Visa application centre turnaround time

[venusloon]

I'm in a pickle!  I waited way too long to do my student visa application to study in Belfast.  I have an appointment this Wednesday (6/18) at the visa application centre, but I'm leaving for a two month vacation to New Zealand two Saturdays from now (6/28).  My dilemma is that since I have to mail in my passport and other documentation to NY after

Comments

[sofamiliar]

... You waited way too long.

If there's still an option to apply in person, you can get it back same-day, but I'm pretty sure they've eliminated that option.

Is there a way to change your plane ticket to NZ and maybe do a one-month vacation instead?

[venusloon]

Of course, but I'm trying to gauge the actual turnaround time first before I change my travel plans. This link says ( http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/faqs/faqapplyforvisa/2990985) that they usually do it within 15 days. How accurate do you think that is?

[sofamiliar]

Honestly, it's a crapshoot - no one can predict that. They could have it back within two days, or take the whole fifteen, it just depends on how backlogged they are. I'd allow twenty days at the very least before booking your flight to allow for the full time to get the passport back plus any mail delays.

[raketje]

As it will be right before term time, it's probably safe to say that it will take whatever time they say is the max it will take.

I sent my PhD student visa off two weeks before I was due to leave to come back to England, and I got it literally the day before I flew.

I'd either change your NZ tickets, or send it the day you get back from NZ and cross your fingers.

[venusloon]

I'm going to get a courier to do it now, based on a suggestion from another reply. Hopefully it works out. Thanks for your suggestion :)

[anerise]

you can't go in person anymore, but you can hire an external courier service to walk your application into the consulate for you (turnaround time via courier is supposed to be much faster- as in a day or two, but if you have to mail the docs to the courier, tack on 2 extra days for mailing time there and back). There is a list of visa courier services registered with each consulate on the BritainUSA website. Even *that* is cutting it close, however...to be honest, I'd be tempted to wait until September and use a courier service then (but since you've already applied online and paid the fee, it might make more sense to go for it now.)

You did wait a bit too long, but you can only apply three months in advance so with a 2 month holiday in between you never had that much time to apply in the first place.

[venusloon]

Oh, you're just awesome! I looked at the list, and they do same-day processing and can expedite shipment of my passport back to me. Still about $150 that I don't want to spend, but the change fee for the flight is absurd. Cheers for that!

[dativesingular]

Do you have a link for the courier services? That's something I'd like to have handy.

[venusloon]

Yup, there's a whole bunch of them listed for each respective section:

http://www.britainusa.com/visas/articles_show.asp?i=65016&L1=41000

[lasirena]

Late. Way late.

I had an issue going without my student visa because it was arriving at my doorstep that very same day and my mother didn't want to lose out on the airfare as she was coming with me to get me settled and sorted. So, we had a temporary 6 month emergency passport issued, and off we went, thinking we could come on the standard traveler's stay and have the visa sent to me at uni. That was misinformation. Well, I was detained, they (very graciously) let me in after being in lock-down for eight hours (they rarely do that, my uni fought for me big time), and now every time I go through an airport in the UK I am stopped for questioning as to why my record has an immigration flag. It has no description other than you had a problem with immigration, so for all they know you could have come once with an insufficient visa or be a known illegal alien. It takes extra time after some very long flights and makes traveling Europe a pain. Seriously, I cry over the stupid mistake sometimes because it's made life here so inconvenient.

[venusloon]

Cheers for the warning! Given the suggestion of a poster before, I think I'm going to go with one of the courier services. They say they can do same-day processing, so I'm not going to sweat it...yet. :)

[marymac]

Belfast? Are you coming to Queen's or UU?

[venusloon]

Queen's! I'm doing the postgrad course in Educational Multimedia.

UU is wanky. I applied, got accepted and received a £2000 grant, but then they went and canceled my program just last month. Supernova of turds!

I take it you're at one of them?

[marymac]

Heh, you'll find they can both be throughly special. Queens/St Mary's dropped a load of their undergrad teaching courses a few years back, just before the A-Level results went out. I think they must both be skimping on wages or something!

I'm trying to finish off my PhD in History at Queens. You're coming in time for all the centenary stuff, nice planning :)

[venusloon]

Wuh oh, that doesn't bode well! Err, yes, that's exactly what I was going for. Yay celebratory madness? :D

G'luck PhD-ing!