I got married in January this year and my wife submitted her visa appllication on the 21st. She has still not heard anyhting from the British embassy in Islamabad. She did phone up and they said they are dealing with a backlog and that she should call back on the 15th May.

Is this normal procedure. How long does it take to process an application and issue the visa when there is a backlog. I am beginning to wonder if she will ever get her visa to come join me here in the UK. Kind of sucks being married and not being together. This should be a simple and straightforward case as I used a lawyer to prepare the visa application. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I needed a VISA to go live in UK 8 years ago, and I found the British Embassy very efficient and helpful. My VISA my accepted immediately.

British Embassy is very strict nowadays and it is not that easy to get a visa as it was 8 years ago.If they are saying there is a backlog,then we cannot predict when will it be over.It is better to enquire about that with them. Usually it will take only 3-4 weeks.

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Originally Posted by dijoekj

British Embassy is very strict nowadays and it is not that easy to get a visa as it was 8 years ago.If they are saying there is a backlog,then we cannot predict when will it be over.It is better to enquire about that with them. Usually it will take only 3-4 weeks.

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It depends on the country where you make your application. My wife is from Australia. When we applied for her visa it took the British Embassy in Canberra almost 3 months to issue a visa. In most cases they won't answer any status enquiries until your case falls outside their normal processing times which you can check here:

Guide to visa processing times

However, our consultant managed to get a hold of them by fax, so if you want to make an enquiry regarding your case, send them a fax or e-mail if there is an e-mail address for the Embassy where your application is being processed. There wasn't one for Canberra, so we had to send them a fax. You can ask the agency that we used, they were quite helpful:

UK fiancee & marriage visa, Australia spouse & partner visa services, family immigration to United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand - application & consultations

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dijoekj

British Embassy is very strict nowadays and it is not that easy to get a visa as it was 8 years ago.If they are saying there is a backlog,then we cannot predict when will it be over.It is better to enquire about that with them. Usually it will take only 3-4 weeks.

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It depends on the country where you make your application. My wife is from Australia. When we applied for her visa it took the British Embassy in Canberra almost 3 months to issue a visa. In most cases they won't answer any status enquiries until your case falls outside their normal processing times which you can check here:

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply/processingtimes

However, our consultant managed to get a hold of them by fax, so if you want to make an enquiry regarding your case, send them a fax or e-mail if there is an e-mail address for the Embassy where your application is being processed. There wasn't one for Canberra, so we had to send them a fax. You can ask the agency that we used, they were quite helpful:

http://www.marriagevisahelp.com/index.php?page=uk-marriage-visa-uk