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Finally, some good news! As of 12 August 2022, UK Visas and Immigration (“UKVI”) has resumed its expediting services for all new work and student visa applications.
The Priority Service (“PV”), which expedites the decision time on a visa application to approximately five working days, and the Super Priority Service (“SPS”), which expedites the decision time to approximately one to two working days, were previously suspended enabling UKVI to divert all available resource to processing the Ukraine Visa Scheme applications.
The standard processing time for a work visa should be around 15 working days, however, there have been significant delays experienced by many applicants, with even the most straightforward application taking upwards of 4 – 16 weeks to receive a decision. The reintroduction of these services should hopefully alleviate some of the stress and uncertainty of the process, for employers and applicants alike.
At the time of writing, these services are still not available for the Innovator, Start-up and High Potential Individual visa routes, and, frustratingly, if you submitted a visa application under one of these routes prior to 12 August 2022, you will not be able to retrospectively apply for these services.
If you have any questions, or would like to find out more information, please do not contact the immigration team, here.
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