UKVI Digital Changes, No PEO/PSCs from October 2018?

[CateS]

Thank you.

Still waiting for Norwich centre to open its bookings.

[allyf]

Dear Swskum

Many thanks for kind and elaborate information, I am so glad that I was seeking answer in this group. Your situation is exactly same as mine. It's such a shame for the sophisticated home office for publishing a new portal without any guidance... (Maybe they wanted us to hire solicitors , although solicitors are also uncertain)

However, I have already paid IHS because I couldn't able to predict what will come after IHS payment. Although I haven't paid my Visa fees yet because I got same answer from home office when I called yesterday and incompetent people replied from previous experience.

Please kindly let me know what will happen after 11 dec 18.

Again a big thanks

Hey Nayeem, yes it's good to have someone else in the same boat!

See my post just above this - we got the leave to remain granted! From discussion I had with my MP, who spoke to the Home Office, she said the Home Office said they would show a level of leniency for people who apply before the last 28 day period. What the Home Office said to her - and I wouldn't rely on this too much -was that the 28 day period was designed so that people didn't apply ridiculously too early and have two overlapping visas for a long time (whether that is technically correct I query but besides the point!).

Now I don't know what to make of this, but what I would say is where you can avoid it, try not to apply more than 28 days before the beginning of the 28 days (i.e. no earlier than 56 days before the current visa runs out). I think at that point they may get stricter - although it is hard to tell.But applying a week earlier than the beginning of your last 28 day period is probably OK.

On timing, if you have paid for your IHS, that's fine, as you haven't paid for the appointment itself. Hold off on paying for the application (and the appointment you then have to book on the Sopra Steria page) until nearer 14 January. I think your application will be absolutely fine so far, at least know there is a degree of flexibility.

On the IHS - are you aware that the government is increasing the IHS amount to a (quite honestly outrageous) larger amount? They are doubling it, so what was £200 per year is now £400 per year etc. That means £1000 for the FLR(M) extension rather than £500. I am not sure what that will mean for your IHS given you have paid for it. I have done a little bit of digging for you. The progress of the order bringing into force the larger IHS payment shouldn't come into force until the earliest 10 January at the moment (and that assumes it is formalised tomorrow which is unlikely!). In any event, 10 January is only 4 days before your 28 day period. Given this, if I were you I would be minded to pay for my full application and book my appointment in early January (a week early), and worry more on the timing of the IHS increase than the worry of applying early, so you can ensure you save yourself an extra IHS payment of £500. You can see the status of the current order here: https://beta.parliament.uk/statutory-in ... s/qN5SIpKr. It is waiting to become law and then 28 days from the day it becomes law the increased fees will come into effect.

So to summarise - what you have done so far is fine, I'd recommend given the change to the IHS that you guys pay for your app and book your biometric appointment at the beginning of the second week of Jan (if the order goes through in the next week), or pay for your app and book your biometric appointment on 14 Jan (if they don't approve the order increasing IHS by 17 Dec)!

Dear Swskum, Did you upload documents using the Sopra Steria service? If you did, may I ask, when using the upload service, if I can upload a single PDF file with multiple pages or only 1 Page per PDF file. For example I will be uploading all the pages of my passport. Can I upload 1 PDF with all 28 passport pages OR separate 28 PDF documents?

Please do a single PDF file with multiple pages, I did the same and the UKVCAS staff accepted without any issues. You can use the same when its come to grouping other documents. Ex: P60s, Referee Declaration..etc. The file size should be less than 6 MB.

Hi seansilva, I have been uploading onto Sopra Steria and when I use higher quality (color) it would be bigger than 6MB. However if I changed to black and white it wasn’t as large or a file BUT the quality was much less (harder to read). Did you run into anything like that?

[seansilva]

Hi allyf, I have used 300 dpi/ 400 dpi coloured resolution and scanned as a pdf. Please try to experiment with your scanner resolution, tbh even 100-300 dpi (dots per inch) resolution with colours won't be that bad. Printer/Scanner driver software should allow you to change the resolution. Test yourself whether the quality of the document is readable or not.

With 400 dpi I have scanned and 6 pages pdf file of my passport which is around 4.8MB.

[michali]

I practised with my own passport at only 75 dpi and it was pretty clear. As there are no stamps I would probably scan at 75 dpi on all the blank pages and a higher resolution for the bio pages, etc.

[allyf]

Thanks for the info. I was able to finally scan items with perfect resolution below the 6MB restriction...with the help of my husband who had a few tricks to adjust the size, but keep picture quality the same. There was a lot of cutting and pasting and cropping which took most of our evening, but it’s done now and never want to scan anything again! Frankly, this new system is terrible, we are basically doing the job of the caseworker and paying even more in fees, ridiculous. I paid the extra £35 for document checking prior to appointment but I doubt I’ll even hear back from anyone! So part 1 of this fiasco done, now part 2 is the appointment this Monday

[seansilva]

Thanks for the info. I was able to finally scan items with perfect resolution below the 6MB restriction...with the help of my husband who had a few tricks to adjust the size, but keep picture quality the same. There was a lot of cutting and pasting and cropping which took most of our evening, but it’s done now and never want to scan anything again! Frankly, this new system is terrible, we are basically doing the job of the caseworker and paying even more in fees, ridiculous. I paid the extra £35 for document checking prior to appointment but I doubt I’ll even hear back from anyone! So part 1 of this fiasco done, now part 2 is the appointment this Monday

document checking service will be carried out, if you upload the documents two before to the appointment. In my case, I have uploaded most documents on Saturday, I got an email from UKVCAS SS on Tuesday saying that they carried out the document checking service and all the docs are readable, legit. That's my £35.

Following are the checks they did:
· Checked for the presence of all mandatory documents
· Checked that all documents are legible
· Checked that all documents been uploaded to the correct category
· Checked for any obvious missing pages
· Checked that all uploaded documents are in either English or Welsh language, or have an accompanying English or Welsh translation.

þ No action required: Following a review of supporting evidence available, we can confirm that:
o Mandatory documents are present in all required categories
o All documents are legible
o All documents have been uploaded to the correct category
o There are no obvious missing pages in any of the documents
o All documents are in either English or Welsh language, or are accompanied with an English or Welsh translation that obviously relates to the original

Otherwise this will be a part of Sopra Steria member's check during VKVCAS appointment. (I guess )

From flatpack furniture, supermarket self-service checkouts to airport self-check-ins are part of the same business philosophy enable by technology. Future will be machine learning and artificial intelligence.

[allyf]

Thanks for the info. I was able to finally scan items with perfect resolution below the 6MB restriction...with the help of my husband who had a few tricks to adjust the size, but keep picture quality the same. There was a lot of cutting and pasting and cropping which took most of our evening, but it’s done now and never want to scan anything again! Frankly, this new system is terrible, we are basically doing the job of the caseworker and paying even more in fees, ridiculous. I paid the extra £35 for document checking prior to appointment but I doubt I’ll even hear back from anyone! So part 1 of this fiasco done, now part 2 is the appointment this Monday

document checking service will be carried out, if you upload the documents two before to the appointment. In my case, I have uploaded most documents on Saturday, I got an email from UKVCAS SS on Tuesday saying that they carried out the document checking service and all the docs are readable, legit. That's my £35.

Following are the checks they did:
· Checked for the presence of all mandatory documents
· Checked that all documents are legible
· Checked that all documents been uploaded to the correct category
· Checked for any obvious missing pages
· Checked that all uploaded documents are in either English or Welsh language, or have an accompanying English or Welsh translation.

þ No action required: Following a review of supporting evidence available, we can confirm that:
o Mandatory documents are present in all required categories
o All documents are legible
o All documents have been uploaded to the correct category
o There are no obvious missing pages in any of the documents
o All documents are in either English or Welsh language, or are accompanied with an English or Welsh translation that obviously relates to the original

Otherwise this will be a part of Sopra Steria member's check during VKVCAS appointment. (I guess )

From flatpack furniture, supermarket self-service checkouts to airport self-check-ins are part of the same business philosophy enable by technology. Future will be machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Thank you so much for confirming! I now know what to expect!

[allyf]

Thanks for the info. I was able to finally scan items with perfect resolution below the 6MB restriction...with the help of my husband who had a few tricks to adjust the size, but keep picture quality the same. There was a lot of cutting and pasting and cropping which took most of our evening, but it’s done now and never want to scan anything again! Frankly, this new system is terrible, we are basically doing the job of the caseworker and paying even more in fees, ridiculous. I paid the extra £35 for document checking prior to appointment but I doubt I’ll even hear back from anyone! So part 1 of this fiasco done, now part 2 is the appointment this Monday

document checking service will be carried out, if you upload the documents two before to the appointment. In my case, I have uploaded most documents on Saturday, I got an email from UKVCAS SS on Tuesday saying that they carried out the document checking service and all the docs are readable, legit. That's my £35.

Following are the checks they did:
· Checked for the presence of all mandatory documents
· Checked that all documents are legible
· Checked that all documents been uploaded to the correct category
· Checked for any obvious missing pages
· Checked that all uploaded documents are in either English or Welsh language, or have an accompanying English or Welsh translation.

þ No action required: Following a review of supporting evidence available, we can confirm that:
o Mandatory documents are present in all required categories
o All documents are legible
o All documents have been uploaded to the correct category
o There are no obvious missing pages in any of the documents
o All documents are in either English or Welsh language, or are accompanied with an English or Welsh translation that obviously relates to the original

Otherwise this will be a part of Sopra Steria member's check during VKVCAS appointment. (I guess )

From flatpack furniture, supermarket self-service checkouts to airport self-check-ins are part of the same business philosophy enable by technology. Future will be machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Hi seansilva probably a silly question but how does Sopra Steria know I’ve completed the uploads? Or am I just required to have it complete within 2 days of appointment?

[CR001]

This topic will now be locked as it appears to becoming a duplicate of the existing two topics we already have.

indefinite-leave-to-remain/online-appli ... 70084.html

general-uk-immigration-forum/ukvcas-sup ... 5-640.html

general-uk-immigration-forum/new-appoin ... 7-400.html