Out of standard processing time - any suggestion?

[aminmdh1010]

Good Afternoon All.

My wife has made a spouse visa application (ILR dependent) on 1 Sep 2019 within the UK changing from her current visa as PBS dependant due to my status change. Documents submission/biometrics have been done on 3 Sep 2019.

On the website (https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa) it is mentioned that

"If you apply in the UK a decision will usually be made within 8 weeks of your application date if you use the standard service."

This time (8 weeks) was also mentioned to us when we submitted the documents.

Today (28 Oct 2019) is exactly 8 weeks and we have not received any acknowledgment/decision/reasons for delay letter. I called last week to the phone number provided online (https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-inside- ... extensions) but the receptionist told me that he can only lodge a complaint once 8 weeks is over. However, today when I called, a different receptionist picked up and told me that this can take up to 6 months. She was even going further saying that the people at the documents submission center should not have told us this timeline and she can only say sorry. When I was pressing her about the timeline on the website she was saying that I should directly write to the Home office to get more information about this. She can not even provide any contact information or such.

Is there anything doable on my part? Any suggestions will be cordially accepted.

Thanks in advance for your time and assistance.

Amin

[geoeng]

Is there anything doable on my part?

To be fair, it does say usually within 8 weeks and not always within 8 weeks. There are lots of reasons why the application could take longer, especially if anything provided is being verified. You have already learned that you can lodge a complaint after 8 weeks, beyond that all you can really do is wait because it can take longer than the minimum timescale provided.

[aminmdh1010]

Hi geoeng,

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Yes, that's what it looks like.

I have lodged a complaint today and was told that someone might get in touch in 3-5weeks to inform why there is a delay - let's see.

The good thing is at least the lady was helpful in the sense that she was trying to log it - yesterday when I called, the lady who picked up she even did not want to take it into consideration to the fact that it is already out of standard published processing time. She was even asking me to write directly to the Home Office without referring to any proper contact address etc!!!

The moral of the story: you can get different solutions from different receptionists!!!

The countdown begins again.

[lisajm29]

Write to your MP asking for help on finding out the current status and for the case to be expedited.

I am in a similar situation as I based my decision of doing the standard service on the 8-weeks from application being submitted. To be told at my biometric that it is 6 - 8 weeks from submitting my biometrics. Which conflicts the language on the gov.uk website. This is now impacting travel arrangments I have for both work and a personal event in the month of November.

I find it ridiculous that the processing time can take this long and you can't travel during that time. In the world, we live in today and the way we move between countries for work and personal experiences is insane that we are held hostage while waiting on an application and to be given no information on the status of it when it runs over the stated wait time.

[geoeng]

I find it ridiculous that the processing time can take this long and you can't travel during that time. In the world, we live in today and the way we move between countries for work and personal experiences is insane that we are held hostage while waiting on an application and to be given no information on the status of it when it runs over the stated wait time.

Nobody is holding you hostage, you are entirely free to travel; you just can't have a pending visa application at the same time. There is also a premium service for those who wish to have their applications processed faster. Personally I was happy to put up with the minor inconvenience for a few months to have a lower visa cost, those who don't want the inconvenience are free to pay for a faster application.