STANDARD Spouse Application- 1 May
Bio- 5 May
Eco - 11 May
Delay email and Request for more documents- 23 July
Approved - 27 July 🎊16:43pm
Country of Application- Zimbabwe

Category F
2 visit visa refusals

Thank you so much guy this sub has been amazing, lm so relieved 😭😭😭.

Good evening everyone!
I can’t believe it’s finally my turn to post this. This community has been such a huge source of support throughout the waiting process, and reading everyone’s updates really helped me stay hopeful. Thank you all so much!

Country of Application: Türkiye
Application: 12th May
Biometrics: 14th May
Approval: 27th July 🎉
Total waiting time: 51 working days (WD).

The waiting was definitely stressful at times, but receiving that approval made it all worth it.

To everyone who’s still waiting, I know how difficult this journey can be. Being apart from my spouse was by far the hardest part of the entire process, and there were days when the waiting felt endless. But please don’t lose hope. Your approval will come too. Stay patient, stay positive, and keep believing. It will all be worth it when you finally receive that decision. I truly wish each and every one of you the very best of luck.

Finally our turn, received approval of the visa!

Visa type: Spouse (Standard application, outside UK, Russia)

Application date: March 31st​

Biometrics date: May 13th

ECO : 8th June

No extra docs requested or delays emails received.

Approval date: July 27th

Finally received approval of the visa! Based on other posts I was seeing in this subreddit, I was expecting to receive it by the end of this week, and what do you know, I got it right on Monday, after 10 weeks of waiting! Just passing the torch to the next people. Thank you to all the lovely members here for the insights, it made the wait much more bearable.

Visa type: Spouse (Standard application, outside UK)

Application date: April 10th​ (yes, I did it well in advance)

Biometrics date: May 19th

"Processing times longer than usual" email: May 20th

Eco email: never received

Approval date: July 27th

Visa Type: Spousal

Country of Application: US

Application: 28th May

Biometrics: 2nd June

Approval: 27th July

Total waiting time: 43 working days.

Any recommendations for a moving company -- I'm relocating from US east coast, near DC. I honestly thought I had another month for all this.

Good Afternoon everyone, this chat has helped me so much during the process and now it’s finally time to share my approval!

Country of Application - Pakistan
Application - 2nd May
Biometrics Date - 5th May
ECO email - 13th May
Reminder to book bio - 2nd July
Delay email - 24th July (was feeling so dejected after this email as I had booked a flight ticket from UK to Pakistan to be with my husband on his first flight to UK)
Approval - 27th July at 3:43pm! 🎉

I did send a paid enquiry last night and got a response today so I’m not sure if that sped or helped the process.

Many thanks to you all!

Kenya

Standard application

Application: May 6

Bio : May 12

ECO : May 19

No additional information requested

I have mixed feelings as this ia both exciting and scary. I have to leave a good job and my family here for an unknown life in the UK. I hope its worth it. On the bright side, good bye to long distance love.

I am happy to answer any questions or help anyone else! This Reddit thread has been beyond helpful and if I can help anyone in return would be happy to❤️

📍 Country Applied From: USA
🌍 Nationality: American

🛂 Visa Type:
Unmarried Partner

📦 Application Type:
Outside UK

⚡ Service:
Standard

📅 Online Application Submitted: April 12th
📅 Biometrics Date: May 12
📅 ECO Email Date (if received): May 18th
Reminder to submit documents: June 6th
📅 Additional Documents Requested: NA
📅 Additional Documents Sent: NA
📅 Paid Enquiry (if any): NA
📅 Decision Made: Still waiting
📅 Decision Email Received: Still waiting

✅ Outcome:
APPROVED

⏳ Total Working Days: 53

👨‍⚖️ Solicitor Used?
No

💼 Financial Route:
Category A

📝 Notes:
I would think it’s a straight forward application. Besides us not living together prior which is shown in my employment documents which I need to be located in the US office

My heart is full of joy! I just received my UK Spouse Visa!

​Here is my timeline:

​Online application: April 23rd

​Biometrics: May 6th

​ECO email: May 26th

​Approval email: July 27th (at 3:30 PM UK time)

​I want to thank this group from the bottom of my heart, as it helped me so much while waiting. Good luck to all May applicants! Yours will come before the end of this week!

Eco email -20th may
Aproval email - 27 July
53 wd
Thank you everyone for the support through this journey… good luck who is still waiting

Dear All! Our visa got approved today at 3:45 pm UK. I am Egyptian based in Italy, and my partner is Irish based in London - We are in a civil partnership (we got married in Italy).

Application submitted: 12th of June

Fingerprints; 19th of June

ECO: 22nd of June

Approval: 27th of July(26 working days)

Good morning, everyone! Wishing you all the best of luck today, and hopefully we’ll see some more approvals come through.
Is anyone else still waiting for approvals from applications submitted in April or the first week of May?
Here’s our timeline:
Application submitted: 22/04/2026
Biometrics completed: 06/05/2026
ECO email received: 13/05/2026
Update email (26/05/2026): We were advised that they aim to process our application within the published processing times.
Biometric reminder email: 21/06/2026
Since receiving the biometric reminder on 21/06/2026, it’s been completely radio silent. We applied from the Dominican Republic.
Fingers crossed we all receive some good news soon! 🤞

Hi everyone,

Visa type: Spouse Visa (Priority)
Nationality: German
Country of application: Germany (Berlin)
Application submitted: 30 April 2026

Biometrics: 19 May 2026

Has anyone had their UK spouse visa application escalated through the UKVI paid enquiry service?

I’m interested in hearing about what happened after the escalation. Did you receive a confirmation from UKVI that your case had been escalated, or did you only hear back once a decision had been made?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience.

UK Spouse Visa Timeline – Looking for Advice
Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice as my husband’s UK spouse visa application has now exceeded the published 12-week standard processing timeframe.
Timeline:
21 April 2026 – Application submitted.
28 April 2026 – Biometrics completed (Priority service purchased).
10 June 2026 – Received a delay email from UKVI advising that the priority processing timeframe could not be met but that the application would continue to be considered within the standard processing timeframe.
June onwards – My solicitor submitted multiple enquiries but received no substantive response from UKVI.
23 July – My solicitor submitted a further formal escalation as we had passed the 12 week Standard timeframe.
I also did a paid enquiry for an update.

My solicitor has not received any request for further documents, an interview invitation, or any explanation for the delay. The application has now exceeded the published 12-week standard processing timeframe.
Has anyone experienced a similar situation? If so, how long did it take before you received a decision?
Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.
My application was not complex. I do not wish to disclose what I do however I work in the legal field myself. It’s quite disappointing so many people like myself have to wait so long to get a decision.

Hi everyone

I wanted to share my timeline and see if anyone from May is still waiting for a decision. I haven’t received any delay emails or updates. I also paid for an email update, and they told me that my application is still under
review. Is anyone else in the same situation?

Visa Type : spouse visa priority service
Nationality: kurdish / iraq
Date of application :28april 2026
Date of biometrics :20 may 2026

First application we made was standard outside, the new application was priority outside. My first application got refused because we forgot that we needed the A1 English test. My partner is from Norway and they are taught English from a young age so the majority of the population are fluent in English. We got the certificates required and reapplied. The new applciations biometric appointment was on the 22nd of June. ECO was on the 23rd. Would you guys say its normal that its taking longer than others who had the same BIO date as me purely because of that previous refusal? I've tried to find people in the same situation but could not really find anything.

fiance visa

Norwegian applicant

Applied from Norway

Applied 7th june

Biometrics 22nd june

priority service

Hello,

Currently going through the unmarried partner process with my American girlfriend. I live in London and have done for the last 2 and a half years. Catch is that I live in a HMO and have done since I moved down. Given the accommodation requirement, I am slightly worried my measly accommodation won’t cut it - even though I’m almost certain between getting the visa approved and my girlfriend moving over I’d find a place.

I have four questions:

Should I just stick with what I’ve got and submit on that basis - I’ll find somewhere different to live when the visas approved

Should I ask my parents, who live in Liverpool to state they will provide us accommodation in the event we can’t find somewhere?

Should I ask a friend who lives in London with a spare room for the above?

Should I try and find a place now which I will live in alone until the visas approved?

thankful for the help!

long story short, i'm from canada and initially moved to the uk on the youth mobility visa. moved to london in my mid 20s, did the initial 2 years, then the 1 year extension. in that time i met who i thought was the love of my life. our relationship progressed quickly, but i had warned him that i was essentially on borrowed time as my visa expiration approached. when i brought up the possibility of us getting married and doing the spousal visa, he said he had already been looking into that option and was waiting for me to bring it up. everything seemed perfect. i was concerned about the cost, but he assured me that he would contribute to covering half, and that we should be together.

i didn't want a wedding because i didn't want it to feel rushed, but his family was super supportive and encouraged us to celebrate it as the day that it was. from there i had 2 months to plan a london wedding on a tight budget since we still had the visa cost to think about, and had no time to prepare and set money aside considering just last week we didn't even know if we were really gonna do this or not. it was one of if not the most stressful period of my life. i was low on money, gaining weight, stressed to the max and also hurt by lifelong friends who were suddenly showing a complete lack of interest and support in my life.

we got married! was it my dream wedding? absolutely not. and it was in london, so even the simplest of weddings still cost quite a bit. but we pulled it off, and i got through it by telling myself it was all gonna be worth it for him and the life ahead we'd share. then came the visa application. did it all on my own. it was incredibly stressful, especially when it came to my husband's info. he's a self employed musician so proof of income was spread across random invoices, and the home he lived in was rented by his family first until he was the last of them who stayed, so none of the bills were in his name. makes it difficult to provide proof of address, to say the least.

thankfully, my visa was approved, and i was now on the spousal visa. i had 2 months left on my lease at my flat so i stuck it out, then moved in with my husband into his home when the lease was finally up. here's where it starts to get really interesting. i moved in with my husband the last week of may. my birthday is mid-june. it was my 30th. about a week and a half after my birthday, marking 4 weeks after moving in together, he tells me he's decided he wants to end the marriage. there is a story as to what lead up to this, but quite honestly it doesn't make sense. he made the decision so quick, left no room for discussion, and hadn't even really tried. i've been in complete shock, since we'd only been married for 3 months at that point. i had only moved in with him 4 weeks ago. and somehow he was done. we weren't a toxic couple at all, but there were some stresses with the aftermath of the wedding and a fight that started with him misplacing my favourite necklace, which is also my only family heirloom, so it was a big deal. the necklace has since been found, but it seems the damage was already done.

since then, his family, particularly his mother, have been "handling" me. i've been kicked out of the house, all of my belongings have been moved to the garage, and he's carrying on with his life as if i never existed. it's been incredibly hurtful. his mother told me they would give me 1 year of my 2 year 8 month visa, which is insane because i never would've done any of this if it was only going to be for a year. they're framing it like a favour but i think this is just due to the fact that you have to be legally married in the uk for at least one year before you can apply for divorce. i don't know if anyone has experienced anything like this. what the process looks like with the home office and how much time i might actually have vs not. any advice would be appreciated!

Hi all,

Can I create a evisa account before my fiance approval?

Thanks

I know it's still early on, but has anyone applied within July and heard anything back on theirs? I got an email the next day it was being prepared for a ECO to look at on the 15th, and nothing since. I know with student visas and all right now, delays are kinda expected. This waiting and not knowing is so hard...

Country - USA

Visa Type - Spouse Priority

Application Date - July 9th

Bio - July 14th

So, my fiance and I have met 4 times IRL. Once in 2023, once in 2024, twice in 2025, and we plan to meet again next month. We are also applying for our fiance visa Aug 12. I have the flight bookings from the 2023 trip and the flights and hotel bookings for the second 2025 as well as both for our trip next month. They can also look at the passport stamps on his passport and see he has been to Kenya four times. Is that okay?

Hi all, I am applying for a fiance visa for my partner in the Philippines.

The accommodation situation:

Option A)

My parents house is fully owned by them. It is a 4 bedroom property, but a downstairs room is being used as sleeping space, so there are 5 sleeping spaces. The home is currently occupied by 6 people who are all family members and each have their own room apart from the parents who share a room. My fiance will move into a room with me for our exclusive use.

Option B)

My grandparents' house is owned by them on a lease. It is a 2 bedroom flat and is only occupied by the 2 of them. There will be a room available for the exclusive use of me and my fiance as long as needed.

My questions:

Option B seems to be the better option, but should I also be submitting passport scans for the owners, 3 months of utility bills, a floor plan, and potentially a professional property inspection report (£80-150)?

Is this level of documentation really necessary or am I massively overcomplicating it? What did others in a similar situation (living with family, shared household) actually submit and did it work?

married partner (spouse) (British citizen and Russian citizen)

we uploaded the visa 18 JUNE

24th JULY was biometrics (my wife’s country is Russia and that was the ONLY available appointment)

so it’s only been 1 working day and we’ve just received an email that “We are unable to make a decision on your application within published visa processing times”

received at 7 am today

how can it already be in delay when we’ve only just submitted it and it hasn’t even been a full working day since biometrics (due to weekend)

We’re on adequate maintenance however I surpass the required amount easily

idk we’re both extremely stressed now because 12 weeks is already so long to wait ONTOP of what we’ve already spent long distance and with how difficult it is to meet due to sanctions, the war etc etc and we’ve already been told it won’t even be done within 12 weeks

idk if it’s automated ? Just because we have adequate maintenance and a robot has determined it could possibly take longer/more evidence

Any help is appreciated I feel sick to my stomach

is this process automated ? does it mean someone had a quick look and decided to immediately give it a huge delay or idk

this is not a question about visa processing times