Visa processing times – slow return to normal

Since the first quarter of 2022, the Home Office’s processing times have significantly increased across a variety of visa categories. In addition, priority service options for visa applications submitted from outside of the UK have been suspended.

The Home Office has explained that this by the necessity to re-prioritise their resources in order to process incoming applications from Ukrainian nationals and their family members as quickly as possible.

Domestically, the availability of priority service has been sporadically suspended and re-introduced across the spectrum of immigration routes, often with no prior warning or set scheduling. It is usually only possible to see if the priority service is available (or not) at the point of submitting the online application form and paying the fees.

These issues have resulted in a general delay in the Home Office’s processing of all visa types, inside and outside of the UK. While the Home Office does not guarantee their published processing timeframes under normal circumstances either, such published timeframes should currently be viewed as an approximate guide regarding the minimum amount of time expected for processing.

Encouragingly however, there has been a gradual return to normal processing times for domestic applications, with an increasing number of applicants across various visa routes being able to purchase priority processing domestically.

Additionally, the general waiting times for family visa applications submitted from overseas have now been reduced compared to the previous 6 months. In some circumstances, even sporadic availability for priority processing in relation to overseas applications from students and workers can be secured. 

It is not possible to ‘upgrade’ the type of processing purchased at the time of application further down the line, not even where it was not available previously. The Home Office also does not engage with those chasing the outcome of their applications before the published processing time has been exceeded.

How Gherson can assist

Gherson’s Immigration Team are highly experienced in advising on UK visa matters. If you have any questions arising from this blog, please do not hesitate to contact us for advice, send us an e-mail, or, alternatively, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn to stay-up-to-date.

The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Gherson accepts no responsibility for loss which may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please do not hesitate to contact Gherson. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Gherson.

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