Settlement Visa from India : Timeline

[piya786]

also, please note that appendix 2 form VAF 4A has questions pertaining to your spouse in section 1 and 2 , i dont think there are any specific question for child in that...not sure if there is a separate form for a child. IF not, then you can provide the details of your child in the additional section space given in the appendix 2 form

[PariJ]

Hi,

Please find my timelines

Applicant's application schedule
--------------------------------------
Visa type: Settlement spouse visa for my wife
Date of online application submission: 04-Feb-2015
Date of application: 11-Feb-2015,
Applied at - VFS , Chennai,
Biometrics done
Application has been dispatched to BHC: 11-Feb-2015

Awaitng decission....

Cheers
Pari

[manish1980]

also, please note that appendix 2 form VAF 4A has questions pertaining to your spouse in section 1 and 2 , i dont think there are any specific question for child in that...not sure if there is a separate form for a child. IF not, then you can provide the details of your child in the additional section space given in the appendix 2 form

Hi Piya,

Thanks again.
Today i spoke to VISA4uk help line. They confirmed i should fill up separate Appendix 2 form for my child.
Also, they have given a general answer that i need to fill up relevant sections (which do not specify relation between spouse and sponsor) applicable to a child. They are not clear about each question.

Any one please share their experience what sections they filled up in Appendix 2 form for a child?
Thank you.

Regards,
Manish

[iconavdeep]

Hi ALL

I want to reconfirm my below understanding.

Person has to enter UK within 90 days from time visa has been issued
otherwise it becomes invalid.

I could not find where i read this rule.

I will also sending above query to UK VI.
In meantime if any one knows link where this rule is mention pls share.

[iconavdeep]

Got This reply:

Thank you for your email.

Please be informed that you may travel as long as you hold a valid visa. However, with regards to your query on restriction for entry, please note that the matter is at the discretion of the Immigration Officer at the port of entry.

Yours sincerely,

CaseworkTeam
UK Visas and Immigration | South India and Sri Lanka| British Deputy High Commission, 20 Anderson Road, Chennai 600 006, India |
Fax : (91) 44 42192320, | Email : Chennai.Visaenquiry@fco.gov.uk | Web : www.gov.uk/visas-immigration | www.vfs-uk-in.com

=========================================================

Hi ALL

I want to reconfirm my below understanding.

Person has to enter UK within 90 days from time visa has been issued
otherwise it becomes invalid.

I could not find where i read this rule.

I will also sending above query to UK VI.
In meantime if any one knows link where this rule is mention pls share.

[Mauser1905]

VFS were quick for this week ending timelines publishing, unless it was just date changed document from last week!

Settlement timelines:
Mumbai: 7 working days
Chennai: 37 working days
Delhi: 25 working days

http://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/India/pdf/In ... 200315.pdf

[PariJ]

Hi All,

Any updates from anyone who applied for Spouse Settlement Visa from Chennai Post Jan 2015

Cheers
Pari

[iconavdeep]

FOI data for chennai VAC

[sahab1975]

Hi All,

I hope everyone is well! I applied for my husbands spouse visa from India last year. The visa was refused because my husband had a conviction. I went to the First tier tribunal and although I didnt win the appeal the judge wrote in his determination that my husband should have been refused on a mandatory basis because 5 years hadnt passed at the time of the application but the 5 years had been completed on 20/10/14 and a new application after this date ought to succeed.

So in Jan this year I reapplied for the visa again (I meet all the other criterias) based on the judges determination but again we were refused. This time the ECO wrote that my hubby should be banned for 10 years.

I have just sent the new appeal but my questions are:

1) Can an ECO ignore the determination of the judge
2) Is there any chance they will review the case and overturn their decision
3) If they dont overturn the decision whats the current wait time for a court date?

Thanks

[Mauser1905]

Update on my complaint to HO emailed on 27th February.

Took 20 working days for response.

Dear Sir/Madam


Complaint reference: ABC-DEFGH

Thank you for your email correspondence of 27 February about applications for Entry Clearance. We are sorry that you found it necessary to complain about the service offered by UK Visas and Immigration.

You have expressed your concern about the apparent disparity between the processing times between Mumbai and Chennai visa departments and how that might negatively impact on an application submitted in Chennai.

We are currently assessing applications submitted in Chennai inside our customer service target. Applications in Chennai differ markedly to Mumbai in both volume and their origin. We do endeavour to process applications as quickly and as efficiently as possible. In addition, we are currently experiencing extremely high of volumes of application across all visa categories. That said, we are still continuing to meet all our customer service commitments, including the 15 day target for visit visa categories in Chennai. We would always hope to process a settlement application as soon as possible and we do expedite any compassionate or lone children applications on humanitarian grounds. We are required however to process straightforward settlement applications within 60 working days and we consistently meet that target here in Chennai. Applicants who see an advantage in applying through Mumbai as a result of their lower processing times, are welcome to do so.



When applying for a settlement visa, applicants are warned repeatedly that straightforward applications can take up to 60 days to assess.

Yours Sincerely
Customer Service Operations
UK Visas and Immigration

I assumed as the applicant reside in area where the vfs office serves that state, it should be Chennai BDHC jurisdiction. As stated by customer services, one is free to apply at Mumbai.

However language support may not be there. Applicant's guardian received call in local language couple days back from Chennai BDHC. I don't think this will be possible easily from Mumbai.

[Sac10]

Hi All,

Any updates from anyone who applied for Spouse Settlement Visa from Chennai Post Jan 2015

Cheers
Sac

[Sac10]

Hi,

Please find my timelines

Applicant's application schedule
--------------------------------------
Visa type: Settlement spouse visa
Date of application: 18-Feb-2015
Biometrics done :18-Feb-2015
Application has been dispatched to BHC: 19-Feb-2015
received at Chennai: 27-feb-2015

Awaitng decission....

[Sac10]

Hello All the below email is sent to the email ids below,

complaints@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk Chennai.visaenquiry@fco.gov.uk

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am complaining about rampant inefficiency in processing of Settlement VISA by below team.

I will send another email under Freedom of Information Act explaining justification of 60 days SLA.

The Chennai team, as per the weekly report, is taking an average of 40 working days to process applications in contrast to other centres, like Mumbai, which are taking less than 10 days.
I am concerned at the level of disparity within the BDHC service standards. Yes, it is still under the target of 60 working days and we all agree that the maximum SLA defined for a settlement visa is 60 working days. Which itself is punishment for the settlement applicant, considering all other categories of visa has a SLA of just 15 days. However, the issue is why there is no interaction between the regional BDHC's to manage the work load and bring more parity amongst the BDHC's in India?

The mandate of any organisation should be to finish their task in more a efficient and productive way rather than just meet the max SLA prescribed.

The maximum SLA should be for the most complicated cases and not should be taken as norm - instead it should be exception.
As a fee paying service I am shocked because we have applied for a Settlement Visa at Chennai, so we have to wait for then 40 days. Whereas if we had chosen to apply at Mumbai BDHC we would have received decision in less than 10 working days.

Can you please kindly advise if Chennai applications will be brought to par with Mumbai service standards in regards to timelines for settlement applications? Can I kindly request you to investigate into this sorry state of affairs of this centre and address its shortcoming so that future applicants should not go through the same pain?

[Mrs K]

Hi everyone. My husband has submitted the passport on the 23rd of march after a call. Any idea how long it will take to return it?

[Mrs K]

Hmm seems ppl are ignoring my post on this forum lol

[Sac10]

maximum SLA defined for a settlement visa is 60 working days.

[PariJ]

Hi,

We got this email today.
Thank you for contacting the UK Visas and Immigration International Enquiry
Service.

We understand that you would like to know about the current status of your
visa application. I have tracked the status (GWFXXXXXXXXX and date of birth
XX/XX/XXXX) and found that the application has been processed and a
decision was made and it should be with you in the next few days. Please
note that your passport and documentation could still take some time to
reach you whilst being sent back from the decision making centre and whilst
other administrative formalities are completed. The visa application centre
will be in contact with you regarding the collection or delivery. If you
have purchased a courier service then your documents will be dispatched to
the delivery address you have provided.
We appreciate your patience while you wait to receive your documents.
For any further details, or should you need to contact us again please
refer to our website at https://ukvi-international.faq-help.com/ (select
appropriate country, click next and then select ‘E-Mail form’ and
complete as instructed.) We will aim to come back to you within 1 day.
Kind regards,

[Sac10]

congratulations

[PariJ]

Hi All ,

We got the documentation back from VFS Chennai today and unfortunately the Visa was refused .

As per the letter,it says the the visa was refused because i do not mee the income threshold requirement under Appendix FM and/or related evidential requirments under Appendix FM-SE .

I have provided the evidence for Financial Requirment under category F .I am director of my limited comapany and my companys last full finacial year is Aug 2013-July 2014. All of my documentations were based on this tax year but as per ECO it is 6/4/2013-05/04/2014.

Can anyone please confirm what does last full financial year means for Category F ?

Cheers
Pari

[Mauser1905]

Child: Settlement visa for Child of Settled/British Person

Application: VAF4A + Appendix A
Date of application : 5th Feb 2015
Applied at - VFS , Cochin
Application under process :
Email of Decision: 15/04/2015
Email from VFS of dispatch: 15/04/2015
Passport received by Courier: 17/04/2015
Settlement visa to join parents granted for 4 years and 17 days.

Note: The Blue Dart courier tracking number is the number part of the application reference number, means numbers excluding GWF. If starts with 0 then exclude that as well.

NETT 50 WORKING DAYS
It has been long wait with lots of anxiety and desperation, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck to all waiting for their decisions.

[sid939245]

Hi,

My wife has applied for visa on March 5th. We have submitted most of the documents apart from the proof of address in UK which I didn't have at the time of application. As of today when I sent an email to the customer service about the status of application, they mentioned
"We understand that you would like to know about the current status of your
visa application. I have tracked the status and found that your application
is under further enquiries . Your visa application centre or the entry
clearance officer will contact you once a decision has been made or, if
necessary, during the consideration of your application."

Is there something to be worried about? If they do contact back will they ask for additional documents or the visa will be directly rejected?

[agupta77]

Hi,

I've applied for my wife's settlement visa on 12 March 2015 at the New Delhi centre. I was asked to submit original degree in 31/03/2015 in person. On 22/04/2015 I was asked to send bank statements for full financial year as per ct600.

Any body else had the same experience of being asked multiple documents at multiple times and what was the outcome?

[bling-uk]

Hi,

My wife has applied for visa on March 5th. We have submitted most of the documents apart from the proof of address in UK which I didn't have at the time of application. As of today when I sent an email to the customer service about the status of application, they mentioned
"We understand that you would like to know about the current status of your
visa application. I have tracked the status and found that your application
is under further enquiries . Your visa application centre or the entry
clearance officer will contact you once a decision has been made or, if
necessary, during the consideration of your application."

Is there something to be worried about? If they do contact back will they ask for additional documents or the visa will be directly rejected?

guys

I have had no update as well applied on 10 April till now. Probably its too early to expect any update.

sid939245 What email address did you contact customer service on would you mind posting here please?

Thanks

[sid939245]

Find it here
https://ukvi-international.faq-help.com/

[sid939245]

Hi
Application made in chennai on March 3rd 2015.
Decision made on 21st April.
Received on 24th April
My wife's visa has been refused as I haven't submitted the CT600 form, business bank statements, company incorporation letter, VAT registration Certificate . I know I missed quite a few but it's not mentioned anywhere to submit all these documents all they asked for is to prove that i got 18k salary, for which I submitted the same documentation I submitted for my ILR visa in UK.
They mentioned I could appeal if I want to with supporting documents. Does this mean I can give the missing forms along with the appeal or should I go with a new application?