USA scanning system delays

[mylittletiger]

Hi

We are new to this experience

We applied for a UK spouse settlement visa from the USA and completed the online application and booked an appointment in the New York offices.

I have been in the UK for the last year on a 1 year visitor visor so had to travel back to the USA to submit this application as advised I was unable to switch.

I have been married to my British spouse for 2 years and as we had a substantial bundle of supporting documents we decided I would take my application documents then after bio metrics send the stamped form to my husband to ship the supporting documents locally to Sheffield.

I applied on the 29th August and had my appointment booked for the 20th September so I traveled to NYC on the 17th of September from the UK.

Then it went wrong when I got to my appointment they refused to see me because I hadn't paid $2000 although I had paid almost $800 for priority they said if I paid them they could accept my documents for me but my husband had all of the documents so that wasn't an option. They refused to do my bio-metrics and sent me across the city to a post office.

I managed to get to the place and had my bio-metrics done and my form stamped then just before I was going to ship my stamped form to my husband they gave me a leaflet saying the system had changed.

Now from September the 11th 2018 all documents have to be sent to the New York scanning Hub which was actually the same address as my appointment. I was given 5 days to do this but I was presented with 2 problems our original application had been 100% original documents as requested however the scanning center wanted 100% copied documents on USA letter A4 which is a different size paper to the UK A4.

In order to do this my husband had to fly to NYC with a suitcase full of documents and we had to visit a friend of ours who had an office and spent all weekend photocopying everything and re structuring in the slightly different format.

As advised we wrote priority everywhere inside and outside the package along with the paid receipt.

The system indicated it would take less than 30 working days as we paid for priority.

We have now passed 45 working days and escalated twice via the phone-line

We received a couple of emails that didn't make much sense

One said please send evidence we were a priority customer the other said sorry for the delay my application is being processed. I sent a copy of the receipt within a couple of hours of receiving the email.

I don't know if its my actual case that's delayed or if the system has problems.

K

[Londoner007]

Sounds like a complete mess and a nightmare.

It's not guaranteed a decision will be made within 30 working days, rather they aim to make a decision within that time. The email apologising was it from decision making centre in Sheffield?

[physicskate]

From another website I follow, it looks like very few people have received decisions since the change over.

All you can do is contact your (husband's) MP to make sure your application is in the priority queue.

Good luck.

BTW - you were living in the UK for a whole year under a visitor visa?!?!?!?

[mylittletiger]

Hi

I just checked the emails and we received 2 one apologizing for the delay and the other asking for proof priority was paid they both came from someone with the same initials

The email signature was

UKVI Contact center - UK Decision making center

it didn't mention Sheffield.

My daughter is at a private school so I was previously allowed to live in the UK as a parent of a student VISA which are awarded for 12 months but unfortunately they class it as a visitor visor so I am unable to switch within the UK to a spouse visa

K

[Londoner007]

The emails basically came from the call centre, they probably dont even know the true status of your application. Ask them to escalate your message to the decision making department that is processing your application.

[mylittletiger]

Hi

I called the UKVI helpful line and asked for my priority message to be sent to the decision making team in Sheffield as suggested.

The guy told me 2 things

I couldn't escalate again until this Friday (30/11/18) as we need to allow a time period to pass since my last escalation BTW Friday will be 50 working days for me since bio-metrics.

The other thing he said which confused me was that he didn't think my application was being processed in Sheffield he indicated that our emails were from the processing team but for my case it was based in the USA.

I was under the impression all settlement cases had to be done in Sheffield so why is mine in the USA?

k

[physicskate]

Hi

I called the UKVI helpful line and asked for my priority message to be sent to the decision making team in Sheffield as suggested.

The guy told me 2 things

I couldn't escalate again until this Friday (30/11/18) as we need to allow a time period to pass since my last escalation BTW Friday will be 50 working days for me since bio-metrics.

The other thing he said which confused me was that he didn't think my application was being processed in Sheffield he indicated that our emails were from the processing team but for my case it was based in the USA.

I was under the impression all settlement cases had to be done in Sheffield so why is mine in the USA?

k

Ok. The call centre knows NOTHING!!! They are an outsourced, poorly trained call centre - they are well-known for giving erroneous information and have no access to your specific application at all.. You are far better off replying to the emails sent to you. Attach proof of priority to the emails. That's it.

Then get in contact with your husband's MP asking them to investigate the situation with your application.

As with any change in the system, it's a mess. Your application IS being processed in Sheffield. Your application being sent to New York is literally where they scan everything and forward it to Sheffield. There are others in similar positions, as the change in system has meant they don't quite know how the system works. Oh and the change (as you are probably aware) was brought in with NO NOTICE. It's disgraceful, but because applicants don't really have any other options, the disgrace persists.

Rant over.

[mylittletiger]

Thanks

I don't actually know who to email as both the emails had a do not reply tag

Should I use the paid email service?

I thought if you paid for the email all you did was email the same contact center that spoke to me on the phone

k

[physicskate]

Most unusual that you can't reply to it if they've requested proof of priority. Honestly, If you can't reply to their email I have no idea what you could do...