Resident Visa partnership Timeline

[MattH1]

Hi, wanted to post a quick update for anyone interested in current timelines for Partnership Resident Visa. I submitted an application on 6 May 22, it was assigned to a CO on 21 Sep 22, and I submitted additional documents on 6 Oct 22. So we spent just over 19 weeks in the initial queue waiting to be assigned. Since the final docs were submitted the wait has been 9 weeks (so far). We hired an advisor to submit the application and apparently their web portal doesn't have a status indicator, so we don't know where things are at. Our advisor has chased INZ by email twice with no replies yet. I totally understand the initial queue time but I'm not sure why the CO processing is taking so long with no communication. I can only assume there has either been some third-party requests gone out (which I understand can take a while), or maybe our original CO left or went off sick and their work got re-assigned, could be anything I guess. Anyway, just wanted to mention that the time our application has been with the CO is now about half the original queue time, not sure if this is a common experience but I thought it might be worth people knowing. I'd be interested to hear about other people's experiences.

[JandM]

Your guesses as to what is happening in the office are as good as anyone's, and there isn't really any way to find out unless someone from INZ helpfully communicates with your LIA. On the matter of 'with no communication' - that is normal even when a case is being actively worked, unless and until the CO has something to ask or tell the applicant. They won't send an 'empty' email, such as, 'Dear Mr Applicant, I am waiting to hear back from your previous landlord.' Everybody finds the waiting frustrating - you're not alone. Good luck with hearing some news soon.

[morpheus]

Thanks J&M for clarifying!

Cheers

M

[morpheus]

Hello everyone,

We're stoked to receive the In Principle Approval for RV - Partnership today!.

Here's our timeline:
Submitted online (offshore) on 28 July 2022
Further "living together evidence" requested on 28 Nov 2022
Requested evidence submitted on 4th Dec 2022
In principle approval received on 15 Dec 2022

INZ has asked us to make arrangements to have our passports verified. Fingers crossed, will update once that's sorted out and we receive our e-RV.

Many thanks J&M and everyone here for your sharing of useful information and updates.

Cheers

M

[JandM]

[onyiking]

On the 15th Of April 2019 I Started this thread while I was waiting for my resident visa offshore , today on the 15th Dec 2022 I received my Permanent Visa . It’s been a journey and now I can say “Someway , Somehow I’m DONE With INZ”

[JandM]

Well, congratulations!

[MattH1]

A quick update to our timeline for anyone that's still waiting. This was an application made from the UK.

6 May 22 - Application submitted
21 Sep 22 - Assigned to CO
6 Oct 22 - Additional documents submitted
12 Dec 22 - Approval in Principle received

So about 4.5 months in the initial queue and a little over 7 months to approval, plus the time to get the visas issued which (due to Christmas) has been an extra 3 weeks so far.

Our case was a little complicated so we went through a solicitor who advised us and handled our application. We were asked to submit passports in the approval letter, so sent them to London on the 12 Dec, they were processed and received back by 14 Dec. INZ was informed and asked to issue the eVisas on 15 Dec. So I'm hoping the solicitor now has the visas and will forward them on once they're back from leave.

[JandM]

Good news!

[MattH1]

Finally got visas through.
6 May to 5 Jan - so 1 day short of 8 months in total.

It's worth mentioning that my solicitor returned from Xmas break and there had been no visas issued from INZ (after 3 weeks). They called INZ and the person they spoke to said there wasn't any record of the passports being processed/scanned in the UK. I called VFS Global in London and got the passport processing reference numbers (they confirmed the passports had definitely been processed correctly) my solicitor then forwarded the reference numbers onto the CO, within a day we had the visas issued. So not sure what happened with that, but just a note to others that you can get those reference numbers and get back in touch with your CO if the visas don't get issued.

It really is so difficult waiting for such a long time without any input or responses, but hang in there all those still waiting, it's worth it when the visa finally arrives!