left My husband two days after our wedding and why didn't I visit him or why didn't he make an effort to visit me..ECO noted that I was pregnant at that time and I had our child in uk .He was satisfied with everything apart from the fact we haven't any asset together,and not visited each other for more than one year .I am definitely going for an Appeal.
Because I am a full time student ,I work ,I spent 3 weeks with my hubby before our wedding,we just got married a year ago so how can we have assets together?our only asset is our child and I could not travel in and out of Africa with heavy pregnancy .
Guys,do you think appeal is the best option for me please?

Probably best looking in to getting some legal advice.

[Rekha25]

Any recent decisions made for gujarat applicants.??

[blueorchids007]

So I got a customer survey email from UKVI
Dear ...

UK Visas and Immigration would like to ask for your feedback in a short online survey. The aim of this survey is to find out how well we met your needs and how we can improve in the future.

You can complete the survey in any of these languages:

English
العربية
中文
Pусский
Türk

Please click on the UKVI Survey to give your feedback.

The questionnaire should take around 10 minutes to complete. It should be completed by the applicant themselves or a parent or guardian who applied on their behalf. If you are not the applicant, their parent or guardian, please send this invitation to the applicant.

Your feedback will be completely anonymous; it cannot and will not be linked with your application in any way.

The success of this research depends entirely on your voluntary co-operation, and we do hope you will be able to take part.

Thank you for your time.

I have not yet gotten any email regarding my application or any update on the TLS website. Don't know whether to laugh or cry

[blueorchids007]

So I took the survey. Was supposed to last 10 minutes. First question. Have you had a decision made on an application in the last 3 months? Yes/No. I obviously ticked No. End of survey.

[abubakrkhan]

Application Category: Spouse non Priority
Application Submitted Online: 07/05/2017
Biometrics & Passport Submission (Location): Lahore
Biometrics & Passport Submission (Date): 09/05/17
Application Forwarded To British High Commission On:

I made an inquiry last week and they re-escalated my case with the following two mails received today

1-
"In regards to your visa application, I can confirm that I have re-escalated your case as high priority to the relevant department who will be in touch with you as soon as possible to provide further updates. There is no direct contact number we can provide you for your visa application due to home office policy. "

2-
"Thank you for contacting UK Visas and Immigration International Enquiry Service dated 19th September 2017.

In regards to your visa application could you please provide me the date of birth and the passport number of the applicant.

Further information required:

1.Date of Birth
2. Passport number"


Does is look like a standard reply or are they really on to something?

[MrClientServer]

we've got a mail
" thank u for applying for a UK visa.your visa application remains under consideration. we have previously communicated our customer service target for settlement application as 60 working days unfortunately , we will be unable to decide your application with in our customer service target.We apologies for the inconvenience this might cause.
we are continuing to work on your application and aim to make a decision as soon as possible over the coming days."
what will happen next to this?
if anyone got this kind of email in last few months then please tell me.am confused either this one is useless automated email or it really means something.

Still now i have received the same copy of email 4-5 times. Whenever you escalate in big manner after putting all your 100% efforts you will be thinking something going to come then HO simply sends the above email.

[Lifeisadream]

Application Category: Spouse non Priority
Application Submitted Online: 07/05/2017
Biometrics & Passport Submission (Location): Lahore
Biometrics & Passport Submission (Date): 09/05/17
Application Forwarded To British High Commission On:

I made an inquiry last week and they re-escalated my case with the following two mails received today

1-
"In regards to your visa application, I can confirm that I have re-escalated your case as high priority to the relevant department who will be in touch with you as soon as possible to provide further updates. There is no direct contact number we can provide you for your visa application due to home office policy. "

2-
"Thank you for contacting UK Visas and Immigration International Enquiry Service dated 19th September 2017.

In regards to your visa application could you please provide me the date of birth and the passport number of the applicant.

Further information required:

1.Date of Birth
2. Passport number"


Does is look like a standard reply or are they really on to something?

Same. I emailed them two weeks ago, recieved an email requesting for more information. Full Name
Date of Birth, GWF number etc. Till now they didn't email me back.

[abubakrkhan]

Application Category: Spouse non Priority
Application Submitted Online: 07/05/2017
Biometrics & Passport Submission (Location): Lahore
Biometrics & Passport Submission (Date): 09/05/17
Application Forwarded To British High Commission On:

I made an inquiry last week and they re-escalated my case with the following two mails received today

1-
"In regards to your visa application, I can confirm that I have re-escalated your case as high priority to the relevant department who will be in touch with you as soon as possible to provide further updates. There is no direct contact number we can provide you for your visa application due to home office policy. "

2-
"Thank you for contacting UK Visas and Immigration International Enquiry Service dated 19th September 2017.

In regards to your visa application could you please provide me the date of birth and the passport number of the applicant.

Further information required:

1.Date of Birth
2. Passport number"


Does is look like a standard reply or are they really on to something?

Same. I emailed them two weeks ago, recieved an email requesting for more information. Full Name
Date of Birth, GWF number etc. Till now they didn't email me back.

My wife received a call today from the escalation team based on our enquiry that your application is at the highest priority right now and we shall get back with a decsion asap. they said they havent been processing for 6 weeks because of elections and stuff. but we should expect a decision soon. Has anyone else got calls from the escalation teams?

[metanoia]

After chasing UKVI several times for a decision letter,we finally got the letter by email today .Our Application was refused because I left My husband two days after our wedding and why didn't I visit him or why didn't he make an effort to visit me..ECO noted that I was pregnant at that time and I had our child in uk .He was satisfied with everything apart from the fact we haven't any asset together,and not visited each other for more than one year .I am definitely going for an Appeal.
Because I am a full time student ,I work ,I spent 3 weeks with my hubby before our wedding,we just got married a year ago so how can we have assets together?our only asset is our child and I could not travel in and out of Africa with heavy pregnancy .
Guys,do you think appeal is the best option for me please?

You should post your letter after hiding the personal details in a new post so any senior member can guide you better

[bittu11]

Any recent decisions made for gujarat applicants.??

Hi
No, I think it's like 4 of us here from Gujarat and still waiting since 9 months. Hopefully soon