No payment taken for application fee

[wickham04]

I recently applied for my first extension of FLR M by post. About 4 days later I received an acknowledgement letter and biometrics enrolment invitation letter. a few days after that I received back my wife's passport with a an accompanying letter stating that photocopies had been made.

However, to date, no payment has been taken for the visa fee and it has been several weeks. I paid the health surcharge online and included the reference number on the application and included my card details on the payment page. I've double and triple checked and there is no mistake in the card details etc. I also confirmed with my bank and no attempt has been made. My worry is that my current visa will expire before a payment is taken and, through no fault of my own, may be treated as invalid when it is eventually reviewed by a caseworker.

I have called and written a letter since, but because I am still within the service standard (8 weeks) the UK Visas and Immigration contact centre are unable/unwilling to provide me with any specific advice. I was told payment would be taken when it is being decided upon, but this is contrary to my previous experiences and from what I gather in the timelines of most people's applications posted on this forum.

Any advice is much appreciated.

[wickham04]

Does anyone know how UKVI handle the visa fee? Would there ever be an instance where they perform the necessary preliminary checks and send the acknowledgement before taking the fee?

I was told that the fee would be taken after it is handed over to a reviewing caseworker, but that seems very strange. My worry is that whoever reviews the application will see no payment has been made/taken and will reject it as invalid after my current visa expires. I'm looking for advice as to how I can ensure this does not happen.

[wickham04]

Any advice? Still no payment taken and my leave will expire soon.

[wickham04]

Just an update... Today I received a letter from the home office stating that I submitted an invalid application as i did not pay the correct fee. The letter stated that the issuing bank rejected the payment. I have confirmed with my bank that no attempt was ever made. I have checked the copy of the application I made and the payment details are correct.

Once I received confirmation of my application and noticed a payment wasn’t taken, I sent a letter reminding the home office to take payment and expressed my concern that my application would be regarded as invalid by a caseworker if payment wasn’t taken soon. I did not receive a response. I sent a second letter which again detailed my concerns and noted that my bank confirmed no payment attempt was made. The second letter was sent the same day that the letter I received from the home office is dated.

The home office has essentially lied to me about the rejected payment. Somewhere between the Durham and Sheffield Offices someone neglected to process the payment and when it landed with a caseworker they have regarded it as invalid.

Thankfully this has come before the expiry of my current leave to remain. I will be sending a postal order this time and I encourage anyone making a postal application to do the same.

[wickham04]

My struggle continues... After some difficulty (outlined in this thread) I paid the visa application fee and this was taken from my account on July 26th. I think at this point it has been 11 weeks since I made the application. Yesterday I received another letter from UKVI stating that I have not made a valid application, the reason... incorrect or no fee paid! The front end processor kindly provided a copy of the payment details page highlighting the necessary section and the amount that needs to be paid - £1,033; the same amount I have ticked the last three times and the amount taken from my account on 26/07! I have retained copies of every payment page I have sent, and I can confirm I have never completed the page incorrectly. Furthermore, my bank has confirmed that no payments have ever been declined.

I called the *helpful* UKVI contact centre (who seemed incapable of comprehending that someone on their end could make an error). They advised that I should send a letter along with copies of my statement to show that both the IHS and application fees had been deducted. Of course it would be up to the ECO/front end processor to accept this. The same processor who wrote my case number incorrectly on the green address slip. I followed their guidance and sent the completed payments page along with my statements and a letter drawing attention to the fact that I have already paid.

I am just wondering what happens when an application is rejected as invalid and it is well beyond the expiry of leave to remain? Is there any opportunity for appeal or review? I can just imagine an ironic situation where the UKVI rejects my application because a payment is claimed to not have been made and then I get refunded the same payment afterwards. Just looking for some encouragement from anyone who may have gone through a similar experience or knows of similar situations occurring. Failing that, at least I have given a running account of continued payment problems which might help inform others struggling with getting a payment taken or accepted.

[daku]

This is a horrible service. You pay thousands and you can't even speak to someone on the phone. They could take payment over the phone. All it takes is a five minutes call. I'm wondering whether it is worth using the online application where i think you can pay online.

My wife's visa expires in January and i'm not looking forward to this process. They are looking for a reason to refuse you.

[wickham04]

It is an atrocious service indeed.

There are clear pros and cons for the online application. The payment can be made online, but the online questions are a lot more in depth. I had filled out the paper form to help me fill out the form online and it became immediately clear that the online application and the paper application for FLR M are different. I decided to go with the paper application since it was more straight forward and I could readily find guidance on specific questions. Although I sincerely regret it now; 11.5 weeks and two undeserved payment letters later and I am still waiting in a perpetually stressed state for the application to even be considered. Looking at the FLR M timelines, it looks like online applications are often processed more quickly too.