Post
by someguyIguess » Fri Nov 23, 2018 10:54 pm
Visa Type: Wife (Settlement)
Application From: Zambia
Application Date: 22 October
Premium / Non Premium: Premium
Biometrics: 26 October
ECO Email: No ECO (or any other) Email
Decision made email: 22 November
Visa collected (success!): 23 November
Processing Location: Pretoria, not Sheffield
Pretty quick timeline compared to many above. While I can't be sure, I think we were helped by some or all of these things:
1. We got a solicitor to look at our application, but actually drafted/organised it ourselves. This meant we hadn't missed anything but equally, it didn't look formulaic.
2. My wife had incurred a 4 figure NHS charge while she was in UK before and it had been paid off in full by myself in cash. Furthermore, she had complied with her previous visa which she was on when we met. These both showed ability and intent to play within the rules.
3. I'm trying to find a way to word this without sounding like a prick, but it is fairly obvious from our financial and family situation (as well as the evidence we collected) that this was a love marriage and not me doing it to make a couple of quid or her to emigrate in desperation.
4. We had got married on the Isle of Man (protip: there's no 90 day notification period there and you can get married there on any UK visa so long as you didn't enter UK with the intent of getting married against your visa conditions. Plus it's a lovely place well worth going to anyway. Recommended!). I suspect this is easier to verify for them.
5. Applying from Zambia. Why?
5a. Zambia is a stable and decent country by regional standards without any significant level of visa fraud.
5b. Quite unusually reading other threads here, this meant the visa was processed in Pretoria, which seems to be quicker than Sheffield.