Personal Timeline - Spouse & Step-Daughter Application

I thought I would add a timeline post on here now that our application has been submitted to give some an idea of what to expect although I fully appreciate not every application will follow the same timeline but it may give some a feeling of what to expect. Will also add notes of experiences along the way. Any questions please do not hesitate to ask. Here goes:

13 September 2018: Wife and step-daughter attend visa appointment in Manila having travelled from Tuguegarao. (first panic as I receive a WhatsApp message from her telling me that at initial reception in the Visa Application Centre they informed her we have submitted the wrong type of application as we have applied for Student visas for my her and step-daughter. At 4am in the morning I sprung out of bed and I checked and replied that we have applied for spouse-settlement and child-settlement. I wake up to check thinking I am losing my mind, the application did not ask about colleges of study, we could not have got it that wrong surely!. Nope, the applications are for spouse-settlement and child-settlement. 10 minutes later wife sends message saying a clerical error.....how can this be? Hour later message received from wife all done, passports submitted, biometrics done......phew!!

13 September 2018: Same day went to local Post Office to send '4.6 kg evidence pack' to Sheffield. Royal Mail Special Delivery, guaranteed by 9am next day. (second panic as check online tracking service and not received. Checked and checked again all day but not received. Called the Royal Mail helpline who stated received at 0912 Hrs but the online tracker did not show this until the day after)

14 September 2018: Everything submitted. Now to sit back and pray and hope! Will be a while I know but will update when I hear more but as already mentioned if anybody has any questions please do ask.

18 September 2018: Fingers still crossed and praying!

Thanks for update , looking forward to details of applications progress .
Good luck to you all .

it seems never ending. we are applying for my wifes 2nd flr next month. kiss goodbye to another £1500+

Yes it's a long and expensive process for sure , but will be worth it in the end .
Good luck to you also bigmac .

Thank you and good luck in your application!

It's all about money. I would give anything for somebody to interview me, my wife and daughter face to face and see the how true and genuine this is

Stay strong and keep up the struggle!

You will all look back once the process is complete and proclaim..... By heck it was worth it!

Best of luck to you.

To be together as a family is all we want so yes, all of this will be worth it!

I thought I would add a timeline post on here now that our application has been submitted to give some an idea of what to expect although I fully appreciate not every application will follow the same timeline but it may give some a feeling of what to expect. Will also add notes of experiences along the way. Any questions please do not hesitate to ask. Here goes:

13 September 2018: Wife and step-daughter attend visa appointment in Manila having travelled from Tuguegarao. (first panic as I receive a WhatsApp message from her telling me that at initial reception in the Visa Application Centre they informed her we have submitted the wrong type of application as we have applied for Student visas for my her and step-daughter. At 4am in the morning I sprung out of bed and I checked and replied that we have applied for spouse-settlement and child-settlement. I wake up to check thinking I am losing my mind, the application did not ask about colleges of study, we could not have got it that wrong surely!. Nope, the applications are for spouse-settlement and child-settlement. 10 minutes later wife sends message saying a clerical error.....how can this be? Hour later message received from wife all done, passports submitted, biometrics done......phew!!

13 September 2018: Same day went to local Post Office to send '4.6 kg evidence pack' to Sheffield. Royal Mail Special Delivery, guaranteed by 9am next day. (second panic as check online tracking service and not received. Checked and checked again all day but not received. Called the Royal Mail helpline who stated received at 0912 Hrs but the online tracker did not show this until the day after)

14 September 2018: Everything submitted. Now to sit back and pray and hope! Will be a while I know but will update when I hear more but as already mentioned if anybody has any questions please do ask.

18 September 2018: Fingers still crossed and praying!

25 September 2018: Fingers still crossed but absolutely nothing heard. No acknowledgement of application, no documents returned. Don't get me wrong, I am not expecting a decision on the applications for quite some time but with the money we have to pay surely an e-mail confirming receipt from Sheffield should be expected? Anyone know of a way to contact them and ask them as UKVI is a maze when searching the internet.

dont worry. anxiety stress and panic attacks are merely the norm at this stage. dont expect any sort of reply from UKVI anytime soon. the case officer for the entire south east asia region ----Mohammed---is most likely on holiday ( is it Ramedan or some **** like that ? ) so your half a ton of paperwork has already been buried under 100's of similar piles. its just the way the UK government keeps the lid on immigration.

wishing you a merry christmas !

Update:

13 September 2018: Wife and step-daughter attend visa appointment in Manila having travelled from Tuguegarao.

13 September 2018: Same day went to local Post Office to send '4.6 kg evidence pack' to Sheffield. Royal Mail Special Delivery, guaranteed by 9am next day.

14 September 2018: Everything submitted.

18 September 2018: Fingers still crossed and praying!

06 October 2018: Evidence pack and all documents received back from Sheffield along with what I have learned from this site is the normal impersonal unsigned letter stating decision to be made.

However I am confused. Buried within the documents is a piece of VFS.GLOBAL headed paper, I did not use VFS.GLOBAL. It has a barcode in the top left corner and states:

This barcode separator needs to be submitted with:

ACCOMMODATION - PERMANENT/TEMPORARY

Instructions to applicants:

- It is your responsibility to separate out documents and place the relevant barcode separator on top of each pile of documents
- This has to be done before you reach the application submission counter
- Photocopies can be submitted but they must be clear and legible
- All documents must be A4 size
- Any documents which are smaller than A4 must be photocopied onto A4 sized paper. This includes previous passports and photographs
- All documents must be free from any clips, pins or staples before they are submitted
- Torn, crumpled or heavily creased documents cannot be accepted. Therefore they must be photocopied onto A4 sized paper before they are submitted
- Documents should not be laminated

I don't know what this is telling me, should I do something or have I done something wrong?

my understanding is that documents submitted at a vfs office needed the barcode separator. as you sent them direct to sheffield--which is now the correct proceedure, the barcoding isnt required. . i can only surmise the vfs barcode paperwork was something your wife printed off her end and it got included with whatever she sent to you ?

the unsigned letter you had back with your returned docs said they had been scanned--didnt it ?

We didn't submit at a VFS office sent them direct to Sheffield. I went to the Philippines and we got the documents together and I brought them back with me and submitted. My wife and I never printed off anything from VFS, it has just appeared in the returned documents. The unsigned letter states "copies of all these documents have been retained by UK Visas and Immigration in order to assess the application and as such we are returning the original documents to you". Confused as to why this is in the returned documents.

no--when you ( or your wife ) printed off the vaf4 online application...and the biometric page...you will probably find that vfs page was with it. it simply got bundled up with everything else. roughly how many sheets of documents did you send to sheffield ?

The vfs page was definitely not in the documents submitted, I have no clue where it has come from. We submitted 500 pages approx.

i dont think you have anything to worry about. your docs have been returned--with the letter saying they have been copied. for peace of mind you could contact ukvi and ask if they want it all sent in again with the barcoding.

31 October 2018: Latest update 3 e-mails received. It seems like this 'bug' around IHS surcharge for children is still there after many months! I paid it straight away so now await the decision. Note they gave me a week to pay it otherwise refusal with no refund on application fees and to start again! NOTE, you have to tell them you have paid it!

E-mail 1:

Your online application has been received at the UK Decision Making Centre. Your application is currently being prepared for consideration by an Entry Clearance Officer.

If you have made a Settlement application (except for applications lodged in USA and Canada): you must ensure that your UK sponsor has sent all relevant supporting documentation to the UK Decision Making Centre in Sheffield. The documents should be arranged in this order: application form and relevant Appendix* (See below); English language evidence; relationship documents; maintenance documents; accommodation documents. If documents are not received a decision will be taken on the basis on the information that has been provided.

If you have already had your supporting documents scanned in at the Visa Application Centre, or if you have already sent them in to us, please ignore the request for documents.

Please note that UKVI aims to complete all Visit Visa applications within 15 working days and all Settlement Visa applications within 12 weeks of the application date. If it is not possible to complete your application within this timeframe a member of our team will contact you to explain why.

If you have paid for Priority Service, your application will be placed in front of the queue and assessed ahead of other non-priority visa applications others but may still take 12 weeks to conclude if we require further time to consider the application. As indicated in the terms of service, the amount paid for the priority service, as well as the visa fees, is not refundable if the visa application is refused or if the decision is delayed.

We regret that we are unable to respond to enquiries asking about the status of any application. Any status enquiry should be made to the international enquiry service, details of which are on the GOV.UK website. Staff at Embassies, visa processing centres and visa application centres cannot assist with visa enquiries. You may also wish to view the current processing times for applications made in your country.

A further email will be sent to you to confirm when your application has been assessed and dispatched. If your application was made in a Visa Application Centre, the staff there will contact you when your documents are ready – please do not attend the Centre until you are requested to do so.

Please note that you are advised not to purchase flight tickets until you have secured a visa for travel to the UK.

*List of Appendices:
Appendix 1 - Children / Other Dependants
Appendix 2 - Spouse / Partner
Appendix 4 - Pre-flight family members of Refugees
Appendix 5 - Access Rights to Child

Further information is also available on the UK visas and immigration website.

Kind regards,

UK Decision Making Centre

E-mail 2:

Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) payment needed

On 6 April 2015, the UK Government introduced a Health Surcharge payment requirement for non-EEA nationals who apply to come to the UK to work, study or join family for a period of more than 6 months. The consideration of your visa application has been deferred because you have not made that payment.

What you need to do next:

You must make the payment by visiting: https://www.immigration-health-surcharge.service.gov.uk/payment/UseTopupKey/C

Unfortunately there is a bug with the IHS Portal where children appear to be exempt from the IHS payment. This is not correct. We are working to resolve this issue.
The application has been amended for the IHS payment request. The Visa type will appear as ‘Settlement - Parent, Grandparent or Other Dependant Relative’, this is the only way we can continue the process until the bug is fixed.

Please note that if the full payment is not made by 07/11/2018 then your application will be refused. If this is the only reason for refusing your application, you will have to make a new visa application and your visa fees will not be refunded.

To prevent any further delays with processing your application, once you have made this payment please send an e-mail to ihs.sheffield@fco.gov.uk containing your name, GWF reference, IHS reference and the amount that you have paid for IHS.

Want to find out more?

To speak to someone about this, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi

To find out more about IHS: www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application

To find out about refunds: https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration

Thank you.

UK Decision Making Centre

E-mail 3:

TRANSACTION CONFIRMATION

Please retain for your records.

Thank you

The online payment for your Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) has been safely and securely processed by WorldPay, on behalf of UK Visas & Immigration

(UKV&I). This payment will be shown on your card/ bank statement as 'Imm Health Surcharge'.

Transaction Reference

The transaction reference for your payment of USD 798.00 is IHS1xxxxxxxxxx On completion of your IHS application you will also be emailed a copy of your IHS reference number, which you will need for your immigration application.

Enquiries

For more details on the Immigration Health Surcharge, including refunds, please visit www.gov.uk/healthcare-immigration-application.

If you have any questions regarding your payment please contact UKVI at https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-outside-uk quoting your transaction reference and IHS reference.

See that you have already paid so probably does not matter but link for payment is unique to your application so may want to delete. Have two child applications and each has different reference.

Interesting we also receive the same email today so not sure if there is some bulking up of applications as sure we had different application dates 23 September in our case and I'm guessing different biometric dates -2nd October in our case. Info went to Sheffield on 9th October and still not had back yet.

Email is interesting as well as it tells the order to put stuff in and not sure I have seen this online. But late to send in emails as most people have submitted at this stage.