Hi guys,
there is a lot of confusion at the moment so I will add to it with my experience thus far in a hope to reduce confusion but probably only making matters worse!!
Application submitted: 19th April PRIORITY - St Petersburg, Russian Federation
Biometrics enrolled at : ST Petersburg, Russian Federation, 21st April
Supporting documents sent to Sheffield on : 4th May, received in Sheffield 5th May.
Supporting documents received back from Sheffield on : Not yet.
Advised that this will be whenever they feel like sending them back to me!! Call 30th June
Sponsor contacted by UKVI (if applicable) : No, employer neither.
Contacted with 'decision made' : No
Contacted for Collection : No
Collection made : NA
Decision of Application : NA
So basically, 51 working days have passed today since day after Biometrics. My wife has never received an on hold email, we have no children involved in the application and I earn in excess of £70k per year basic salary for over 3 years with same employer. Normally I would not share that last piece of information but time to expel some myths.
1st email enquiry was 31st May = 26 working days since day after Biometrics. Told not even reached ECO and days counted
begin from date of Biometrics.
2nd email enquiry was 7th June, no reply. Received an automatic email on Sunday 18th June from UKV&I stating they had answered our enquiry and inviting us to participate in the satisfaction survey! They never ever bothered to respond.
Contacted MP by email 20th June, told by MP that BY LAW they cannot get involved until 12 weeks - 60 working days - have passed. Anybody on here who says their MP is making enquiries before 12 weeks must have a very generous or very dishonest MP.
First call to UKV&I Friday 30th June = 48 working days on PRIORITY. Told
1) Our application is recognised as PRIORITY
2) My wifes application is with ECO, at the final stage, awaiting decision.
3) This means that some additional checks need to be made and don't know how long it takes.
4) It depends on how quickly the parties contacted respond.
5) Told that priority means you get to the front of the queue but could still take 26 weeks!!!!!!!!!
6) Given a log number. Told to use this next time I call as it will save time and help them find my wifes application more quickly.
7) They will send our documents back when they please, could be tomorrow, could be when they invite my wife to collect her passport or anytime in between.
They would not give me a refund for the email they did not respond to. Told me to go to gov.uk, complain and request refund there. Like I'm going to do that while they are assessing the application!
17 minutes total on call. Bye bye >£20.
Just to confirm what others have said, they block a £20 charge to your card but only take the cost of the call in minutes @ £1.37/min from your account. It's just they also make sure you are kept on the line for at least 10 minutes while they find your application
Second call to UKV&I today 5th July = 51 working days PRIORITY. Told......
1) Log number does not exist????????????? Asked for email address of Applicant - My wife
2) Counted days for application begin the day after Biometrics because some people attend in afternoon some attend in morning. Biometrics for us was a Friday morning but I always counted from the Monday following so no change to days elapsed on timer.
2) It goes without saying no decision
3) Told that priority means you get to the front of the queue but if after 60 working days - 12 weeks - you have not had a decision it can be escalated
BUT ONLY AFTER 12 WEEKS - Same as MP - Interesting
4) You can request to have case escalated before 12 weeks but Sheffield will just ignore it and only process escalation from after 12 weeks.
5) Everything is taking longer because of additional checks due to recent
"World Events" - So now my wife is considered a potential mass murdering terrorist lol BS
6)
More interesting - Told they have ABSOLUTELY NO VISIBILITY ON APPLICATIONS except a) yet to be assessed, b) awaiting decision, c) open = on hold d) decided (but not decision)
7) The only way to get my documents back - my beloved passport that I need for my job - is to cancel my wifes application!!??
15 minutes total on call. Bye bye another £20.
So basically, two phone calls, two completely contradictory answers and no clue as to when this nightmare will end. My advice, do not even bother calling and feeding this purely money making machine. I know I did it but my reason was that I actually genuinely need my passport back for my job. Otherwise it was completely unneccessary and only achieved giving me peace of mind that they're a complete bunch of lying, useless, unprofessional BLEEPS!
The saving grace was I decided to voice record both conversations in full
Will be very happy to send this to my MP if I don't get decision in next 8 working days. Who konws where else I'll send it in the future lol
Cheers
Simon
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