help with move to London

[8claytons]

Dear all -- I need some seasoned advice!! Here's the thorny problem (sorry for the long story):

I have accepted a job offer (professor at a university) in London and am working through the logistics of getting visas, initial housing, schools and moving for myself, wife, 2 kids (12 and 16), 2 dogs and 2 parrots. We're all US citizens (well, the humans are, in any case). I have started the Tier 2 visa application and have my Certificate of Sponsorship, but have not yet submitted my supporting documents (have biometrics appointments scheduled for next week). The job offer letter gives a start date of August 1, and that is the date I put on my visa application.

I was planning on traveling with wife and kids to London June 19-23, to find a place to live using London Relocation Services (dot com). That would also allow my kids to attend the orientation session at the school where they've been accepted. We've already bought four non-refundable roundtrip plane tickets for this visit and paid a deposit to the relocation service.

But here's the hitch: I'm just now realizing that I will have to send off our passports to complete the visa application process. The earliest we can do that (because of the biometrics delay) will be end of next week. Which basically leaves 2 weeks for the NY processing hub to approve (hopefully) the visa and return the passports. Not only that, but there seems to be some question whether we will be allowed in the UK for the June 20-23 trip as "tourists" once we have visas stamped to begin August 1.

So these are the options that I can see (what am I missing?):

1. we go ahead and submit visa documents next week (May 31) and hope they come back in time for our planned short trip (June 19). We present our round trip ticket to immigration control and hope they let us in as short-term tourists despite the visa stamp for Aug 1. If the passport and visa are not returned by June 19, we'll just have to cancel that trip and recover what we can by re-booking our plane tickets for later. QUESTION 1: what is the chance of getting our visa and passports back by June 19? QUESTION 2: what is the risk that the border agent won't let us in on June 19 if we have visa stamps for Aug 1?

2. we delay submitting our supporting documents (passports) until after we return from our flat-hunting and school-orientation trip June 24. QUESTION 3: is it possible to secure a flat without a visa? our relocation service seems to think not ... If that's the case, then we need to consider the next option:

3. we delay submitting documents until June 24, and also delay the flat-hunting expedition until mid-August (when our visas should be approved). We would still do the June 19-23 trip for school orientation. QUESTION 4: what is the risk that we won't get our visas approved in time for the kids to start school on Sept 1, if we don't submit the supporting docs until the end of June?

4. the relocation service suggested we might be able to get the visa approved by submitting in person in the UK. The UKBA is ambiguous about whether this is even possible in our case. QUESTION 5: Can you apply in person from within the UK for a visa, when you are already there as a temporary tourist? If so, how much time should we allow for the in-country application and approval process?

5. finally, the most conservative option I think would be to go ahead and submit our supporting documents next week, give up altogether on the idea of flying to London in late June, and reschedule the flat-hunting expedition for mid August. The kids miss out on the school orientation, but this gives us 2.5 months for visa approval and a 2 week period before school starts for us to find a flat and move the family and pets. QUESTION 6: do you see anything wrong with this plan? (other than not having a shipping address for our furniture, eating the cost of rebooking our tickets, and having a very short time to set up and adjust especially for the kids).

Finally a general QUESTION 7: does anyone have experience with LondonRelocationServices? They say they will drive us about town on one single day and show us 10-20 properties that meet our specs and we decide and make a contract that same day. Is this a reasonable thing to do?

Any advice appreciated!
David (1 of the 8claytons)

[AnAmericanInScotland]

I can answer a couple of your questions and others will be along to answer more.

No-you cannot apply for your work visa whilst in the UK on a visitor visa.

If you have already booked biometrics appointments, you have already started the process of applying for visas-in the US you will have two weeks from the date you give your biometrics to get your passports, applications, and supporting documents to the UKBA NYC office as long as the two weeks after your biometrics appointments falls within the 30 day application period (started the second your bank approved your fees, which then generated the pop-up box that permitted you to make your biometrics appointments...)

I don't know if the priority service is available for work visas (it is for fiance(e) and other relationship visas)-I think that it is. It's $300USD for the relationship visas, it may be more or less for work visas.

You'll find the instructions and option to pay back on the WorldBridge site where you started your applications (which then redirected you to visa4uk site to fill out the actual online applications); very basically, after you have done the biometrics and have all of your paperwork together to send to UKBA NYC, you log back into your application on WorldBridge, find your way to the 'pay here for priority processing' button, read and print out all of the very important 'DO THIS' instructions, pay, print out your paperwork and put it on top of all your other paperwork in the envelope or mailer box you are sending to UKBA-this next part is very important: you have to send the priority processing paid for package of apps and supporting docs the same day you pay for the priority processing. There is more info of course at the site.

[AnAmericanInScotland]

Whoops, forgot a couple of things-right now standard visa applications are taking 13 business day to process. That's not counting bank holidays, US holidays, and of course-weekends.

Priority processing gets your determination within 48 hours.

Complex cases may take longer, but if you have standard, straightforward applications, the projected timelines hold fairly true.

Re the pets, have you read the DEFRA site for travelling into the UK with pets?

[8claytons]

Originally Posted by AnAmericanInScotland

... Priority processing gets your determination within 48 hours ...Re the pets, have you read the DEFRA site for travelling into the UK with pets?

Thanks for the quick reply! Regarding processing time, I had asked WorldBridge about this and in one email they said "NY is experiencing heavy volumes due to the Olympic Games which is resulting in delayed processing of even priority applications." Then in a later email they said "Unfortunately, due to the busy season, processing can take up to two full weeks, but again that is not guaranteed." Their second email did not specifically reference priority applications but I just assumed that's what we had been talking about -- but your reply suggests that maybe the situation isn't that dire? Maybe 13 days is the lag only for non-priority applications? It would be very encouraging to think we might be able to get a 1-week turnaround if we pay the priority fee!

Regarding the pets we spent all of LAST week figuring out the export/import permit application process for pets and hopefully have that underway. It will be a miracle if all this comes together without one of us ending up stuck on a tarmac in Australia or something!

[Joppa]

Priority for Tier 2 is $150. Details in:
https://www.visainfoservices.com/pag...=Services_page

[AnAmericanInScotland]

Oh YEA Joppa!!

Hey, $150, that's not bad

[nyclon]

4. the relocation service suggested we might be able to get the visa approved by submitting in person in the UK. The UKBA is ambiguous about whether this is even possible in our case. QUESTION 5: Can you apply in person from within the UK for a visa, when you are already there as a temporary tourist? If so, how much time should we allow for the in-country application and approval process?

As AAIS suggested, this is absolutely false. You cannot switch from a visitor visa to any other kind of visa.

Finally a general QUESTION 7: does anyone have experience with LondonRelocationServices? They say they will drive us about town on one single day and show us 10-20 properties that meet our specs and we decide and make a contract that same day. Is this a reasonable thing to do?

I don't know anything about LondonRelocationServices, but you might want to take into consideration that while they probably don't bill themselves as visa experts, they gave you bad advice applying for a visa while in the UK on a visitor visa.

Other than that, do you realize that London is 659 square miles? Have you decided on a neighborhood? If you have narrowed that down and you expect your search to be in a concentrated area, then it's possible you could see 10-20 (well, I think 20 is pretty ambitious even in 1 neighborhood) properties in 1 day. If you don't have a very specific focus and they are telling you they are going to drive you all over London and show you 20 properties, that's unrealistic.

[Heathie]

8Claytons -

While I'm a newbie - your post sounded exactly like what I have been thinking and asking the past few months, so want to share my experiences for what they are worth, as I've been going at this whole process solo.

Again, this is my experience, but if any of this information is helpful to you, then I'm glad I could share.

I just rec'd my tier 2 ICT visa and the process was seemless and very quick (shockingly so) - but my situation is a little different as I only had to worry about me vs. a family.

But hope some of these nuggets of info are helpful to you:

re: processing, i opted to forgo worldbridge due to mixed reviews and lack of clarity on true turnaround times and hire A Briggs visa expeditors to handle getting my visa package of materials to the UKBA in NYC and then back to me - I paid the $150 expedite fee , PLUS the fee for using A Briggs as the expiditer - another $175, plus fedex shipping. I don't know how they do it exactly to ensure such fast turnaround time, my package was delivered to A Briggs on May 21 am, delivered to UKBA same day, and on May 22 at 230pm EST, UKBA emailed me saying my visa was approved and would be out for shipping by the next morning. A Briggs picked up materials, and I had passport w visa in hand May 24. abriggs (dotcom) - worth a quick phone call and/or using their site to select what type of visa you are applying for to review an overview of the process.

My passport had an ABriggs expedite sticker on it when I got it back, so this must be some sort of identifier with the agency during review/processing.

While more costly, it saved my mental health...as this has been an incredibly stressful experience for me.

I was in a similiar situation of cutting it close with flights and having passport, etc to make my June 11 start date. (since my CoS was severely delayed). I had to push my flight out. While you will have to decide what is best for you and your family, I decided to call londonrelocationservices as I realized I would not have the time to deal with multiple agents, etc. as time is not on my side in this move.

I wanted to leverage the "MLS like service" to save me time and stress. I have spent a lot of time connecting with my agent giving input, commute, lifestyle, approach on being open, etc. leading up to my viewings next week. I will share the outcome of my viewing appointment so you will have more information on quantity, quality, process, etc.

my 2 cents for what it's worth.

Good luck!

[8claytons]

Heathie - thanks for the info! Any particular reason you chose ABriggs? (there seems to be lots of visa services out there).

So your visa will be approved and activated before you do the LondonRelocation tour? (Avoiding the potential problem i've landed in of wanting to do the tour and find a place before the date I applied for activating the visa).

And who are you dealing with at LondonRelocationServices? Despite the questionable unofficial advice about applying for a Tier 2 while in the UK as a visitor, I've also been pretty happy with the interactions so far.

[nyclon]

I don't know how they do it exactly to ensure such fast turnaround time

All they did was what you could have done and that's pick "priority processing" from the Worldbridge website. The $150 expedite fee is the cost of priority processing for a Tier 2 visa through Worldbridge. A couple of years ago, you used to be able to use an expeditor to get your application to the top of the pile. That option was discontinued by the UKBA in favor of paying an extra fee for priority processing through Worldbridge. Basically, you paid an expeditor to click the Priority Processing option for you on Worldbridge.