A big couple of ticks in boxes today regarding finally getting to France… Exactly three months to the day we have our one way ferry ticket from Plymouth to Roscoff booked…
S1 applied for - tick… Visa form submitted … tick… Couldn’t have done it without the help from this forum… so a big thank you… I am not stupid (really!) but I found the visa process quite ‘clumsy’… all will be revealed if I have done it correctly!! TLS appointment date in London is Friday, 26th August… where we get everything verified… So… two big questions here…
do they approve/disapprove you immediately? If not immediately, does anybody know how long until you hear…?
when you hand your passport over… I know they keep it, how long roughly for? I have a trip planned 5 weeks after then (forgotten about it) and wonder if I will have my passport back by then?
No I don’t think they tell you instantly, but can probably get an indication from the person taking in your dossier. Which visa are you applying for as some are more ”tricky” than others?
And I think the recent turn-round for getting your passport back is 3 to 4 weeks. Hopefully with the visa stuck in it!
I am going to be a nervous wreck by the time this process is finished…! Thanks for the response above btw, always useful…
I was elated when I was informed that as my husband and I are over UK pensionable age and in receipt of our state pensions, that an S1 certificate was all that was necessary for our Visa Application… We applied for them exactly 90 days before our departure on 21 July and here we are nearly a month later and still not received them… Our appointment is next Friday and all the DWP can tell me is that they have been actioned…
My question is… we have the emails telling us of our entitlement to them and that they are ‘on their way’… Do you think this is enough for the TLSContact agency in London.? I suppose what I am asking is how ‘picky’ are these people… I know they have a job to do, but this is a first for me and London isn’t actually on our ‘doorstep’ here in Cornwall and don’t want to do it all over again… Any thoughts or peoples experiences on this would be gratefully received… Many thanks.
Keep phoning the DWP? Tell them you have an appointment and see if they can send you anything else?
If I was the visa official I would accept emails as confirmation, but I’m not. However it is on a Friday, so they might want to finish off the file before the weekend and just clear it through?
Thank you Jane, yes - I have emailed and told them (and phoned several times) about my appointment next Friday but all they say is they have no control over when the are posted… But… I shall keep our appointment, and just pray!! thanks again.
Well, panic over (at least for 48 hours!) Received S1’s this morning… Now what else can I stress about?.. Oh yes, appointment next Friday… thanks for the feedback. Always useful…
phew!!! well, nearly anyway… Just for the info of anybody else going through this process… all was well… I had a beautifully prepared file - all numbered, cross referenced, etc etc… I fully expected them to waive me through on this basis and then reality hit and they couldn’t really have cared less about my pretty file or on my 10/10 presentation… But, apart from the top of my husbands head being missing on his ID photos (had to redo them), all the paper work was good so now just a wait for the return (hopefully sucessul) offer visa application. So you can all have a couple of weeks off now until I start pestering you about my Carte d’sejour process… Thanks to all for your indulgence!
Well, just thought I would post the good news for anybody going through the visa application process… Received our passports back yesterday with our nice visa inserted into them… It took exactly four weeks to the day after our ‘interview’ in London - and that included two bank holiday. So, we are very happy… House in UK is now SOLD, so not many more hurdles to jump through or to worry about… Don’t mention the plummeting pound to euro rate!!
thanks for the feedback. Always useful…
