Priority Settlement Visa-Sheffield

[MCV]

Hi,

I am married to a British citizen for 8 years and we have a 4 years old daughter. We have been living in Tukey since we got married but now planning to move to UK.

I have applied to Settlement visa last year but got refused simply because of missing documents. I applied again on 16th of May (priority) but the application process had just changed two weeks before I applied.
They got the biometrics in TLS and only scanned my documents to send to Sheffield.

The official in TLS wasn't sure if all the submitted documents were scanned. She said scanning is black and white so photos wouldn't be clear and adviced to send the documents to Sheffield to ensure. I also showed her my original marriage certificate but 'Supporting document Submitted' paper was not ticked for the original. Therefore, I sent all my original documents (passports, marraige certificates) to Sheffield too.

I checked the instructions of the TLS centre on the website about the process change after my application again. However, the instructions only state that the passport should be original and the rest of the documents should be A4 format copies. It is very confusing.

Have you sent your original documents to Sheffield too? or have you authenticated the passport of your partner and marraige certificate? I am worried about this because in my previous application I have given the copy of the marriage certifcate not the original and it was a refusal reason.

Do you think my documents that I sent to Sheffield after scanning process will be taken into account?

[SimonS]

The documents you sent to Sheffield should be considered. The rules changed in most jurisdictions recently and for most outside UK applications all originals need to be sent to Sheffield. Good job you did send them.

You are also supposed to send copies so you can get the originals back. However, since they have the copies from the TLS centre scans it should be fine.

Do you have a proof of delivery with the date?

[MCV]

Hi Simon,

Many thanks for repyling with good news.

Yes, I sent all the original documents together with the copies and we hold the delivery receipt.

Do you think it is worth to contact with MP given that we paid prirority and don't get response from UKVI on time?

I see quite a lot of people waiting for such a long time and I can't understand why we pay priority fee.

[SimonS]

I agree, it's extremely frustrating to have paid priority and not be getting the expected service that it is sold on. As to the MP, I'm over 32 working days on priority and some on here are beyond even that! My advice would be it's probably a little early. The MP is really the last card in your hand and not guaranteed either so best to use it wisely. It is your choice though.

I'm going to wait until next week after the furore of the General election has setttled. I consider that once you go over 40 days on priority without a reasonable response it is justified. That's just my personal opinion.

[sunshineusa]

Why in the world is it taking so long. its so wrong to be paying so much out of pocket to be in the normal queue. I really do know is because they either A. are super understaffed or B. they hired alot of new people who are not experienced and it making it difficult which they can make errors.

[pixelrage09]

Why in the world is it taking so long. its so wrong to be paying so much out of pocket to be in the normal queue. I really do know is because they either A. are super understaffed or B. they hired alot of new people who are not experienced and it making it difficult which they can make errors.

I totally understand the frustration. We personally haven't gone the priority route, but thinking about it now, we are kinda glad that we didn't simply because there seems to be no difference in the time within which you get a response to your application.

As the days pass, it gets more and more stressful for us. On one side you got all these rumours about the MIR raise and on the other hand, I keep reading about how appeals on settlement visas can take as long as 10 months to even be heard at the immigration tribunal. So all those people who have been waiting 4-5 month for a decision on their application, will have to wait another year or so before their appeal can get in front of an immigration judge (if it ends up in a refusal).