OLD FLR(M) waiting times Thread

[DieselD]

I finally got back all my documents and the letter stating that my visa is approved and that I need to wait for my BRP card in 7 days! My husband and I are really happy! Finally, the waiting is over! Thank you all for the support!

By the way, I don't know why I can't update my timeline in Skydrive. I have logged in there and I can't enter the dates and change it to complete. I hope someone can do that for me.

Good luck to all those still waiting

Congratulations Whitequeen. Now that you have yours done it is a bit more promissing for others. Your Skydrive gets updated by the person who owns the spreadsheet. It has been updated.

[saanju9]

Oh I did everything I can from the moment my application reached its 6th month like contacting the MP, continuous calls to UKBA, filing complaints, sending letters to Prime Minister, Theresa May, Ed Miliband and to all political parties and politicians my husband and I can think of! We even sent emails to newspapers and only Diane Taylor replied to me!

So do you think that had any impact on the time taken by UKBA to decide..

And I agree there is little evidence that requesting sponsor's passports or involving your MP will speed up a particular application. In fact, in my opinion, it could slow some down.

Not so sure - we've made a hell of a fuss with our MP and our application was decided on 6 Feb (see my earlier posts). However, as we have not yet received the docs back this remains to be seen...

Xiaozhu:

Did you receive your docs..

I think I have to slightly agree with ID29... because not long from here Aug applicants should receive their decisions back from now... probably your 2 or 3 weeks ahead..

but reading your previous posts... why did you applied via postal service when you could have done on PEO. It would have only cost you a couple of hundreds more and could have got the decision on the same day (i only said could have been because I have friend who applied on PEO service and then it took them 2 and half months to decide - however, the complicatedness of the case comes into play)

Saanju

[Xiaozhu]

We did a postal application to save money! Appointments at a PEO weren't avaiolable for another three months anyway. And because we had no idea it would take this long - we only found out when we started looking at this forum, the UKBA quoted the same old statistic about it taking three months so we thought it would make no difference applying by post. I hadn't learnt not to trust them yet.

No we still haven't recieved our documents, which is frustrating because we know a decision has been made.

[whitequeen]

In my case, I don't think contacting my MP and the rest helped at all. My MP hasn't received a response yet from UKBA to his last letter (9th January) and the last time I talked to them, they are still chasing for a reply. But I'm still thankful that my MP and his staff were not ignoring my letters and pleas about my application.

---

Once again, THANK YOU to all here.

[whitequeen]

We did a postal application to save money! Appointments at a PEO weren't avaiolable for another three months anyway. And because we had no idea it would take this long - we only found out when we started looking at this forum, the UKBA quoted the same old statistic about it taking three months so we thought it would make no difference applying by post. I hadn't learnt not to trust them yet.

No we still haven't recieved our documents, which is frustrating because we know a decision has been made.

That's what my husband and I thought so too..It's just a shame that UKBA doesn't care about us. We'll definitely apply via PEO when it's time to apply for ILR!

[hussanmaan]

Hurrah! Good for you.

Do people think that now they are almost done with the pre-9 July applications they might be a bit quicker given that there may have been fewer after this date?

am looking that you are very active in looking out applications results.
i applied in september 2012 and i know i will get result afterward of you.
Hope we will listen it from HO very soon ..

[ShazIslam]

Hi everyone. I wanted to share this with everyone. I requested my husband's passport last week and it came yesterday. I was at work, and when I finished, I saw I had an email from my caseworker, asking me to confirm my address as I have changed my address twice after I applied for my FLR(M). the email I got was this:

Dear Mrs .....



I’m caseworking your FLR(M) application at present. Could you clarify your correspondence address? I note your husband requested documents to be returned last year and these went to (my address). Is this still where you require documents to be despatched to?



Many thanks

My timeline is exactly the same as LUCKYJINX.

I emailed them right away confirming my address. Today I got a reply from them:

Dear Mrs ......

Many thanks for this clarification, I'll be returning your documents in the next couple of days.

Kind Regards


I hope I get a positive response and I hope I get it back in 2 weeks time.

One more thing, I dont understand why he said I requested for my husband's passport last year, when I just did it 1 week ago :s???

[shendean]

Hi everyone. I wanted to share this with everyone. I requested my husband's passport last week and it came yesterday. I was at work, and when I finished, I saw I had an email from my caseworker, asking me to confirm my address as I have changed my address twice after I applied for my FLR(M). the email I got was this:

Dear Mrs .....



I’m caseworking your FLR(M) application at present. Could you clarify your correspondence address? I note your husband requested documents to be returned last year and these went to (my address). Is this still where you require documents to be despatched to?



Many thanks

My timeline is exactly the same as LUCKYJINX.

I emailed them right away confirming my address. Today I got a reply from them:

Dear Mrs ......

Many thanks for this clarification, I'll be returning your documents in the next couple of days.

Kind Regards


I hope I get a positive response and I hope I get it back in 2 weeks time.

One more thing, I dont understand why he said I requested for my husband's passport last year, when I just did it 1 week ago :s???

Hi shazislam!!

I did request of my husband passport just yeterday wanna ask if who did u put in the question of
DATE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED BY:________
coz i put my name on that question..

[ShazIslam]

[quote="shendean"][quote="ShazIslam"]Hi everyone. I wanted to share this with everyone. I requested my husband's passport last week and it came yesterday. I was at work, and when I finished, I saw I had an email from my caseworker, asking me to confirm my address as I have changed my address twice after I applied for my FLR(M). the email I got was this:

Dear Mrs .....



I’m caseworking your FLR(M) application at present. Could you clarify your correspondence address? I note your husband requested documents to be returned last year and these went to (my address). Is this still where you require documents to be despatched to?



Many thanks

My timeline is exactly the same as LUCKYJINX.

I emailed them right away confirming my address. Today I got a reply from them:

Dear Mrs ......

Many thanks for this clarification, I'll be returning your documents in the next couple of days.

Kind Regards


I hope I get a positive response and I hope I get it back in 2 weeks time.

One more thing, I dont understand why he said I requested for my husband's passport last year, when I just did it 1 week ago :s???[/quote]

Hi shazislam!!

I did request of my husband passport just yeterday wanna ask if who did u put in the question of
DATE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED BY:________
coz i put my name on that question..[/quote]

Well, they asked for the date, so I put a date 2 weeks from the date I requested it. I didnt put anyone's name on that question.

[SJ_2013]

Hi everyone. I wanted to share this with everyone. I requested my husband's passport last week and it came yesterday. I was at work, and when I finished, I saw I had an email from my caseworker, asking me to confirm my address as I have changed my address twice after I applied for my FLR(M). the email I got was this:

Dear Mrs .....



I’m caseworking your FLR(M) application at present. Could you clarify your correspondence address? I note your husband requested documents to be returned last year and these went to (my address). Is this still where you require documents to be despatched to?



Many thanks

My timeline is exactly the same as LUCKYJINX.

I emailed them right away confirming my address. Today I got a reply from them:

Dear Mrs ......

Many thanks for this clarification, I'll be returning your documents in the next couple of days.

Kind Regards


I hope I get a positive response and I hope I get it back in 2 weeks time.

One more thing, I dont understand why he said I requested for my husband's passport last year, when I just did it 1 week ago :s???

Hi shazislam!!

I did request of my husband passport just yeterday wanna ask if who did u put in the question of
DATE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED BY:________
coz i put my name on that question..

I also got my husband's passport back yesterday and in the Date document required by, you need to fill the date by which you need the passport by. My husband filled in 25th Feb but we got earlier.

Thanks

[ID29]

And I agree there is little evidence that requesting sponsor's passports or involving your MP will speed up a particular application. In fact, in my opinion, it could slow some down.

Not so sure - we've made a hell of a fuss with our MP and our application was decided on 6 Feb (see my earlier posts). However, as we have not yet received the docs back this remains to be seen...

Firstly, I genuinely do wish you a speedy and positive result... I would love nothing more than to be proved wrong. Secondly, as I've said before, it can only help in the long term if people DO complain to their MPs but I'm not convince the system is sufficiently responsive enough to actually have any bearing on current applications. By the time most complaints have reached the right ear, the application would most likely have been processed anyway. And that's assuming the 'right ear' is able or willing to expedite an application... and here, the UKBA clearly state they won't unless it's an extreme and provable emergency.

There are obvious risks too. Its not beyond imagination to suspect that hundreds or thousands of complaints wouldn't have a detrimental impact on overall performance as they switch resources to deal with them - although to be fair, it might equally spur them on eventually to perform better, eventually.

And finally, Xiaozhu, in your own case (and I'm reluctant to even mention this) a thought occurred to me yesterday concerning the UKBA's apparent halt on your decision. Is it possible (although unfortunate) that your complaints reached the UKBA just as your documents were about to be dispatched and they are now busy double checking their processing of your application before sending it out? I'm not suggesting they might do this for spiteful reasons (while the UKBA is clearly lacking in some areas, I don't believe they are evil) just that they might want to spend some time ensuring they've done everything correctly so they can defend themselves and/or answer your complaint?

As always, my opinions are just that. I'm content to be a lone voice and realise others might not agree with everything.

Best wishes

[Xiaozhu]

ID29: Who knows? The workings of the UKBA are a total mystery to me. All I can say is that we weren't expecting a decision for a while yet and apparently one has been made, although that's a fat lot of use to us if we still don't have our documents!

We have made quite the fuss and I kind of hope that has helped - it would restore at least some of my faith in the system if I thought they were actually listening to applicants and acting on their complaints.

I can only say that there are also extenutating circumstances in our case which we wish to keep private, and this may also be a reason why they have made a decision. Also our MP, Harriet Harman, has been very helpful and responsive.

[AmunRah]

Hello all,

I thought I'd share this with you;

I made a complaint to the UKBA using the online form on their website and recieved a letter from them yesterday saying that they are currently dealing with November biometrics (mine was done in December).

I'm not sure how much I believe this as there are loads of you out there who did biometrics before Novemeber and have not got a decision yet.

The letter was signed off "Temporary Migration Workflow Team" so they have recruited more monkeys to work through the massive basklog.

There is a link provided for feedback about UKBA service. You can guess what my feedback is going to be!

I sincerely hope we all get our decisions soon.

All the very best!

[luckyjinx]

Thanks for sharing AmunRah, they are definitely not done with September yet because I'm still waiting! Sounds like a case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing

[monn.p]

Hello
Has anyone here who got the letter of approval last week and got their BRP yet? I know it would take about 7-10 days but mine hasn't come so I thought I'd try call DX to see if there is anything for me as I am planning on going back home at the end of the month and turned out they haven't got anything for me and also does anyone know if I can still travel providing that my tier 4 student visa won't expire until 31 May and if i havent got my brp by the end of the month can i still travel and come back to the UK in march on the student visa i've got? Thanks in advance for your reply

[luckyjinx]

If you've been issued with a BRP (as you should be if you've gotten a letter of approval), then you must have it in order to get back into the UK. I think they would have cancelled your last visa given that they've approved a new visa for you. Best just to wait, especially since the UKBA won't take pity on you - it's stated in several places that you should not make travel plans until all documents and the BRP have been returned to you. Sorry check with the Immigrations Enquiry Bureau though.

Also keep in mind that 7-10 days is possibly working days, which is up to 2 weeks.

[Dev9aug]

Thanks

There is no template and besides you are much better off writing it yourself.

Not sure how good your English is (sorry, difficult to tell from forums etc! For all I know you could be a native speaker) but my advice to anyone for whom English is not their first language would be to get a native speaker to check your letter through before sending it.

Think about the letter carefully: state the facts clearly and don't use capital letters, exclamation marks etc etc as it will make you look like a loony. You need to come across as rational, reasonable and very hard done by.

Sturcture suggestion would be:

Introduce yourself and why you are writing: "my name is X and I am writing to complain about the UKBA's delay in issuing my/my husband's/my wife's (name) visa for settlement through marriage".

Then go on to state the facts: nationalities, the date of your application, when the BM letter was sent etc.

Then tell them how the delay has affected you, e.g. financial hardship, stress, marital strain, depression.

It seems like a good idea to emphasise how the UKBA are so bad at giving accurate information, the disparity between the facts they give you and the experience you've actually had, and the fact that you have been misled into thinking that your visa would take a lot less time. It is also a good idea to explain how difficult it is to get hold of them, how they have failed to respond to complaints etc. Use solid examples and details. No use just ranting aimlessly, you need to back up your claims with facts.

As a lawyer (not immigration) I'm pretty much trained to write letters like this, and I can guarantee that putting your case clearly and forcefully will help a lot.

[saanju9]

We did a postal application to save money! Appointments at a PEO weren't avaiolable for another three months anyway. And because we had no idea it would take this long - we only found out when we started looking at this forum, the UKBA quoted the same old statistic about it taking three months so we thought it would make no difference applying by post. I hadn't learnt not to trust them yet.

No we still haven't recieved our documents, which is frustrating because we know a decision has been made.

I guess the same old trap which everyone falls for... Mine is different story and I had no other choice..

At least from now I wouldn't recommend this postal system to any of my friends and not going to take this route for my wife's ILR..

We have made quite the fuss and I kind of hope that has helped - it would restore at least some of my faith in the system if I thought they were actually listening to applicants and acting on their complaints.

Yeah I think your right Xiaozhu... may be not in an individual case... but this certainly been heard with a collective shout (the amount of complaints they got).. I could see that they have woke up for the last few weeks.. and I hope if this continues and the bladdy weather stays still without snowing and interrupting the sluggy UKBA workers.... they could reach the targets by the end of March (as they said they would)

Well... I hope you will get your docs soon... good luck

Saanju

[maggie786]

kk

[shendean]

[quote="maggie786"]hi i got my approval letter on last friday but not recieved bio card yet anyone had experience about that..[/quote

it took 5-10 days! ifu recieved approval letter so its not 5days yet!

[maggie786]

hi i got my approval letter on last friday but not recieved bio card yet anyone had experience about that..[/quote

it took 5-10 days! ifu recieved approval letter so its not 5days yet!

thanks for replying but last time of my visa i got my bio card on same day and same stated on approval letter that u il get ur bio card in 7 days but this time i dont know wht happened check the prvious posts they are getting there bio cards on next dayy

[shendean]

hi i got my approval letter on last friday but not recieved bio card yet anyone had experience about that..[/quote

it took 5-10 days! ifu recieved approval letter so its not 5days yet!

thanks for replying but last time of my visa i got my bio card on same day and same stated on approval letter that u il get ur bio card in 7 days but this time i dont know wht happened check the prvious posts they are getting there bio cards on next dayy

thats the last time though. we are same before when i applied i got same decision but now is different.

[luckyjinx]

For anyone with FOI requests in which have a delayed response - there is action you can take

I received this from the Information Commissioner's Office regarding the delayed response to one of my FOI requests:

Your information request to the Home Office (UK Border Agency)

Thank you for your correspondence dated 11th February, in which you complain about UKBA’s failure to respond to your information request.

When considering complaints about delayed or failed responses to information requests our priority is to ensure requesters receive a response as quickly as possible (where one has not been provided) and to monitor any persistent trends which might indicate that a public authority was routinely failing to respond within the statutory 20 working days permitted under section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act.

We monitor complaints where a serious contravention of section 10 is recorded and where persistent contraventions occur we will consider placing a public authority on our monitoring programme (http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/pro ... iance.aspx ).

I have written to the public authority to provide them with a copy of your original request, reminding them of their responsibilities and asking them to respond to you within 10 working days of receiving our email. I enclose a copy of my email to the public authority for your information. The late response will be recorded and as described will form part of our ongoing activity to consider the performance of public authorities and the Freedom of Information Act in the future.

Should you wish the Information Commissioner to issue a decision notice for your specific complaint we are able to do so, however it is important to note that the Commissioner does not need to serve a decision notice in an individual case in order to use that case as evidence for future enforcement action.

If UKBA responds and refuses to release the information you have asked for and you are dissatisfied, you may, after exhausting their internal complaints procedure, complain to us again.

At this point the case has been closed and I would like to thank you for bringing these concerns to the attention of the Information Commissioner. If you do not receive a response within 10 working days please contact us quoting the reference number on this letter.

So, if you have an FOI request in, and it's late, report it to the ICO so that they can both investigate it and build up a case against an authority that is, as they say, "routinely failing to respond within the statutory 20 working days permitted."

[at2329]

Hello
Has anyone here who got the letter of approval last week and got their BRP yet? I know it would take about 7-10 days but mine hasn't come so I thought I'd try call DX to see if there is anything for me as I am planning on going back home at the end of the month and turned out they haven't got anything for me and also does anyone know if I can still travel providing that my tier 4 student visa won't expire until 31 May and if i havent got my brp by the end of the month can i still travel and come back to the UK in march on the student visa i've got? Thanks in advance for your reply

Monn.p
We recieved our letter on 13th Feb and BRP was recieved today 14th Feb. I couldnt believe this but when i looked in BRP i had to. . I wish you good luck

[at2329]

We got our documents back yesterday, it say BRP will be arriving in 7 days which i hope means application has been approved.

We had to wait 7.5 months, here is out time line

Applied: 1st July 2012
biometric 8th Sept 2012
Documents 12 Feb 2012
BRP Waiting

good news at2329.. congrats!

Just to let you know that we recieved our BRP card today. This is shocking from UKBA