Processing of UK Tourist Visa from UK Border Agency in New York
 

Can anyone give an advice about the processing time of a UK tourist visa out of New York? We are scheduled to fly out in Oct 16 but my friend did not get her visa yet. She submitted her docs last Thursday 9/16 and received an email from NY UK Border Agency that they received her docs on Friday. She has not heard anything since last week. What should we do?

You don't mention which country you applied from. The visa centre in NYC processes visa applications from most of the Americas and processing times can vary greatly. Check out this link, enter your country and that will show you the latest processing times for the different types of visa. Good luck!

I can comment on this as my colleague just received her email notification yesterday saying her passport will be returned to her with the visa on Monday. The UK Border Agency in NY acknowledged they originally received all her documents on 21st August.

Unfortunately for her, her husband and some of her friends left to go on their trip to Europe and the UK on the 17th September so she didn't get to go. There is nothing you can do to speed up the process, calling and emailing doesn't do anything. I know as I was trying to help her! Made me embarrassed to be British :mad:

Don't be embarassed, most countries are as bad, if not worse. The only exceptions are countries where visas are a tourist tax rather than an attempt to keep out Evul Duers and general riff-raff.

The moral of the tale is that where visas are concerned you plan well ahead and should be something that you should be looking into when the tickets are bought, not as something you eventually get around to - as these two cases show leaving it till the last minute is not a good idea

Thank you for the info. I guess we just have to sit and wait until we hear from the UK Border Agency in NY. Also, right after she mailed her docs, we found out that there are Agencies/Couriers that can help in expediting the process but it was too late since she already sent her info in. I called several of those agencies and they said that if we pull out her docs from the British Consulate, they can help us. But she has to re-do her Biometrics and she has to pay the application all over again. Think that's a waste of money.

Beany, my case is very similar to your co-worker. The UK Border Agency in NY acknowledged they received all my documents on 1st September, and they notified me by email that my case is being processed on the 20th September. Up to this point, I don't have any update on it.

I was originally flying to London on the 22nd September, but I have rescheduled everything twice already including another flight from London to Prague and my visa to Prague is going to expire soon. My rescheduled flight to London is on next Thursday (7th, October) and I am so worried now. Do you happen to know if your colleague received an email notifying her the application was being processed? If she did, how many days between the day she got the email and the day she received her visa?

Many many thanks!

Hi MochiJo, I am not sure re the emails, I would ask her but she flew to Europe on Tuesday. All I know is she got an email saying the documents were received on 21st August and then another one saying her passport was being delivered by UPS on 24th September. She tried to email and call but the response always the same - they don't comment on individual visa applications. Good luck!

Hi Beany, thank you for getting back to me. I will continue to pray for the visa :(

Hi querymind, I just got my visa and here are the timelines:

09/01 email comfirmed that they got my application
09/20 email informed that the process started
10/04 email informed that the visa has been issued and the delivery time is next day via UPS.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Thanks for the info MochiJo. Friend actually got an email last Friday (10/1) that her application is being processed and would take 10-15 working days plus return mail time. Was just comparing her timeline to yours and just noticed an email from UK Agency that her visa has been issued and should arrive the next day (hopefully tomorrow). Overall, her timeline took 13 business days to process from the day she fedex her application to the day they said her visa has been issued. Not bad at all considering we did not pay extra cash for a Courier/Agency or to rush it with the UK Agency. Lesson learned - Just keep praying that the visa will arrive with enough time before departure date and to send in the application well ahead of time to refrain from stress and worries!
Have a safe trip to all!!!

Hi, Iam not sure if anyone could help me, but Iam lost
I received confirmation email on 09/02( day after you) -they got my appl.
And since then- nothing... no other e-mails...
I tried to call them, but they don't have any info about my visa
I tried to e-mail them, but they just said if I want I can cancel my appl., they can't even tell me if my appl. has been proceed...
I have no idea what to do... and now I read your post with all e-mails confirms and Iam starting to worry about my passport and GC... What about if they lost them? why I don't have any updates for over 30 days...
And yet, i need my docs for other trip Iam planing in couple of weeks...

current wait times?
 

In a similar situation - I've applied for a business visit visa at UKBA -NY (fedex delivered May 9)
Still no acknowedgement of receipt. Due to travel on May 31.....

Does anyone have datapoints on current wait times for non-priority cases?

Thanks

I am puzzled by this entire thread. Assuming that the OP is a citizen of the United States why would he/she have to apply for a UK tourist visa?

The OP's friend was the one applying for the visa and is clearly not a US citizen otherwise would not need a UK tourist visa. The visa processing centre in New York processes applications from numerous countries in central and south America as well as the US so it may not even have been an application made from the USA

Either the person applying for the visa has a citizenship that is subject to a visa requirement for visits to the UK or else is planning a trip to the UK for which a visa is required (e.g. will be in the UK for more than 6 months).