After months of organising, stress and uncertainty, today everything became so worthwhile. Yesterday my wife received the sms from VFS to say that her application had been processed and returned to the courier. We had been expecting to wait at least a few more days before her passport arrived in Phuket. Earlier today I received the best phone call I've ever taken in my life....my wife's passport had arrived and inside was her UK settlement visa.
It's still sinking in but it feels like a huge weight has been lifted. Now we can finally start to make real plans for our future together in the UK.
The application was submitted on 19th September and processed on 11th October so total processing time was just three weeks and one day, or 16 working days depending on how you look at it.
The only disappointing thing (if that is even possible after such good news) is that the embassy have started the "valid from" using the "expected travel date" that we put on the application form. At the time of submission the processing times were longer and so we put in what we thought was a realistic date two months after the submission. We did not specifically ask for that travel date anywhere else on the form or in the additional info so we were not expecting them to post-date the visa. That means my wife can not travel until next month, but still its not too long and if anything will give me a chance to organise things at home.
So the plan now is to look for flights. I'm going to head back to LOS for a week next month, help my wife pack up and then bring her home with me.
Although this is what the blog has been building toward over the past few months, our journey is far from over so I will continue to post on our progress. For now I'll take some time to let it sink in and relax before the real hard work begins lol
Cheers
Steve
