To be furious at British Immigration, though it gets me nowhere and I should just suck it up?

[IceLollyMolly]

My first post ever, though I have been lurking for a while. Please let me vent here; I have no where else to vent.

I am not British and neither is DH. We are both foreigners working in the UK on Tier 2 Skilled Worker visas. Been here for 3 years, and our visas expired in February. We both applied for priority renewals on February 1st, sponsored by our employers ( who also paid for the whopping priority fees). We were told we would get our renewed visas back in a week or 10 days. Our documents were in order. It's now been over 3 months, and we haven't got our visas.

Until we get our new BRPs, we cannot leave the country. In the meantime, DH's dad had a stroke in our home country in March. We could not visit. DH had a lad's holiday planned for May. He cannot go. We have an agent for this ( think Big 4 consultant) and she tried following up with Immigration. Got the response that our documents are in order but their IT systems have not been working. For over 3 months?

I feel terribly sorry for DH's dad and incredibly stuck. We were lucky that DH's sister was able to step in to help him. I also feel completely furious and trapped here. There is no word on when we might get the visas, so our summer travel plans are stymied too. Both our families are in another country and this brings back horrible memories of the pandemic when we could not visit.

I know that I just need to accept that this is how it is and suck it up. I am really tired though of the way things have more or less stopped functioning. I cannot wait until we get ILR ( still 2 years to go).

@IceLollyMolly I do second other suggestions to contact your MP. In any case doing so would get your husband's application prioritised, in the specific case of having a sick relative abroad, you'd get his documents back anyway, but even more quickly with MP intervention. Good luck!

Unsure why people are saying it's a disgrace, service Standards is up to six months and you only applied in February, they tell yiu this at the start of the applicsron process.
They dont have enough staff to deal with the number of applications the recieve blame the tories for not providing the funds to hire more staff.

You can contact your caseworker and ask for your case to be expedited provided you have sufficient reasons and evidence.

I absolutely understand the frustration on this! We're going through the very long and expensive spouse visa process at the moment, and for about 6 months during the height of COVID my husband was left with no working rights or access to the NHS (switching from fiancée to spouse visa in the country, so had paid the IHS fee). Thought it had got slightly better now but appears not! We have to apply in 2 weeks for the next extension and hoping to get away in October...sounds like we shouldn't make any bookings!
Like you have said, you absolutely cannot travel without a valid BRP - even if you are from a country that has visa free tourist travel! They do not have to let you back in.

It's hard even if you're born here. I'm British as are husband and children. Trying to get a UK passport for our children is proving a nightmare.
I hope your papers are sorted soon and I'm sorry to hear about your father in law and that your DH couldn't travel to see him. The whole system sucks.

It’s not her business but she has a valid point.

The sooner you apply for renewals in immigration the better.

I am sure the OP wishes she could have either a time machine or a crystal ball. How very helpful.

The British immigration service isn’t the best (lack of funding, case loads etc) which is why, most of my ex boss’ clients, immigration, used his firm to do this, agreed this can be costly but unless you have a lot of patience yourself.

He really wouldn't. You clearly know nothing about the current situation.

Really? Just like that? Lol

@Tinkerbyebye when I was up on the regulations before my own ILR, you could not apply very far in advance of the expiry date on your visa. I can’t remember, but something like 30 days. It made me nervous. I assume that is still the case. If as @TypicalCoach says standard service is now six months, the applicant will be without their passport for most of that time. They effectively cannot travel.

OP, this is awful and I am so sorry. I agree your MP may be able to help. Although there is a racist element to British society, the border services are more about officiousness. Having a brown face probably doesn’t help, but plenty of white people, including me, have also been treated badly. This sounds likely to be incompetence.

Joining a good immigration forum is also a great idea

Thanks everyone. I feel better for having vented.

Perhaps we could have applied earlier, but our consultant seemed to think priority visas would arrive in 10 days, because that is the standard service for priority visas. We thought it might take a month at the most if things were really slow, but not 3.5 months.

It took our employers ages to put together the sponsorship package as well because Xmas got in the way. In retrospect, I think I have put too much faith in our consultant. Lesson learnt for the future!

I agree it is more incompetence than malice, or rather understaffing, cost of living, and a myriad other factors. I know passport renewals are also incredibly delayed.

That said, we absolutely do not want to risk travelling out of the country, despite what some PP think.

Oh, you made priority applications! They are expensive. So that’s really annoying. HMG should be refunding the priority applications. You might want your MP to give that a try.

PS Agree strongly you cannot travel

Contact your MP, they can help. A friend was in the same situation, they didn’t issue the visa faster but she had the passport returned straight away to visit a a dying relative.

Except it's my job to know the current situation.

The "some PP" spends most of her working day going through cases like your husband's which is why "some people" tried to help.
Some people will now just fuck off and let you get on with it believing randoms on MN.

Exactly. Happens every day. But apparently I'm lying.

I am sorry its frustrating but I am a little confused if your visas expired in February why you only applied in February? Why you did not apply sooner? Most countries' passport offices are under pressure now as the UK pop apply for passports etc in time for summer travel.

You have my sympathies, OP.

Immigration doesn’t usually work like that. I am not up to speed on UK immigration as I am a citizen but I went through the process of Australian immigration and when you are in limbo between visas you need to stay put or you can’t get back in and no amount of paperwork is going to change that at the border.

Err....the OP isn't from an EU country, so this isn't Brexit related. 🤦‍♂️

Non-EU nationals have long required "permits/visas/paperwork".

Ask for further clarifying details first in future before jumping to an incorrect conclusion. This is due to the bureaucracy associated with entry requirements to the UK - similar problems exist elsewhere, so it's not isolated to here.

Although it is great to be able to knock the UK, sadly the stick you are using to knock it with in this instance is made of glitter and fairy shit.

That is because the UK is not alone in having rules about entry and re-entry and, indeed, is not as strict as many others.

So, although it's fun to fume, make sure first that the fire you are breathing is correctly applied.

Go to your MP now. The computer system story sounds very accurate and could go on for months.

@ittakes2 When I was applying, you were not allowed to apply until you were nearly at the deadline for your visa. It was quite nerve wracking. I presume this is still true