They told me nothing. They didn't contact me for any additional information nor they've contacted my referees. When my MP called them, they've told him that this is normal and some application can take a little bit longer than six months. My lawyer was told the same, but he pushed them with a letter every four weeks past the six months.
I have had a recent first name change. That's the only abnormal thing about the application and I don't think it justifies the 9 months wait. I thought it was my country of origin, but I've met someone from the same country who had received a decision in under four months. My main concern was that the application had been lost or stuck between departments.
I went through some terrible time thinking of what I could have done in my life to cause them to take this long to decide
From the looks of things, some applications need to go through extra checks and these are so low priority and takes ages to get an answer on.
Again, they could do everyone a favour if they provide some sort of a timeline, rather than letting applicants have unhappy calls with their call centre staff. The call centre staff have no idea whats going on and that's why they sound stressed out when you speak to them- they really can't help you
so they aren't in a good place themselves. They are based somewhere completely different to the case working team and calling them doesn't alert the the case worker or flag your application to the back office.
I really won't worry until your application crosses 6 months from the date of them receiving it. Even after then, no need to stress, just make sure you follow up with them in writing (so it would go on your physical file) periodically (every 4-6 weeks). Pushing the guys on the phone doesn't do you any good.
I hope this helps. Good luck.
