UKBA online appointment booking system

[GrahamD85]

Hi everyone,

My girlfriend and I are applying for the FLR(M) Unmarried Partners visa and want to book a premium appointment as her job requires a good bit of travel so she can't be without her passport for too long.

Ideally we need the appointment anytime from 20th September - 30th October and I've been checking the UKBA online appointment booking system around 3-4 times a day since the start of June to make sure we'd get one around then in Liverpool.

I'm getting frustrated now though as I've seen maybe 5-6 days of appointments in total since I started looking two months ago. I'm sure I can't be missing them as I'm checking 3-4 times a day as I mentioned. When they do come out it seems it is totally random, so one week they might release appointments for September 14th, then two weeks later they'll release appointments for September 6th. The weeks are added onto the system frequently though and they're currently showing up to the first week in October, but of course, nothing is available.

I've looked around the internet and I can't find a clear answer on how the dates are released except for "twice a day after 9am and 6pm", which can't be true because i'm checking then.

Does anyone know the real deal with these online appointments and why they seem to be all booked up before they're even put online? I know there's the phone appointments but they can't be getting access to dates before they're put online, can they?

I'm starting to worry that I won't get an appointment the week of the 20th September even if I'm looking a few times each day

[geriatrix]

The more you ask the more formulae you'll get as to what's best time to grab appointments online.

You may book 6 weeks in advance - phone or online, 6 weeks is the limit.

Perseverance, that's all!


regards

[GrahamD85]

When you say 6 weeks, do you mean you can book a maximum of 6 weeks in advance (i.e. you can't book an appointment that is 8 weeks away) or that you will not get an appointment that is less than 6 weeks away (i.e. 4 weeks from now or 3 weeks from now)

I understand that I need to persevere, but it's disheartening to think that something so important has to be sorted through a system that is more or less broken and not transparent in any way!

[geriatrix]

You can book a maximum of 6 weeks in advance (i.e. you can't book an appointment that is 8 weeks away).

regards

[GrahamD85]

Thanks for confirming that. Hopefully they'll sort the system out one day - with both of us working full-time I'm finding it difficult to concentrate on my jobs because I'm looking at the site every hour!

[wabuthu]

you can also phone them as they usually have extra appointments on phone (even when the system shows that the online ones are all taken)....but be prepared to pay about £1.20 or so per minute...and the call lasts anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes as you are on hold most of the time (i was charged £20 for about a 15min call and almost fainted lol! but at least i got the appointment)

i'd otherwise suggest to continue what your doing randomly checking the online system at different times of day or night, and if your lucky one day will be pleasantly surprised that someone else has cancelled their slot hence meaning you can book theirs (which explains why you keep finding random dates available).

but as sush says, you can book only to a max of 6 weeks in advance.

it's all a daunting process, i know as i was in your boat not too long ago. all the best, hope you manage to get an appt.

Thanks for confirming that. Hopefully they'll sort the system out one day - with both of us working full-time I'm finding it difficult to concentrate on my jobs because I'm looking at the site every hour!

[GrahamD85]

Isn't it typical? About two hours after posting my last message I was finally able to book an appointment online for the 21st in Liverpool! I feel like a right muppet now!

My girlfriend and I have sorted all our documents so I think we're ready to go. I'm taking a folder packed with letters we have kept over the last two years. Some letters are quite repetitive (i.e. we have our joint bank statement for nearly every month) and a couple of months only have one letter sent to one of us seperately, but we have 22 sources of letters and about 70 letters/bank statements etc in total.

I can't see any reason for us to be denied now

And to all those still trying to get an appointment - you'll get one, just look at what happened with me

[agrosangeo]

There is a girl who helped me to book an online appointment at UK Border Agency.

I give you her email for you to contact her, maybe she can help you to book an appointment:


[personal email removed by moderator]