OLD FLR(M) waiting times Thread

[SJ_2013]

Hi Everyone,

I received my BRP on Friday, 22nd.

My Timeline
Date applied : 06/07/2012
Ack letter : Late july
Biometric letter : 11/10/2012
Biometric submission: 13/10/2012
spouse passport received : 14/02/2013
Docs, passport received : 15/02/2013
BRP : 22/02/2013

I have a question if anybody can help me. I applied on 6/7/2012, my Tier 1 visa expired on 11/12/2012 and FLR(M) visa issued on 13/02/2013 with expiry date of 13/02/2015 based on old rules. Now the question is when can I apply for ILR? Is it July 2014 as its 2 years from application date or Feb 2015 as its 2 years from Visa issue date?

Thanks

[Damanisshallo]

I have a question if anybody can help me. I applied on 6/7/2012, my Tier 1 visa expired on 11/12/2012 and FLR(M) visa issued on 13/02/2013 with expiry date of 13/02/2015 based on old rules. Now the question is when can I apply for ILR? Is it July 2014 as its 2 years from application date or Feb 2015 as its 2 years from Visa issue date?

If we gave you permission to remain in the UK as an unmarried or same-sex partner and are now applying to settle here as the husband, wife or civil partner of the same person, your 2-year qualifying period started on whichever is the later of these two dates:

the date when we gave you permission to remain as an unmarried or same-sex partner; or
the date when you arrived in the UK.

[SJ_2013]

I have a question if anybody can help me. I applied on 6/7/2012, my Tier 1 visa expired on 11/12/2012 and FLR(M) visa issued on 13/02/2013 with expiry date of 13/02/2015 based on old rules. Now the question is when can I apply for ILR? Is it July 2014 as its 2 years from application date or Feb 2015 as its 2 years from Visa issue date?

If we gave you permission to remain in the UK as an unmarried or same-gender partner and are now applying to settle here as the husband, wife or civil partner of the same person, your 2-year qualifying period started on whichever is the later of these two dates:

the date when we gave you permission to remain as an unmarried or same-gender partner; or
the date when you arrived in the UK.

Thanks Damanisshallo, So that means its Feb 2015. So not only we suffer waiting for a visa, it affects our future as well. 7 months wasted in a whole . I had to go for postal application as there was no premier appointment available before 9th july but never realised it would take so much time.

[Damanisshallo]

Thanks Damanisshallo, So that means its Feb 2015. So not only we suffer waiting for a visa, it affects our future as well. 7 months wasted in a whole . I had to go for postal application as there was no premier appointment available before 9th july but never realised it would take so much time.

Sadly yes. Well my understanding is that this is the first time you got into this visa (dependent) otherwise you were on your own right(Tier 1). At least you are lucky to fall under the old rules.

I don't think there is a provision for ILR but I know there is one for Naturalisation where you can apply 15 months from date of application.

[BellaM]

Hi all, I am a silent(ish) member of this forum. I finally received my passport and documents back today! I hope that more and more people will hear great news today!

My timeline:
Acknowledgement letter date: 29/10/12
Biometrics request date: 28/12/12
Biometrics submitted: 2/1/13
Passport & docs received in post: 22/2/13
BRP: awaiting

hi congrats i applied on 19/10/2012
bio done 31/12/2012
still waiting hope mine come next week did you done anything to speed up process

No I hadn't done anything special except just wait. I think my application was pretty straight forward though. Hopefully you'll get your documents back soon!

[shendean]

Hi all, I am a silent(ish) member of this forum. I finally received my passport and documents back today! I hope that more and more people will hear great news today!

My timeline:
Acknowledgement letter date: 29/10/12
Biometrics request date: 28/12/12
Biometrics submitted: 2/1/13
Passport & docs received in post: 22/2/13
BRP: awaiting

hi congrats i applied on 19/10/2012
bio done 31/12/2012
still waiting hope mine come next week did you done anything to speed up process

No I hadn't done anything special except just wait. I think my application was pretty straight forward though. Hopefully you'll get your documents back soon!

Hi? what did u applied~?

[strayaleprechaun]

Hi all

Delighted to see so many others getting their docs returned with good news. We received a letter this morning asking for more information, and it had my (sponsor) passport in with it. (We did not request the return of my passport.)

They have requested:
- 1 x wage slip for specified month for sponsor
- employment contracts for all jobs for both of us
- Bank statements for various periods for both of us
- "further documentary evidence to show that you have been residing together since October 2010. This evidence should be from at least 3 official sources and addressed to BOTH parties either jointly or separately and must predate this letter."

On the one hand, I am a little confused as we met their requirements of the evidence for living together from 3 different sources across the 2 years, so why ask for it again? On the other, I am delighted that this means our application is with a caseworker and is actually being considered.

Am I right in thinking that a number of people received their visa result quite quickly after submitting the extra evidence requested? Thought I would ask, as I don't want to get my hopes up if I am wrong.

Many thanks for all your input. This is a great forum - I think we would all be pulling our hair out even more without it!

[luckyjinx]

Congrats to all the lucky people!

Xiaozhu, this is outrageous. Have you contacted Diane again?

The UKBA is putting their prices up again from April:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... s-2013.pdf

Still waiting and hoping that they haven't lost my file...very confused now with the consistent approvals of January bios and wondering what happened to September. Any other Septembers still waiting?

[longwaytogo]

hi Damanisshallo, thanks for your reply, do you mean meat in personal with my MP will speed up process? we e mail him 2 weeks ago, and had a quick response that they made a contact with UKBA and is quite for a moment

[Xiaozhu]

Yes, it's bad. They have effectively lied to both me and my MP. And of course once again it highlights the lack of transparency - they tell you one thing and then do another, try to backtrack. I had no idea that a decision has to be 'approved'. Why don't we know these things?

On another note, I noticed that they are going to start charging a fee for PEO appointments - £100 deposit on booking and £375 per person for the appointment itslef (the £100 to be included in this). I think this is a money making thing - obviously it won't deter those people who engage in a black market trade for these appointments. Yes they'll have to pay a £100 deposit but they will make that back easily and quickly with the number of people desparate to get these things.

[innocentdevil]

Xiaozhu: to be honest, though you have tried everything in your right to get them to make the application process but as per guidelines they have 6 months anyway and like you said they have completed today so I do not know what is the fuss. Though they should have completed within 6 months but now you can complain as it is outside the time frame while previously it was within 6 months period.

having said that, UKBA is a cobbing runts and should pull finger outta their arses and sort it out. and now they are putting up the fees yet again. wtf

[luckyjinx]

Yes, it's bad. They have effectively lied to both me and my MP. And of course once again it highlights the lack of transparency - they tell you one thing and then do another, try to backtrack. I had no idea that a decision has to be 'approved'. Why don't we know these things?

On another note, I noticed that they are going to start charging a fee for PEO appointments - £100 deposit on booking and £375 per person for the appointment itslef (the £100 to be included in this). I think this is a money making thing - obviously it won't deter those people who engage in a black market trade for these appointments. Yes they'll have to pay a £100 deposit but they will make that back easily and quickly with the number of people desparate to get these things.

The £100 fee is included in the £375 premium for an appointment, and if you do the math the current premium for a PEO appt is £306 for an FLR(M), so all they've done is separate this out and increase the price a bit. It's still BS though.

[curlyk]

Am I right in thinking that a number of people received their visa result quite quickly after submitting the extra evidence requested? Thought I would ask, as I don't want to get my hopes up if I am wrong.

Hi - from our experience, they actually turned the application around on the same day that they received the additional information from us. i.e. we posted on 12th, they received 13th and they had the letter in the post wtih documents on 13th too (which we received on 16th).

Good Luck!

[csandbrook]

Hi all,

Great to see some responses coming through from UKBA, and well done to those involved!

I have a couple of questions about the skydrive data and how to interpret them. On the one hand, it looks like a lot of applicants from early July have now been processed, even though their biometric timings are all over the place. This makes me wonder if it is the application date rather than the bio date that has more influence on the order in which UKBA is processing applications. On the other hand, there don't seem to be that many pending applications in skydrive from later in July, and there are the usual confusing cases where an application made months later has already been processed. So, does anyone else see evidence in skydrive that applications are generally being processed in order (and that they have reached mid July) or is there something else going on here (like a freak spike in applications made in early July)?

Thanks!

Chris

Wife's timeline: Applied 31st August, Biometric late November, still waiting.

[Xiaozhu]

Xiaozhu: to be honest, though you have tried everything in your right to get them to make the application process but as per guidelines they have 6 months anyway and like you said they have completed today so I do not know what is the fuss. Though they should have completed within 6 months but now you can complain as it is outside the time frame while previously it was within 6 months period.

having said that, UKBA is a cobbing runts and should pull finger outta their arses and sort it out. and now they are putting up the fees yet again. wtf

The 'fuss' is that they did not tell us it would take this long, in fact they repeatedly told us it would take 3 months and that the 6 months was more a 'worst case scenario' for more complex applications. They failed to disclose that they were experiencing such severe delays, they have lied to us about how long it would be before my husband can work and travel, they have not responded punctually or even remotely clearly to any of our communications. They have taken our money and as far as I can see p*ssed it up the proverbial wall. Had they told us clearly from the beginning that the whole thing would be such a fiasco then we never would have made a postal application - and if we had then of course we wouldn't be complaining until the 6 months was up. Not that it should ever take 6 months anyway. The 'fuss' is that we have all been MISLED, taken for a ride. I don't know what your situation is but my husband and I are going through hell. I have a right to make a fuss - why the heck should we just sit back and let them do this to us?

In fact, comments like that are quite unhelpful and discouraging to me, especially when we have been working as hard as we can to raise awareness of this issue on behalf of everyone in this situation. Even if the fuss I have made has not helped I have at least tried, and perhaps saved others from making the same mistakes.

Also, I started fussing the minute I found out about the delays, which was about 3 months ago when our BRM letter had still not been sent. I did not want to be in the situation where we were still wondering and waiting 10 months after we applied. I wanted to do everything possible to kick the UKBA into action before it got to the 6 month stage in the hope that they would have responded by then. Besides, I am not the kind of person who can sit back and let the government treat me and my husband (or anyone else) like vermin without saying anything. In a way all the complaining and letter writing I've been has been cathartic, it's the only way I can cope.

By the way, I have asked my MP to press on with the complaint to the Ombudsman. It's probably a bit late now as I expect our docs to come back very soon but I refuse to accept this situation both for me and for the many thousands of other couples who are having their mental health, careers and marriages ruined because of this scandal. I will keep you updated.

(PS: Our application is not completed, they have merely made a 'decision in principle' which has to be approved or whatever before they can send our docs).

[Xiaozhu]

or is there something else going on here (like a freak spike in applications made in early July)?

Yes there was as the rules changed on 9 July 2012 and lots of people got their applications in before that to take advantage of the old rules. Hoping this means that post-9 July applications are fewer and will therefore be got through quicker...

[kings76]

@ cuylyk they ask me to send my psw visa to them which I sent on Friday last week through my solicitor on record delivery and I have called my lawyer and he said he posted it on Friday,and that is the only thing ukba ask me to provide again,do you think I may get it this week With a good news,@xiohazu if I pronounce your name correct I think you don't need to loose Hope am of the view yours is on the way coming,sometimes I become afraid if ukba staff posed as undercover to read on these post and get our reactions,I ask my MP and lawyer to write them to speed up my application because of my dad health they replied by asking me if I wanted to withdraw my application which I never replied back before they ask for my psw visa , can they withdraw my application without my consent and if yes why will they ask for my psw visa ,or can they must have sent my application to my lawyer and he us waiting for my brp please can someone tell me what I need to do or think

[csandbrook]

[quote]Yes there was as the rules changed on 9 July 2012 and lots of people got their applications in before that to take advantage of the old rules. Hoping this means that post-9 July applications are fewer and will therefore be got through quicker...[/quote]

Ah thank you Xiaozhu that makes a lot of sense. I remember now that we did notice that date back when we started with this nightmare, but as our wedding was on July 14th there wasn't much we could do about it!

On your other post - I for one greatly appreciate your efforts to complain vigorously to anyone who is listening about this situation. It is beyond a joke. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has plans for a group action to raise awareness in the media or anything similar.

[Damanisshallo]

This is how it stands as of now.

[Xiaozhu]

That's really helpful, thanks.

[lynnae]

Wow, looks like they've finally gotten the biometrics letters back into proper timeline. It used to take 2-4 weeks, but I waited 9 and at the peak there were people regularly waiting something like 14-16 weeks for a bio letter. Hopefully that means the backlog is very nearly under control.

yep, looks that way.

Here's mine (switching from Tier 1 general to Unmarried partners):
Submitted: 21-22/01/2013 (agency sent it for us)
Acknowledged: 29/01/2013
Biometrics invitation arrived: 14/02/2013
Biometrics enrolled: 15/02/2013
waiting on everything else now

However, if they've broken the back of the summer backlog, they probably have two different teams running, one for the old rules applications still outstanding and one for the new rules applications.

[luckyjinx]

The 'fuss' is that we have all been MISLED, taken for a ride. I don't know what your situation is but my husband and I are going through hell. I have a right to make a fuss - why the heck should we just sit back and let them do this to us?

In fact, comments like that are quite unhelpful and discouraging to me, especially when we have been working as hard as we can to raise awareness of this issue on behalf of everyone in this situation. Even if the fuss I have made has not helped I have at least tried, and perhaps saved others from making the same mistakes.

Also, I started fussing the minute I found out about the delays, which was about 3 months ago when our BRM letter had still not been sent. I did not want to be in the situation where we were still wondering and waiting 10 months after we applied. I wanted to do everything possible to kick the UKBA into action before it got to the 6 month stage in the hope that they would have responded by then. Besides, I am not the kind of person who can sit back and let the government treat me and my husband (or anyone else) like vermin without saying anything. In a way all the complaining and letter writing I've been has been cathartic, it's the only way I can cope.

By the way, I have asked my MP to press on with the complaint to the Ombudsman. It's probably a bit late now as I expect our docs to come back very soon but I refuse to accept this situation both for me and for the many thousands of other couples who are having their mental health, careers and marriages ruined because of this scandal. I will keep you updated.

(PS: Our application is not completed, they have merely made a 'decision in principle' which has to be approved or whatever before they can send our docs).

Hear, hear. Couldn't agree more. Those who have read John Vine's report into the marriage visa situation know that it is required for overseas posts to keep current information about peak demand and processing times on their website so that applicants can plan accordingly. There is no such requirement to help those applying within the UK. Applicants applying for spouse visas for entry from the US receive regular email updates for a process that at its longest has taken 2 months; applicants in the UK hear NOTHING for months on end.

Next week is 8 months' wait for me. Like Xiaozhu, I started complaining before I reached 6 months, and while it hasn't gotten my visa processed faster it has certainly helped to draw attention to our plight (via The Guardian) and has helped me keep my sanity. Every one of the 3 previous UK visas I applied for took no more than 4 weeks to process, so the thought of waiting until you reach 6 effing months to complain is just ridiculous.

[BellaM]

Hi all, I am a silent(ish) member of this forum. I finally received my passport and documents back today! I hope that more and more people will hear great news today!

My timeline:
Acknowledgement letter date: 29/10/12
Biometrics request date: 28/12/12
Biometrics submitted: 2/1/13
Passport & docs received in post: 22/2/13
BRP: awaiting

hi congrats i applied on 19/10/2012
bio done 31/12/2012
still waiting hope mine come next week did you done anything to speed up process

No I hadn't done anything special except just wait. I think my application was pretty straight forward though. Hopefully you'll get your documents back soon!

Hi? what did u applied~?

I applied I think on 24/10/12. I applied from a tier 1 post study work visa to an unmarried partner visa. We supplied more than the required amount of documents to prove our cohabitation, jobs & earnings.

I hope that helps & that you receive your documents back soon. I'm still waiting for my BRP.

[lynnae]

Next week is 8 months' wait for me. Like Xiaozhu, I started complaining before I reached 6 months, and while it hasn't gotten my visa processed faster it has certainly helped to draw attention to our plight (via The Guardian) and has helped me keep my sanity. Every one of the 3 previous UK visas I applied for took no more than 4 weeks to process, so the thought of waiting until you reach 6 effing months to complain is just ridiculous.

From what I was told, the reason the FLR M visas take so long is that the requirements are very wishy-washy. The points based visas are very straight forward, either you meet it or you don't, whereas the FLR M visas have very few areas that are simple Yes/No, there's always at least one but...

The BA needs to be extra careful with FLR M from both an EU/UK Human rights perspective and also from an abuse of the law perspective.

I can understand it, but that doesn't mean I like or appreciate the possibility of my life being tied up and unable to do things like get a different job until the results come back. Or, because of the wishy-washiness of the requirements, being possibly faced with a rejection letter (even though we've been living together in the UK as a couple for 4 years and meet the financial requirement)

[kings76]

@ xioahzu your right in your statement you have every right to make the fuss as far as they took your hard earned money without doing their work and on top of that lied to you plus the mental issues your passing through it is absolutely right for you to cry for the world to hear and see the injustice they are giving to you and others @ innocent devil your wrong to make that statement united we stand and know an injury to one is an injury to all ,put yourself in xiaohzu shoe you don't her mental capacity what we all need on this forum is support and honest contribution,it really goes a long way to help no matter how small it is ,why can't you say ukba is making mistake by increasing application feed with poor services as they just increased the fees now,please my dear xiaohzu don't be despair you will soon hear from them