I would appreciate your wise counsels on this issue.
Brief background: I received a 5 years CoS with maintenance certified for myself and my dependents (2 people). Due to the huge cost for the visa and IHS, I thought I can apply for 3 years visa and then extend it after 3 years.
Situation/issue: I entered 3 years in the duration I intend to stay in the UK. I paid for 3 years IHS surcharge via PayPal. Upon returning to the check-out page, I discovered that the checkout amount is the fee for a 5 years visa. To avoid unnecessary delay, I paid the full charges for a 5 years visa fee and submitted the application. However, I entered 5 years for my dependents and paid full 5 years costs for their visa and IHS surcharge.
Action taken:
- I mentioned the issue in my application cover letter and expressed my willingness (i) to stay in the UK for 5 years and (ii) to immediately pay for the IHS surcharge balance upon receiving further instructions on how to do so. On 19 September 2018, I received my passport and the accompanying letter stated that our application for a UK visa is successfully (valid for 5 years) without any instruction on how to pay the IHS surcharge balance.
- To avoid any problem in the future, I email IHS Sheffield requesting for advice on how to pay the balance on 20 September 2018 and received an acknowledgment email on the same day. However, I have not received any further email or directive since then and our entrance date is only a few days away.
- As my initial payment for the IHS surcharge was made via PayPal to: UKBACustomerComplaints[at]homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk, can I send the balance via PayPal to this UKBA PayPal merchant account/email and keep the record carefully for future reference?
- If not, should I just wait for a reply from IHS Sheffield?
- Can we still fly to the UK even if there is no response from IHS Sheffield?
