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Thanx "legalalienabz" for your reply, so you mean you had withdrawn COA, as you made your request when it was in force, but now it is abolished and UKBA wrote on their website COA section that, they will start returning documents when the policy legally ends on 09 May 2011, but as we know that they have a backlog of COA pending applications already then, i don't know if they send our first or give priority to Backlog applications.legalalienabz wrote:I'm going through this myself. We applied March 15, HO acknowledged on March 28, then the scheme was abolished about a week later. Really wish they'd said when the debate was scheduled instead of writing it so vaguely on the website - I would have never applied for our COA in the first place had I known.
Our first return of documents request went out April 15, via the HO e-mail for COA returns, and the second request was faxed to a number given to me by the HO call center staff yesterday.
My partner and I just put in a request today to let us collect them from Croydon ourselves. We had to make this request together over the telephone, and provide names, DOB, application reference # etc. We were told that once the COA staff find the application (which could take hours, or could take days...), they would call to inform us that it is on the Return Documents desk and that we can fetch them in person. If our documents are in the mailing room already, they will be mailed out shortly.
The man we spoke to on the phone sounded a little startled when we said we'd drive from Aberdeen to get them, but we're trying to make a flight on Wednesday. He was nice to us, though, and emailed the third request through, which is a start.
Will see how it goes.
Hi there,legalalienabz wrote:Oh geez, I didn't even think of that. We're getting married this August and applied for COA because we hoped to get it in plenty of time to register our marriage in Scotland. My fiance is divorced, so we figured our notice might not be as straightforward as someone else's.
We still haven't heard whether we can go to Croydon to collect our passports. My fiance spoke to Enquiries again yesterday, and was told the best we can do is send one more fax requesting a phone call to let us know when (if) to come down from Aberdeen, and to send a copy of our e-ticket as evidence of our flights. However, it is entirely up to the COA staff whether they feel like giving us a phone.
Sigh. Our application is not the most straightfoward it could be - fiance is divorced - but otherwise it should be easy to process. I have never, ever overstayed any of my visas. Two years ago, I was turned down the first time I applied for Tier 1 General due to maintenance funds being £30 too low for three days, but reapplied well before the previous visa's expiration and was granted leave. There will be a record on the HO system of that denial and reason, but there's nothing in my passport to indicate it.
Now another problem has arisen, regarding giving notice to the registrar, as mentioned in the COA section on UKBA website that since there is no need to apply for COA, there will be a huge increase in waiting times to give notice to registrar for marriage......Noteasilyimpressed wrote:Hi there,legalalienabz wrote:Oh geez, I didn't even think of that. We're getting married this August and applied for COA because we hoped to get it in plenty of time to register our marriage in Scotland. My fiance is divorced, so we figured our notice might not be as straightforward as someone else's.
We still haven't heard whether we can go to Croydon to collect our passports. My fiance spoke to Enquiries again yesterday, and was told the best we can do is send one more fax requesting a phone call to let us know when (if) to come down from Aberdeen, and to send a copy of our e-ticket as evidence of our flights. However, it is entirely up to the COA staff whether they feel like giving us a phone.
Sigh. Our application is not the most straightfoward it could be - fiance is divorced - but otherwise it should be easy to process. I have never, ever overstayed any of my visas. Two years ago, I was turned down the first time I applied for Tier 1 General due to maintenance funds being £30 too low for three days, but reapplied well before the previous visa's expiration and was granted leave. There will be a record on the HO system of that denial and reason, but there's nothing in my passport to indicate it.
I just wanted to share my experience with UKBA in getting my passport back. I went to the Croydon office in person yesterday to collect my passport and my fiancee's (he gave me an authorization letter to collect it on his behalf). Before that I phoned UKBA and placed an urgent request to come in and collect my passport. They called me 3 days later to say my documents were ready and I could come in and collect. I had to chase up with emails and phone calls (and lots of tears and grovelling) though before they contacted me.
It's important to be calm and polite when contacting them over the phone, but impress the urgency of it. That way they will be more sympathetic and want to help you.
You mentioned that your fiance is divorced - that should not be an issue with home office as the COA system is now abolished. What may be an issue are over stayers or people without leave to remain in the UK. Just follow up on your request with phone/ fax or email and explain how urgent it is in the nicest possible way.
Some suggest that you can just turn up at the Croydon office and collect your documents back if you tell them its an emergency. A couple tried this while I was at the Croydon office yesterday and it did not work, they were turned away and asked to make a request by phone and wait to be contacted.
I would suggest that you just keep chasing them up - they should contact you after 3 - 4 days.
Hope this helps
Hi DefSufi,DefSufi wrote:Noteasilyimpressed, what enquiry number for the UKBA did you ring?
I am looking to get my passport and documents back as well. I applied for the COA in March, and got a letter from the UKBA acknowledging the receipt of my application at the beginning of April, about a week before the programme ended. I've sent two COA withdrawal requests, one before May 9 and one this past week, but have not heard from anyone regarding the first one (I know that there might not have been enough time to act on my second one). I tried to FAX a copy of the withdrawal to the FAX number in Croydon given on the website, but the number never answered.
I have to travel to Ireland the 7th of June, so I'm anxious to get my passport back.
Since you seem to have had success, any help and contact info that works that you can give would be appreciated!
Hi "hussainfarhad" could you please tell us, when did u send your COA application to HO and how long does it take to get your documents back??? Thank you in advancehussainfarhad wrote:hi guys..just to let u know..my documents are back today..i was just thinking to call them to request them back.. but atleast thats good that ukba has been prompt in returning them..hopefully me and my fiance will go and give notice soon
ultimate12570 wrote:Hi "hussainfarhad" could you please tell us, when did u send your COA application to HO and how long does it take to get your documents back??? Thank you in advancehussainfarhad wrote:hi guys..just to let u know..my documents are back today..i was just thinking to call them to request them back.. but atleast thats good that ukba has been prompt in returning them..hopefully me and my fiance will go and give notice soon
yeah but we never know when they will gonna send us our docs, i think bcoz of a huge backlog of pending applications, it might take them around 3 months??? isn't it...hussainfarhad wrote:hi, all.
i was about to send them letter to request for my return of documents yesterday but got a phone call from my fiance that our documents were back in the post. i applied in mid march..got acknowledgement end of march..then got this now..hope it helps to calm some nerves..dont worry i think they are getting round to sending every1s docs as soon as they can..
i hope that they will return documents as soon as possible....guys please update when you receive yours...!hussainfarhad wrote:no i dont think its gonna be 3 months..maybe 3 weeks is acceptable..even that seems a bit too much tho.. they sent a letter explaining the abolishment of the scheme with my documents so i assume they are just sending out all the passports and other docs as soon as they can..doesnt matter its pending application or not..they are just returning the docs..i didnt get a certificate..just got my docs back thats it..hope this helps
i've also called them and told them the urgency of my request but then i've been told to wait till they send my documents and they've just checked in their system that the documents havn't been returned yet....the person whom i spoke with said they can't do anything...i should wait and the COA team are already returning documents to people who applied COA....NFilbeck wrote:My fiance and I applied for Certificate of Approval on 11 April. We had an urgent need to travel, so on 7 May, we started trying to get our documents back from the Home Office.
We first tried faxing. We faxed several urgent requests and they didn't do anything. I called every day for two weeks and didn't make any progress.
Finally, I told them it was a life or death situation (gave details) and they transferred me to a customer service representative. She (Barbara) let me put in a request to pick my documents up from the Home Office in Croydon. They called me 3 days later to tell me I could come pick them up. I now have my passports.
For anyone in this situation, keep calling. Be calm. Make them feel sorry for you. It really does depend on who you speak to and it varies from day to day. Some people won't even type anything into the system.
Our total time to get our documents back was May 7 - May 20. Keep trying! You have to beg and plead, but it can be done.
Hi All, today we've received our documents from UKBA, after sending 2 fax and the same letter requesting them to send our docs as soon as possible, today we got it, it took us around 2 weeks....ultimate12570 wrote:i've also called them and told them the urgency of my request but then i've been told to wait till they send my documents and they've just checked in their system that the documents havn't been returned yet....the person whom i spoke with said they can't do anything...i should wait and the COA team are already returning documents to people who applied COA....NFilbeck wrote:My fiance and I applied for Certificate of Approval on 11 April. We had an urgent need to travel, so on 7 May, we started trying to get our documents back from the Home Office.
We first tried faxing. We faxed several urgent requests and they didn't do anything. I called every day for two weeks and didn't make any progress.
Finally, I told them it was a life or death situation (gave details) and they transferred me to a customer service representative. She (Barbara) let me put in a request to pick my documents up from the Home Office in Croydon. They called me 3 days later to tell me I could come pick them up. I now have my passports.
For anyone in this situation, keep calling. Be calm. Make them feel sorry for you. It really does depend on who you speak to and it varies from day to day. Some people won't even type anything into the system.
Our total time to get our documents back was May 7 - May 20. Keep trying! You have to beg and plead, but it can be done.